lightning grounding

[backman]

Mac:

I missed the lightning storm a friend got caught on the wrong side of and luckily punched through safely.

Questions:

is the CC28 tower grounded to the common ground and out via the tabs?

is the safest place on the boat in the helm surrounded by the tower frame or down in the cabin?

Any suggestions for additional grounding devices?

[Split Decision]

This is a question I keep forgetting to ask Mac when I talk to him. I was wondering if the tower on my 32 is grounded.

[Mac]

tower grounding

Not sure I can answer this but here goes. There are two schools of thought on grounding a tower, one, it becomes a lightning rod and two, it forms an umbrella over the boat to disipate static and protect the boat from a direct hit. While I do not profess to know the right answer, about three or four years ago we started bonding. Prior to that we did not bond the tower.

We had a 35 that got caught in an electrical storm and took a hit to the boat, but did not actually hit the boat. There were no burn marks or evidence that the boat was actually hit, but the crew described a flash, bang and smell (if I had been on the boat I could probably tell you what the smell would have been). While it did take out all electronics (including the engines) the evidence actually suggest that it entered the boats system through the grounding. This would suggest that the lightning actually hit the water next to the boat and come in on the ground. This being the case, it would suggest that the umbrella theory works.

Again, I do not claim to know the correct answer. If anyone wants to bond, simply attach at least an eight gauge copper wire to the bolts on the rear tower leg and take it to a through hull fitting. This will tie the tower to the bonding system. This is the procedure we have used since approximately 2001.