lightning attraction?

[thiede]

I have a 24' Wellcraft sportfisher with a hardtop and spotting tower on top of that. Is all that aluminum up there putting me at greater risk for a lightning strike? Is there any mitagation that can be done other than being prudent about weather conditions?

 

[EZLoader]

Re: lightning attraction?

Here is a site that try to answer your question:<br /><br /> http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d000001-d000100/d000007/d000007.html

 

[Bondo]

Re: lightning attraction?

That's a pretty good read,.......<br />But,..........<br /><br />I see No Mention of the Fact that your Tuna Tower Can,+ Will Save Your Life,.......<br />As long as that Tower is Bonded/Grounded to the drives,........<br />You'll be under the Protection of the "Faraday Cage Effect"..............<br />Just like sitting in a Hardtop Car............... <br /><br />Do a Search,... It's been discussed before.......................

 

[PuddleJumper]

Re: lightning attraction?

Agree with Bondo. Ideally the highest point on your tower should have a tapered(point). This allows easier escape of electrons to help minimize charge difference thereby decreasing chance of attracting lightning strike.An antenna without the ball on the tip,bonded to drive would prolly do u fine

 

[phantoms]

Re: lightning attraction?

Originally posted by Bondo:<br /> That's a pretty good read,.......

I agree, it's a very good read<br /><br />

But,..........I see No Mention of the Fact that your Tuna Tower Can,+ Will Save Your Life,.......<br />As long as that Tower is Bonded/Grounded to the drives,........<br />You'll be under the Protection of the "Faraday Cage Effect"..............<br />Just like sitting in a Hardtop Car............... <br />

That's assuming that you are not touching anything connected to ground, like the steering, controls, radio, tower, etc.

 

[Bondo]

Re: lightning attraction?

Originally posted by phantoms:<br />

Originally posted by Bondo:<br />But,..........I see No Mention of the Fact that your Tuna Tower Can,+ Will Save Your Life,.......<br />As long as that Tower is Bonded/Grounded to the drives,........<br />You'll be under the Protection of the "Faraday Cage Effect"..............<br />Just like sitting in a Hardtop Car............... <br />

That's assuming that you are not touching anything connected to ground, like the steering, controls, radio, tower, etc.

Not Quite,...............<br /><br />You Can be touching Anything that's Grounded without Harm,...........<br />As long as You don't Become the Ground Path..............<br /><br />Electricity is Lazy,........ It would Rather flow thru the Aluminum to Ground,.. Than Your Body...........<br /><br />The Idea is to be Surrounded by the Ground Path,...... Not a Link In It..............

 

[phantoms]

Re: lightning attraction?

But if you happen to be touching the steering and the controls, you become part of the ground path.

 

[PuddleJumper]

Re: lightning attraction?

The idea of the lightning arrestor is to decrease liklihood of a direct strike. If you take a direct strike to your boat---well you're probably toast, bonded or not

 

[Bondo]

Re: lightning attraction?

Well,............<br />I Guess you fellas gotta Google up "Faraday Effect"..............<br /><br />While I Agree that a Direct Hit would be an Enlightning Experince,.........<br /><br />If the Tuna Tower is Properly Bonded,......<br />It would be No Different than sitting in a Hardtop Car that takes a Direct Hit.............<br /><br />BTW,......... Touching the Ground Path,... Does Not put you In the Ground Path.............<br /><br />To be Safe,........... You have to be Surrounded by the Ground Path.................

 

[jlinder]

Re: lightning attraction?

There is an interesting concept that broadcast towers use. They put a cap with a lot of sharp points on top the tower. Each sharp point will provide a point for a small amount of electricity to flow from the static charge that build up before a lightning strike.<br /><br />While the current flow is small, it is enough to drain the voltage potential around the tower, causing the lightning to strike some where else where the potential is higher. <br /><br />If you look, you will find some towers with those caps. I found someone who makes a top for a tower that ends in a lot of small points, like a big wire brush. Try looking at http://www.allteccorp.com/products/catalog/2003/2003-b.pdf They give details on how it works.

 

[--GQ--]

Re: lightning attraction?

Guys slow down a little. let's not get paranoid. Knowlege is power. Here are the facts. You will pay taxes, you will die and lightning (electricity) will always travel thru the path of least resistance and strike the nearest point of different potential. <br /><br /> Lightning more than often will strike a water craft at sea due to unintentional grounding. Furthermore anything floating on water is closer to (lightning potential cloud) than water. If your boat has an aluminum hard top or any sizeable conductive objects; you will have unintentional grounding due to water on deck. This type of grounding provides a weak high resistance path for lightning to travel.If and when lightning does accure, the tremdous energy will be forced to search for aditional path to travel. That path may be thru you. <br /> Because we can't prevent water from getting on deck, we can minimize the seriousness of lightning by intentionally grounding all conductive objects specially aluminum hard tops. This by all means will not prevent lightning from occuring, but it will eleminate the seriousness of the occurance. <br /> Simply run a couple of 6 guage cables from engine grounding screw to different point of the posts of your hard top assuming your engine and drive unit has good contact with the body of water. <br /> Sorry for the few details. i would have to write a book to explain more<br /><br /><br />EE USC class of 97

 

[Richard Petersen]

Re: lightning attraction?

Understanding why good people die young and how some woman act is MUCH easier then trying to be safe on ANY boat when lightening strikes it and all the different paths it DECIDES to take. We do not know SQUAT about boats and lightening. We are all guessing.

 

[Bondo]

Re: lightning attraction?

Here's a BoatSafe page about it..................

 

[bayman]

Re: lightning attraction?

Interesting discussion. The article Bondo points to on BoatSafe is a very good one. I also like what Jack L says about the radio towers. The REVERSE of this is that if you want to build up electricity really well - like on a Tesla Coil or Tesla Magnifier, then you make a large round metallic ball on top with no sharp points. Having no sharp points means the electrical charge builds up and can attract other large electrical charges...not what we want to do on boats!

 

[CN Spots]

Re: lightning attraction?

So if you glued a sea urchin to your head you'd be ok?<br /><br />spots

 

[Stratocaster]

Re: lightning attraction?

Arrgghh, I hate to say this...I agree with Bondo That is indeed how grounding works. <br /><br />Bondo, I'm surprised you didn't advise him to moor near a Bayliner, since everyone knows they get hit by lightning more than any other boat.

 

[Bondo]

Re: lightning attraction?

Originally posted by Stratocaster:<br /> Arrgghh, I hate to say this...I agree with Bondo That is indeed how grounding works. <br /><br />Bondo, I'm surprised you didn't advise him to moor near a Bayliner, since everyone knows they get hit by lightning more than any other boat.

<br /> "I hate to say this...I agree with Bondo" <br /><br />I Never thought I'd live long enough to Ever Read That,.......................... <br /><br />I Don't Know about Why all those Bilgeliners are getting Zapped,..............<br />It Must be all the Roundness of the Euro Designs,............They've got No Points sticking up in the air...............

 

[Richard Petersen]

Re: lightning attraction?

I sure hope all future lightening bolts read and follow all the Boatsafe rules. So we have little to worry about when the Black clouds and booms start. ----------------------------------I really feel so much safer in my Aluminum, Bimini topped 16' shore fishing boat. Thanks for the piece of mind.