[C320-list] Lightning Proetection

[pat reynolds]

 My 1995 320 has been damaged by lightning twice.  First time I was on the boat and heard a huge bang and smelled wiring burning.  The surge knocked out the battery charger and started the wiring to the batteries burning.   This wiring runs under inner liner and apparently there was water collected under there which put out the flame.  The second time was a direct hit which knocked out all the instrumentation, charger and wiring.  The point being that neither time did it damage the hull, engine or batteries so Catalina may have been right in omitting extra protection.  My protection plan now is to stay current on my insurance and try to moor next to a boat with a higher mast.
    On Saturday, July 27, 2019, 08:26:48 AM CDT, John Meyers <jcmeyers7 at gmail.com> wrote:  
 
 I want to thank all of you for your experienced and theoretical input.

Back in the late sixties and early seventies I did a lot of racing on
Saginaw Bay when weather radar and forecasting wasn't as good as it today
(as if that would have made much difference in choosing to race or not) and
with several lightning storms that we sailed through I did not ever see or
know about anyone getting hit.

These days we usually don't go out sailing if the weather looks bad but we
have been chased back to the slip when storms popped up. Be we are
eventually going to be crossing Lake Michigan a time or two and won't do it
if the weather looks bad in the 12 hours or so that it takes to cross. Lake
Michigan can be a breeding ground for changes in weather for good and bad
weather and we don't want to be caught by lightening.

Thanks again to all and safe boating.

John Meyers
Muskegon, MI

On Fri, Jul 26, 2019 at 6:08 PM Jeff Hare <Catalina at thehares.com> wrote:

> Catalina made a deliberate choice not to ground their boats.  There is no
> proven science that grounding helps or hurts. The association asked this
> specific question to Frank and Gerry.Our boat had a direct hit.  Damaged
> everythingElectrical. No physical damage at all except for masthead
> attachments like light, wind instruments and antenna.Lightning paths are
> often many miles long.  The difference of 50 feet to strike a mast or
> direct to earth, probably makes no difference to a half million volts.
> Personally, I don't want to look like a clean path to ground so I'll
> probably never ground a boat that doesn't have bronze thru Hulls.But there
> is no definitive science that shows grounding a boat is best.  Grounding
> buildings with lightning rods is not an equivalent thing.  So, choose your
> own voodoo.  :)Cheers!Jeff Hare
> null