[Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

Tue Mar 11 02:23:19 EDT 2014

Gee, don't think I've ever been 1 in a million before, but my R22 got fried by lightning 2 years ago on Tampa Bay. No visible damage to the boat itself, but all the electronics got cooked. So it wasn't a direct hit, just Zeus taking a pee nearby. After a fair amount of research on lightning mitigation for sailboats, I decided crosst fingers are the only cost-effective solution.

----- Original Message -----
From: "James Nichols" <jfn302 at yahoo.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 Email List" <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 1:03:38 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

The only way I'll be wining the Powerball is if a winning ticket blows into
my face while I'm out for a walk. 

James

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Michael D. Weisner
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 11:56 PM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

We've had these lightning "discussions" before on the list.  Just look
through the archives for as many opinions as there are replies.

The only thing that is certain is that the chance of being struck by
lightning, regardless of location, is about 1 in 1,000,000 (1 in nearly 4
million in NY but 1 in 614,000 in Florida,
http://discovertheodds.com/what-are-the-odds-of-being-struck-by-lightning).
The chance of winning at least $1,000,000 in the Powerball lottery is 1 in
5,153,632 (http://www.powerball.com/powerball/pb_prizes.asp).

Sooooo ... if you expect to win the Powerball lottery, I do not want to sail
with you.

Mike
s/v Shanghai'd Summer ('81)
s/v <-no name -> ('91)
Nissequogue River, NY

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of James Nichols
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 10:43 PM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

Typically Lightning will not strike anything that does not give it a clear
path to ground, so running a wire from the mast to the water is only
inviting lightning to strike the boat more often.  Lightning, like water,
always looks for the easiest path to ground.  Fiberglass is an awesome
insulator,  so the mast doesn't typically attract lightning.  Also, while
lake and sea water conduct electricity (sea water is a much better conductor
because of the salt) Lightning on a lake setting will more likely hit a tree
on the shoreline because the path through the tree into the earth is much
easier than the path through the boat, through the water, then into the
ground.  Also, while most lightning happens during a storm, so the
fiberglass on the boat will be wet, the amount of water clinging to the deck
doesn't usually offer enough of an electrical pathway from the mast to the
main body of water  that the lightning would choose to strike the boat over
striking the water directly.

All these statements aside though, as Ron said, stay away from large metal
objects on the boat during a storm, and you should be fine.

As a side note about the quote about deaths of boaters but not sailboats.
The boats that have deaths are because they are running motorboats that have
large engines that create large electro-magnetic fields to drive the motor,
and they tend to run them all out, so the electro-magnetic field is as large
as it can get, and as they are screaming across the water, what they don't
realize is they are screaming, "STRIKE ME!!"  And nature says, "Ok."

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Ron Lipton
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 7:47 PM
To: The Rhodes 22 Email List
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Lighting Rod

The Rhodes is a lightning rod - there is no need to install another. The
real issue is diverting the current into the water rather then through you
or your electronics.  Such a system would include heavy gauge wire
connecting the mast to a large area conductor in the water.  Pretty
cumbersome.  The main thing is to stay away from metal during a storm. A
good reference is:

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sg071

" Every year there are multiple deaths of boaters in open boats caused by
lightning strikes, but very few reports of sailors in sailboats killed by
lightning"

Ron

> On Mar 10, 2014, at 19:15, <chcarreon at cox.net> wrote:
> 
> All,
>  Has anyone installed a lighting rod on a R22?  If so, how did you do it? 
> 
> Thanks much,
> Chuy
> __________________________________________________
> To subscribe/unsubscribe go to
> http://www.rhodes22.org/mailman/listinfo/rhodes22-list
> 
> For the list Charter and help with using the mailing list and archives 
> go to http://www.rhodes22.org/list 
> __________________________________________________

__________________________________________________
To subscribe/unsubscribe go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/mailman/listinfo/rhodes22-list

For the list Charter and help with using the mailing list and archives go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/list
__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________
To subscribe/unsubscribe go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/mailman/listinfo/rhodes22-list

For the list Charter and help with using the mailing list and archives go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/list
__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________
To subscribe/unsubscribe go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/mailman/listinfo/rhodes22-list

For the list Charter and help with using the mailing list and archives go to
http://www.rhodes22.org/list
__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________
To subscribe/unsubscribe go to http://www.rhodes22.org/mailman/listinfo/rhodes22-list

For the list Charter and help with using the mailing list and archives go to http://www.rhodes22.org/list
__________________________________________________