Outriggers & Lightning

[Karl]

Are outriggers dangerous lightning rods and should they be grounded? Karl

 

[Paul45c]

That was the opinion of the marine electric company I hired to cure some survey faults, so I did it. IMHO, it's hard to imagine 35' poles jutting up that high NOT attracting something someday.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

It wouldn't matter if you got a direct hit...

Grounding CAN help if the hit isn't too close. I capt'd a 43' Tiara a few years ago when we had a "close hit". We were OK but 3 boats by us lost all their electonics and one had his motors also shut down (electonic controlled).

Put a damper on the fishing trip for all of us as we ended up towing one in till Towboat/US meet up with us.

 

[Genesis]

Yes, but done wrong grounded can actually be MORE dangerous than ungrounded as it can cause a flashover to happen where PEOPLE are.

The rules for effective ground are relatively simple but difficult to follow.

In the event of a direct hit, it doesn't matter. Near misses, on the other hand, occur more often and there it DOES matter.

I was two boats away from a blow boat in my marina that took a hit a few years ago directly on the mast. Every piece of electrical and electronic gear on the sailboat was destroyed. Several others boats in the vicinity took damage to varying degrees, mostly to electronics. Gigabite was untouched. I was aboard when it happened and it scared the bejeezus out of me.

Hatteras did a nice job of grounding things for factory options (my riggers were factory done, and WERE grounded) If you have aftermarket stuff you need to make sure its done right.

BTW, the sailboat's damage bill (covered by insurance) was north of $25,000.

I've also posted my story about a shrimper we saw get hit 100nm offshore one night here somewhere. That was freaky. Their entire electrical system was slagged; they had mechanical engines which were running at the time (good thing!) but NOTHING electrical beyond handheld battery-powered stuff worked.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

Genesis hit on one thing I forgot to mention.....

I ALWAYS carrry a hand held VHF, GPS and my binoculars with me when I go on anyone's boat or doing a boat delivery..... Plus a pack of extra batteries. It's surprising how many people do not have them onboard, or have the vhf or gps packed away with dead batteries....

 

[labrador]

I can relate to Karl's experence. Been struck 3 times on sailboats, yes thats 3. After the 1st time 50 miles off the coast of Maine, which destroyed 30,000 of electronics, we used to turn off the electronics in a thunderstorm. No matter they have to be unplugged also. Actually turned the polycarbonate covers on the 2020s white. Turned me white also as it was the loudest noise I ever heard with what hair I had left standing straight out. That was about 300 miles out from Bermuda and we had to navigate using a handheld that one of the crew brought with him. Good advise on the handheld and batteries.

 

[thoward]

If it was an indirect hit would grounding the outriggers really mattter? I would be a little more worried about my tower and all the wiring it carries. Also because they are hollow aluminum can they really transmit that much energy? It seems as if they would melt or blow appart.....