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This past couple of weeks have brought us some absolutely spectacular lightning shows. Lightning with a thunder accompaniment always brings thoughts of safety (and fear) to mind. In a previous post about lightning safety, I managed to ease my mind by convincing myself that the higher masts around us would protect us from a strike. However, the truth of the matter is, if lightning would have struck our sailboat, there is no telling where it would have ended up. Our mast was deck stepped (the bottom of the mast sits on top of the deck, instead of going right through to the keel), which means that any lightning strike coming down the mast would have had to jump somewhere to continue its downward path. This is how holes get blown in the bottom of boats. Add the fact that the mast was practically sitting directly over our heads when we were laying in the v-berth and, well … you get the picture.
So now we are in a big metal boat; a big, highly conductive surface directly connected to ground (water), with a nice high metal canopy framework begging for a lightning strike. So am I really any safer?
I asked around the marina, and for the most part, people did not think that the metal boat would be safer - but then I came upon another boater who lives on a steel sailboat. He’s got the full deal going for him - a nice high metal mast and a highly conductive steel surface connected directly to ground. What he suggested is that we are actually safer in our steel shells because (in theory) the lightning strike should take the path of least resistance and flow easily and directly through the hull and into the lake. He likened it to a Faraday Cage.
Here is a quote from Wikipedia:
Cars and aircraft. When lightning strikes an aircraft or a car the electric currents induced on it are forced to travel on the outer skin of the vehicle’s body. If you were in a car, and the car were struck by lightning, it is not in fact the rubber tires that would save your life. If the lightning can jump from the ground to the sky, then it can jump from the ground to your car. What actually happens, is by being enclosed by the car’s cabin, the lightning travels around you, through the conductive frame of the car. This is because the car forms a Faraday Cage.
This is talking about cars and aircraft, but from what I can tell should also apply to boats. Anyone out there want to confirm this for me? Any modern day Franklin’s or Faraday’s want to experiment with this? (Go fly a kite!)
(Lightning Hitting CN Tower photo’s taken by Mathias Roussea on June 5th, 2008.)
juliemadsen1 wrote,
Why can’t I take pictures like that. this is one of the very best pictures I ever have seen. If you are safe or not, I really can’t tell, looking forward to see if anyone comment on this
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 6:00 am
strathy wrote,
Please note: I did not take those pictures - they were taken by Mathias Roussea. They are absolutely amazing though!
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 6:43 am
4T4RD wrote,
Your grandfather, Walter Raleigh Workman, amongst his many avocations, sold lightning rods for prairie homes and barns. Perhaps you could find and install some for your peace of mind
Link | June 21st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Constantino wrote,
According to “Steel Away: A Guidebook to the World of Steel Sailboats”, “The concensus of opinion about lightning protection is to provide a direct path for grounding so that damage is held to a minimum. Therefore, steel is the safest hull material during a lightning strike, since the entire boat is grounded. The best protection comes when an aluminum mast is used since it acts as a giant lightning rod, but with a wood spar the stays will ground the current to the hull. A solid metal rod extending above all antennas and connected to the stays will assure that this is the path the lightning will take, although some masthead antennas can also serve as initial strike points.”
(Steel Away: A Guidebook to the World of Steel Sailboats. Windrose Publications, 1986)
Link | June 23rd, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Filippa wrote,
Very very nice picture. I was amazed and I thought that you have taken these pictures until I saw you comment about Mathias Roussea..
Link | July 7th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Daniel wrote,
Hi
I’m from Portugal, but living in UK since May, London near thames. I read your blog from the beginning. Very nice indeed. I came here because i though maybe to live on a boat. I like boats, i love beeing near sea or river, though im not a pretty good swimmer. Need to improve this. I think i will join a sailing club and see where it will take me, cause i have no boat experience.
Keep your blog updated, its very nice to read it.
Cheers
Daniel
Link | July 10th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Hilly Harrison wrote,
Really interested to find your blog. Please take a look at ours, http://www.svgoldenmean.com. We are a family of four plus a dog living on board for 5 years so far.
Link | July 11th, 2008 at 8:35 am
Ed Wise wrote,
I have a 19 foot fishing boat. It is made of alluminum. What would happen to anyone in the boat if we were caught in a thunderstorm and the lightening hit the boat. This has been a subject that no one seems to know the answer
Link | September 2nd, 2008 at 6:03 am
strathy wrote,
My guess is that it would not be a good situation for you. Aluminum conducts electricity just fine, but I assume this is an open boat - the lightning is going to hit you as much as the boat.
Link | September 2nd, 2008 at 7:14 am