The problems:

1. Creating the same potential drop in the plating solution - the copper
doing the throwing would have to be about the same shape as the hull.

2. The currents would be large.

3. The plating would not be smooth.

4. Does copper need a tie coat such as nickel for adhesion?


Why not just plate the bow and stern sections with dissimiliar metals and
short them inside the hull to propel the craft forward?

Amen!


wrote in message
oups.com...
Thinking about transparency of fiberglass got me thinking. I did a
random experiment a couple years ago where I put some carbon fiber yarn
in an electroplating bath and found that it had uniformly coated the
fibers with either Ni or Cu because the carbon fibers are electrically
conductive. So..........make a hull out of carbon roving. This would
have to be special roving as most of the stuff that is sold has a
nonconductive coating for ease of weaving. Immerse the "hull" made
this way into a copper electroplating bath and turn on the current.
You would get a hull made primarily of carbon fiber (for low weight)
but with the electrical properties of Copper for lightning and it would
be naturally anti-fouling.