Charlie Morgan wrote:

Honestly? There is absolutely nothing you can do to a 30 or 40 foot boat to
protect it in the slightest. It may make you feel better, but there's truly no
way you are going to harness and direct a lightning strike that hits your mast.
Lightning will vaporize (literally) your battery cables. POOF!

A keel stepped mast with large solid aluminum bar
ties to the non-encapsulated lead keel is about as
good as it gets. It's also supposedly a good idea
to ground your chainplates with large wire down to
the keel.

What is controversial is whether the good
grounding scheme actually increases your chances
of taking a strike.

The ABYC has standards for lightning protection
for sailboats IIRC.


The only thing that MAY help you is to always anchor with boats that have much
taller masts than yours.

This is controversial also, as its not always the
tallest point that gets struck.

Don W.