Sounds like I'd better stay north of Cape Cod

I've thought of drilling the keel since lead is fairly easy to drill. I'd
want to be sure there wasn't any scrap iron in the ballast mix though.

How thick a copper conductor do you think would be safe? The mast support
is only about 1 1/2" stainless steel pipe so it would be reasonable to
exceed it's cross section area and current carrying capacity. OTOH if the
mast support itself is insufficient, maybe I should just forget the whole
thing and put my faith in prayer.

I ran a copper wire of the kind used to ground electrical meters from one of
the shroud chainplates to an unused through hull in a fairly gentle sweep
when I first got the boat just to have something to lead a strike a way from
people inside. I still expect a major strike would sink the boat but
thought it might increase the chances of being alive to get into the dinghy.
Now I'm thinking I might be better off without this connection. What do you
think?

What would be the probable effectiveness of a portable system? Say, four 1
sq foot copper plates attached to 4 GA wires shackled to headstay, backstay,
and shrouds before anchoring or drifting for a major electrical storm?

--
Roger Long