POWERBOAT got HIT BY LIGHTNING TWICE on the hard - What to do? | Ask The Expert with NIGEL CALDER

Nigel and Jan discuss the complications of providing functional lightning protection systems, in particular with boats being layed up ashore.
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If you have a question for Nigel and Jan, post it in the comments and with a bit of luck we will discuss it in one of our next videos.

[@jorgeangeleri9516]

Thank you for share this important information. What about in an aluminium Hull boat? Does the hull behave as a Faraday cage? And what could happen with the electronic in that case? Thank you

[@BoatHowTo]

In theory, yes, the hull (and deck - is the deck also aluminum?) could act as a Faraday cage but then we have various ways of penetrating it. If we have a lightning protection system based on the ABYC’s approach (masthead lightning rod connected to ground) you are bringing the strike inside the boat. If you have got to the last lesson in our lightning module you will see that n recent years the NFPA has adopted a different concept which is a loop conductor designed to essentially keep the lighting as close to the exterior of the boat as possible, although this is almost never implemented because it is complex and expensive. In the case of a metal boat it seems to me (I don’t have the necessary PhD in lighting protection to make any definitive statements!) that this would come close to preserving the Faraday cage, although you still have antennas and other conductors running from outside the hull into it so these may compromise the picture. The bottom line is I am pretty sure you are safer inside a metal boat than a fiberglass one, but the electronics can still get fried. I don’t know of any data that can tell us whether or not this is less likely than with a fiberglass boat.
- Nigel

[@jorgeangeleri9516]

Thank You so much. @@BoatHowTo