What if you have a metal rod connected to the base of the mast that you can lower through the deck and into the water? The deck is well above the water rather than submersed so it must be easier to make it watertight. Or at a pinch what if you connected the base of the mast to the anchor chain by a cable and partly weighed the anchor?
Hello Pierre and Lisa, Thank you for your excellent Video. Frying your electronics sounds very expensive. Lightning is a real concern. Excellent simple ideas, definitely food for thought. It does sound as if Experience is a Good Teacher. Warm regards Adrian
I know Im asking randomly but does someone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I was dumb forgot my account password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me.
@Dean Joe thanks for your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
Great video ... missed this one somehow until now. I had been curious about protection from the potential for lightning strikes and Pierre has provided a great explanation. It was a great visit to Stoney Lake and Fish Island at Krista's cottage. Take care ... stay safe you three !
Thanks again for another very good video. We are prepping our 1985 Catalina 36 in order to head to the Caribbean for an extended stay. Our mast is keel stepped and has a heavy gage cable bolted onto a keel bolt. I have inspected and unfortunately discovered that we don’t have any rigging or other metal structures bonded and also grounded to the keel. My question is triggered by your straight path statement. Could this be the reason the rigging and auxiliary metals are not bonded as the most likely path is direct from the mast head? Once again thank for sharing your experience and knowledge. Cheers Kevin
I concur on your solution, personally I would make the copper cable continuous to the water contact, oxidation is isolating and to be avoided. Also it’s more important to have a clean surface when contacting the water so I would not waste money on fancy water sculptures, just wipe your terminal plate clean before water insertion.
I had the same set up on my Manta with a knuckle mount on the mast and the same cable and dispersal end. This seemed to work very well at grounding the boat to the water with a straight line top to bottom. We had a few very small lightning fingers strike taking out my wind instrument mounted atop of the mast and slightly higher then my mast top wire fuzzy ball. It's my thinking that the boat is less likely for a strike if it has the same impedance as the surrounding water. Also the boat metal parts were not ground bonded.
How has your OC tender been, very light is it easy / ok in choppy waves? And how about when you bring it up on the davits. Maybe you can show a bit on this issue. Many thanks Robert
We love the tender. Like any small, light dinghy, you need to take it slow in very choppy waves. It is no better and no worse than the inflatable we had on our last catamaran that had a hard bottom. It is easy to get up on the davits, but the pully is a bit undersized. (Another improvement needed!)
Re-watching this as I ponder lightning protection for my boat. One thing to note, on the statistic about boats only getting struck while stationary.... I believe that might be a sampling effect as the majority of boats out there are not in motion.
how come with carbon fiber masts boats the builders didn't include an insulated tube straight down through the boat to run a rod into the water that can be pulled?
Interesting solution, most people avoid even talking about lightning strike, let alone devise a solution. One of the biggest arguments seems to be that if you make your mast an effective ground then you could be increasing its potential to "attract" a lightning strike. I have two questions....do you know of anyone using this type of system on a cat where this has been successful (If so how successful) and, did insurance cover any of the lightning strike events or do you know of any insurance companies that take on that risk?
Yes, we have heard that argument. See Comment from Grant Grove about success. All we know is that we have never lost electronics when we leave the boat with this system in place on 3 different cats compared to suffering damage several times when there was no protection. It does not help that our mast is usually one of the the tallest around. The only insurance company that insisted on protection was one I used for a 24 ft monohull with no electronics!
I am glad I stumbled on your channel. We took the first step toward world cruising and put a down payment on a Fauntain Pajot Elba 45. I have a very technical oriented mind and I am getting ready to fit our cat with with universal electrical system (the boat was order with European electrical standards). This is how I discovered your channel watching your episode about run away current and Isolation Transformer which I am going to look seriously into. Lightning is a big concern. I was thinking of installing a lightning dissipating rod at the top of the must inspired by this episode: th-cam.com/video/PurMG7KHdW4/w-d-xo.html Your episode built and improved on this initial idea since Clark has a monohull and I will have a cat. I apologize if I am asking too much but I would love and very much value your opinion on adding this rod on a catamaran. Should I install one?
Send me an email via our web site to remind me. We have been without internet for almost 2 months, and right now I am awash in email. I`ll need a stronger signal to send a picture.
![LIGHTNING Hits Boats. Here's How to Deal With It [Capable Cruising Guides]](/img/n.gif)
Thank you for the great explanation. Sailed most of my life and have never seen a boat hit but your solution is appreciated.
Glad to hear you have not had to deal with a hit.
Good work... thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Very interesting! Good thing you put the lightening rod in the Biotrek with all the lightning storms this summer in Boston.
Yes indeed!
What if you have a metal rod connected to the base of the mast that you can lower through the deck and into the water? The deck is well above the water rather than submersed so it must be easier to make it watertight. Or at a pinch what if you connected the base of the mast to the anchor chain by a cable and partly weighed the anchor?
Hello Pierre and Lisa,
Thank you for your excellent Video.
Frying your electronics sounds very expensive.
Lightning is a real concern.
Excellent simple ideas, definitely food for thought.
It does sound as if Experience is a Good Teacher.
Warm regards
Adrian
Thanks for watching!
I know Im asking randomly but does someone know of a way to log back into an Instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot my account password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me.
@Elijah Colin instablaster :)
@Dean Joe thanks for your reply. I found the site thru google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff atm.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later with my results.
@Dean Joe It did the trick and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy!
Thank you so much you saved my ass!
Lovely lakeside location. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Great video ... missed this one somehow until now. I had been curious about protection from the potential for lightning strikes and Pierre has provided a great explanation. It was a great visit to Stoney Lake and Fish Island at Krista's cottage. Take care ... stay safe you three !
It is a contentious topic for sailors!
Thanks again for another very good video. We are prepping our 1985 Catalina 36 in order to head to the Caribbean for an extended stay. Our mast is keel stepped and has a heavy gage cable bolted onto a keel bolt. I have inspected and unfortunately discovered that we don’t have any rigging or other metal structures bonded and also grounded to the keel.
My question is triggered by your straight path statement. Could this be the reason the rigging and auxiliary metals are not bonded as the most likely path is direct from the mast head?
Once again thank for sharing your experience and knowledge.
Cheers
Kevin
I concur on your solution, personally I would make the copper cable continuous to the water contact, oxidation is isolating and to be avoided. Also it’s more important to have a clean surface when contacting the water so I would not waste money on fancy water sculptures, just wipe your terminal plate clean before water insertion.
Agree with the continuous connection. It was not possible on the 5x.
Another great video, interesting technical discussion, beautiful Stoney Lake scenery, sailors telling stories , but where was Tiller? 🤔😀🍷
There were some background squeaky toy noises!
I had the same set up on my Manta with a knuckle mount on the mast and the same cable and dispersal end. This seemed to work very well at grounding the boat to the water with a straight line top to bottom. We had a few very small lightning fingers strike taking out my wind instrument mounted atop of the mast and slightly higher then my mast top wire fuzzy ball.
It's my thinking that the boat is less likely for a strike if it has the same impedance as the surrounding water. Also the boat metal parts were not ground bonded.
Super interesting! Thanks!!!
How has your OC tender been, very light is it easy / ok in choppy waves? And how about when you bring it up on the davits. Maybe you can show a bit on this issue. Many thanks Robert
We love the tender. Like any small, light dinghy, you need to take it slow in very choppy waves. It is no better and no worse than the inflatable we had on our last catamaran that had a hard bottom. It is easy to get up on the davits, but the pully is a bit undersized. (Another improvement needed!)
Re-watching this as I ponder lightning protection for my boat. One thing to note, on the statistic about boats only getting struck while stationary.... I believe that might be a sampling effect as the majority of boats out there are not in motion.
Good point. The new owner of BioTrek will change the system. Maybe I can do a video on that.
how come with carbon fiber masts boats the builders didn't include an insulated tube straight down through the boat to run a rod into the water that can be pulled?
Cost! Ask a mast building if you need protection and they say YES.
Get the Sertec lightning prevention system. Prevents lightning altogether
Such a well informed video thank you for this information and disseminating it out to us.
Thank you.
Thank you for a very important and interesting video 🙏🍷
So nice of you
very interesting, well explained, can you do others on the fittings, on the reefing, the rotating mast?
That's the plan!
Interesting solution, most people avoid even talking about lightning strike, let alone devise a solution. One of the biggest arguments seems to be that if you make your mast an effective ground then you could be increasing its potential to "attract" a lightning strike.
I have two questions....do you know of anyone using this type of system on a cat where this has been successful (If so how successful) and, did insurance cover any of the lightning strike events or do you know of any insurance companies that take on that risk?
Yes, we have heard that argument. See Comment from Grant Grove about success. All we know is that we have never lost electronics when we leave the boat with this system in place on 3 different cats compared to suffering damage several times when there was no protection. It does not help that our mast is usually one of the the tallest around. The only insurance company that insisted on protection was one I used for a 24 ft monohull with no electronics!
I am glad I stumbled on your channel. We took the first step toward world cruising and put a down payment on a Fauntain Pajot Elba 45. I have a very technical oriented mind and I am getting ready to fit our cat with with universal electrical system (the boat was order with European electrical standards). This is how I discovered your channel watching your episode about run away current and Isolation Transformer which I am going to look seriously into. Lightning is a big concern. I was thinking of installing a lightning dissipating rod at the top of the must inspired by this episode:
th-cam.com/video/PurMG7KHdW4/w-d-xo.html
Your episode built and improved on this initial idea since Clark has a monohull and I will have a cat. I apologize if I am asking too much but I would love and very much value your opinion on adding this rod on a catamaran. Should I install one?
Send me an email via our web site to remind me. We have been without internet for almost 2 months, and right now I am awash in email. I`ll need a stronger signal to send a picture.