I totally agree with Danny, especially about lightning having "APPARENT"
substantial mass and momentum.  Over the years we've installed dozens of
lightning protection systems.  Insuring all bends have a large, smooth
radius is very important.  I attended the George Washington University
Grounding Bonding Shielding and Transient Protection program as well as the
Polyphaser program and have taught quite a few impromptu classes on the
subject.

One other thing; lightning will bounce right around is a high impedance
connection.  Make certain all connections are liberally coated (on the
threads and mating surfaces) with an anticorrosive conductive coating like
penetrox or coprshield.

Thunderous Regards to All...

Frank & Claudette Weismantel
Boatless for a While Longer

-----Original Message-----
From: trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawler-world-list-admin@lists.samurai.com]On Behalf Of Meyer, Danny
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 6:56 PM
To: trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com
Cc: 'GYMKIDD319@aol.com'
Subject: TWL: RE: Easy Lightning Protection

(snip)

(snip)
I drilled a 3/8" hole in  one base leg and added a bolt and nut plus a
wingnut. A 12 foot length of #4 battery cable was fitted soldered with
connectors at each end and a big zinc fastened to one end. When bad
lightning approaches, I just fasten the wire to the wing nut and
drop the big zinc overboard.
(endsnip)

As a commercial electrician and avid boater in the "lightening belt" I have
worked on several houses and many large commercial buildings and been on two
different boats that have been struck. Lightening does some really amazing
things. From some of the paths I have seen it travel, I conclude that the
above approach has real potential to work, it seems (from the messes I have
had to clean up) that once it finds a path, that is where the major current
flow goes. It may cause equipment damaging surges and such throughout the
structure, but the lethal, fire causing, hole drilling aspects of it tend to
stay on one major path, even if the initial conductor of that energy has
vanished in a cloud of vaporized copper.

The advice I would give, again based on the messes I have had to rewire,
would to be to make sure that your "easy path" you create as in the example
above, has very few bends, and NO RIGHT ANGLES in the wiring or connectors.
I have seen current paths that were followed with little damage until a hard
right angle was made, and there the energy kept going straight, blowing out
of the conductor, leaving the path, and doing condiderable damage.

Really odd stuff. And I know better from extensive electrical theory and
engineering education, but at those potentials it seems to me to behave as
if it has substantial mass, and momentum. It strongly resists changes in
direction.

My two cents worth.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer
http://cuagain.manilasites.com