One concern that I have not seen addressed... When I built our boat, I was an ABYC member, and I "lightning grounded" the mast and rigging according to ABYC standards. In the 15 years "out there" since, I have known of dozens of boats that were hit by lightning, and several within 100' of our boat. (Talk about a sphincter factor of 10)!
If one uses non conductive rigging, does the risk of side flashes killing the occupants, go up or down? How about melting the top 1' of synthetic rigging? (I have seen melted VHFs, & tricolor lights).
Have enough boats rigged with synthetic rigging, but otherwise having a WELL grounded Aluminum mast, been hit by lightning, to see a pattern of the rig remaining intact?
In my neck of the woods, over the lifetime of the boat, it has about a 40% chance of being hit! I've just never seen it discussed...
Mark
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02-16-2011, 05:28 AM
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