Yes, I believe this is the reason for the thickness of the copper plate. I
ended up with a piece of copper a little thicker than required. 3/16 of an
inch is all that's called for in the specifications and may be better than
the heavier one as it will bend to conform to the hull curvature when the
bolts are torqued. At the location I bolted the plate it's relatively flat;
however as you can see in the picture there is a piece cut off at a 45
degree angle at the forward edge. I did this because the hull curve would
have left a deep space between the plate and hull.

 

A few years back I observed a boat hauled out after a lightning strike and
it had more than a dozen pin holes in the hull. I presume the lightning had
no where to go and so dispersed randomly through the fiberglass hull. By
installing this lightning system I hope the hull and metal through-hulls
will be spared and the electricity flows through the provided path.
Unfortunately, nothing is predictable or certain with lightning.

 

Rich Cassano

 

  _____

From: owner-baba-l@ballreich.net [mailto:owner-baba-l@ballreich.net] On
Behalf Of lists@collisters.com
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2006 10:49 AM
To: baba-l@ballreich.net
Subject: RE: [Baba-L] Lightning Ground Project, Tashiba 40

 

Hi Richard,

 

Great article and very interesting as I plan to fix a large copper sheet
under the hull in 2 weeks time when I lift the boat out. This was intended
to be purely for the SSB earth but your text and pictures have me thinking
now.

I have purchased a copper sheet, but it quite thin compared with what you
used, I presume the thickness is needed to carry the huge currents
associated with the Lightning

 

 

Paul C
S/V Lady Stardust, Liverpool UK
www.lady-stardust.co.uk <http://www.lady-stardust.co.uk/>

 

RE:

I posted a description and pictures of a new lightning ground system to the
Baba ftp web site. This was supposed to be a four hour project that evolved
into a much longer more involved one.

 

 




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Received on Sat Mar 25 14:31:08 2006