CONSIDERATIONS for marine lightning protection (PART ONE)
July 9, 2013
Panama City, Panama
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| Lightning over Isla Del Rey, Las Perlas, Panama from our anchorage at Espiritu Santo |
Allow me to vent a bit. Recently, I created a survey of cruisers’ experiences with lightning and their attitudes and beliefs with regards to marine lightning protection systems (MLPS), and submitted it to various forums and cruisers networks. Amazingly, I was booted out of certain entities, accused of doing “market research.” Later, as I had the survey completed and compiled, having spent dozens of hours reviewing the literature and getting an education on the subject, I responded to some inane comment on a forum, tantamount to “See, they have an MLPS and STILL got hit”and referred the reader to white papers and scientific articles on the subject. Again I got booted off the forums. Not that I care, since in that particular 48-hour period I had over 1,100 hits on the blog (an another 1,200 the following day) with the majority focusing on lightning. But I wonder what is this attitude against the search for knowledge in a subject that most boaters consider as “Voodoo.”
Well, I’m no witch and lightning protection is no Voodoo. Communication towers are under mandate to protect their towers and their equipment from damage from lightning strikes. They may be fined if their service is excessively disrupted. Consequently, communication companies take lightning protection seriously and spend big bucks on the issue. You can Google the subject and study the depth of information and layers of protection that are fostered upon communication towers. It’s not so with the boaters and boat builders. Yacht builders are under no obligation to provide any kind of lightning protection for their yachts. Very few cruisers spend the time to get an education on the subject. Even fewer are willing to spend the money to protect their boats, crew and equipment.
Granted, the information on the Internet is confusing. But with a bit of time and perseverance, one can pick through the harvest of data and separate the wheat from the chaff. In an attempt to do so, I’m presenting you with a two-part blog. The first part is the result of the survey I conducted while in Panama. The second part is a discussion of the various considerations for lightning protection.
PART ONE _ LIGHTNING PROTECTION SURVEY RESULTS
Since I have no commercial ties to any of the entities I refer to in my blog, I feel confident to present the results of this survey and my own comments and reflections, all free of commercial bias. In conducting this survey, I have been careful to protect the identities of the participants. I’ve also, to my capacity, tried to follow basic scientific principles. For this reason, I do not intend to draw a cause-to-effect conclusion. I will simply leave the events and casualties be on a co-incidental level. The reader, if he so desires, will draw (or not) his or her own conclusions.
This, my dear reader, is an eye opener. Nothing more. Food for thought. Data to fill your think tank. In the next blog, we will review the considerations for fitting or not fitting our yachts with a marine lightning protection system. But for now, let’s see what other cruisers have experienced. For this, I thank the CRUISERS ONLINE NETWORK for allowing me to conduct the survey and for the members’ answers and comments; I also thanks all the boaters from my personal address book, MIT professors, international physicists, and Happy Hour fellows who participated, sharing their thoughts, knowledge, and stories.
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| World lightning zones index |
SURVEY RESULTS
1 – Participants
N = 21 owners representing 24 yachts
18 yachts had experienced one or more lightning event, for a total of 21 events
6 yachts had no event
2 - Lightning zones Index (LZI)
Index | 120 | 100 | 80 | 60 | 30 | 20 | 10 |
Events | 2 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
(1 unknown)
3 – Situation
Anchored | Moored | Docked | Underway | On the hard |
14 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
4 – Direct or Indirect strike (perceived and reported)
Direct = 9
Indirect = 10
Unknown = 1
There did not seem to be any correlation between the directness of the strike and the total amount of damage to the boat.
The “Direct” vs. “Indirect” issue is, in my opinion, largely subjective. It can be difficult to assess whether a yacht suffers a direct (i.e. overhead, “bolt out of the blue,”) or indirect (“spill-over” surface discharge, "white ball".) In crowded anchorages, several yachts may be involved in the same “direct” strike. Although one yacht might sustain the “first” strike, neighboring yachts may also send upwards streamers and attach to subsequent downward leaders, also suffering direct strikes. But the owner might perceive it as indirect. An “indirect” strike can come from surface discharge on top of the water, which might also, conceivably (but not for sure) travel underwater and affect neighboring yachts.
5 – Damage
Reported damage ranged between $100 and over $100,000.
- One case of engine room fire with health consequences for the owner;
- One case of pinholes in the hull;
- One case of holed zinc anode;
- One case of blown caprails, exploded LED lights, exploded TV screen;
- Two cases of arcing across the deck
- Most common loss of VHF radio, wind sensor/processor, and most sensitive electronics (Autopilot, depths sounder, AIS, radar)
- Three cases of blown or discharged batteries
6 – Insurance _ Had insurance or reported to their insurance company
7 Yes
7 No
4 unknown
7 – Marine Lightning Protection
a) Non-event: Of the 6 yachts who had never been hit,
- 4 yachts (2 owners) had protection, all Static Electriciy Dissipators (SED)
- 1 yacht had no protection and has no intention to add any.
b) Events: Of the 21 reported events,
i _ Protected:
- 5 yachts had some kind of protection:grounded shrouds, bonded metal or grounded mast.
- 3 had SEDs
- 1 had a full system, air terminals, electrodes and full bonding (in both events)
ii _ Non protected: 12 yachts had no kind of protection
8 - Changes after being hit – Of the 18 yachts affected, 14 answered this question.
- 8 who had no protection did not add any kind of protection
- 2 who had no protection added some kind of protection
- 3 who had protection kept and/or improved their protection system
Improvements in MLP were:
- 1 added SED;
- 1 fitted his new yacht with air terminals and full bonding;
- 3 added arrestors and/or surge protectors on major electronics, electrical and RF equipment
Changes in general yacht configuration included:
- Some considered or added wireless sensors and quick disconnect at the base of the mast.
- One disabled his entire navigation suite and switched to iPad and iPhone apps.
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| Dynamic cloud: lightning strike was intense in the "back" of this cloud at Isla Espiritu Santo |
INTERESTING COMMENTS
- “BOLT OUT OF THE BLUE” - This is the most dangerous and potentially damaging kind of strike (see BOLT) –
- a steel trawler underway off Nicaragua [LZI=80], 20 miles away from the cell. The strike appears to have entered through the engine room intake and caused an electrical fire in the engine room. “[the boat] is steel which they say saved my life… I did suffer medical effects due to the chemical toxins in the wiring which consumed my entire boat during the fire.”
- “WHITE BALL” or “The Roller” (see TORRO)
- our own fiberglass power catamaran, while side-tied to a steel trawler in Asuncion [LZI =120] was engulfed by a white ball. The ball struck the yacht club’s parking lot, rolled across the lot, into the water, parted in the back of the catamaran and kept traveling forward. Amazingly, we suffered no injury nor boat damage. Perhaps this was due to the fact that we were side-tied to a steel trawler, or due to the fact that our hulls are fitted with Siedarc electrodes. Perhaps we were safe because our entire boat is bonded and we are literally inside a Faraday Cage. We were five adults on board, sipping our “Bon Voyage” Champagne. The light was so white that our champagne looked like silver bubbles.
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| Perception... did the bolt strike land or the yacht's railing? |
- ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS
- “The reports we have read have not convinced us that protection systems work. We always try to anchor next to someone with a taller mast.”
- “Efficacy of systems seems questionable; can cause more problems than solutions. If you don’t want to get hit by lightning stay away from areas with lots of lightning.”
- “The odds are low; better have insurance and let the insurance pay for the damage.”
- “Once you get hit, you have no way to guide the charge where you want it to go. It is very powerful and unpredictable. All the efforts should be devoted to avoiding to get hit. This is much simpler and achievable [SEDs]… Lightning protection is not directing the lightning where you want it to go. It is preventing the lightning from striking.”
- “Nothing works. For a direct hit with millions of volts and tens to hundreds of thousands of amps will go everywhere. Air ionizes and becomes a conductor. You know what we call the green bonding wire in that scenario? A fuse.”
- “[Nothing is] effective… So in my opinion, the best protection against lightning is an insurance policy that will pay for the damages in a reasonable amount of time with the less amount of hassle.”
- INSURANCE POINT OF VIEW
- “Lightning dissipators at the top of the mast… are virtually useless. There is no way to protect your boat against lightning. The only thing you can do is protect your pocketbook against lightning by having proper coverage.”
- “When we left for the Carribean in 2002, [our insurance company] insisted I install an ion dissipator on our masthead…When we returned to the States in 2010… we asked our new insurance company their recommendation, they told us they had none, so we removed [the SED].
Finally, my favorite…. “It’s a crapshoot… do what makes you feel good!”
Well, what makes me feel good it to gain as much knowledge on a subject that is so nebulous to most of us, boaters. Ignorance can kill as surely as a lightning bolt. I’ve spent my entire working career in the medicine and science field. The term “INFORMED DECISION” is ingrained in my brain. So, in the next blog, I will share the results of my information search on the subject of marine lightning protection, with links and bibliography, presenting the pros and cons, the good, the bad and the ugly! Anybody who cares to chime in, go ahead!
Until next blog
dominomarie