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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It would seem there are as many opinions as there
are sailors - we have a copper pipe which connects below the sole from the mast
to the engine and a second copper pipe which runs under the sheer inside the
boat connecting the shrouds, stanchions to the main under sole pipe. I have
often thought about connecting them to a larger grounding bronze plate as the
two blade prop only works out to about 1.5 sq feet. Problem is of course
hydrodynamic drag on an external plate if one were located under the mast. I
feel from my reading it would need to be about 3 sq feet minimum which is
not a small item - even if one made it a few inches wide and several feet long
the sailing performance would be impaired. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I am not sure if the above would really
fully protect a boat as we actually watched a 50' IOR boat at our club get hit
and she was fully grounded - the damage was huge - chunks blown out of the
rudder, out of the hull at the chain plates which were grounded - and she
had several connections to her huge keel bolts. Lightening goes where it wants
and this boat was hit by a heavy direct hit - the lightening arched throughout
her rig - it was awesome - fortunately no one was aboard during the hit. She had
to be hauled and was in the shop for a month.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So can one realistically expect to get protection
on a glass encapsulated keel boat with the minimal size of any plate one could
offer up if a "protected" external keel boat wasn't protected?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't know the answer - but I suspect it is
no.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Look forward to the discussion.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Fair winds and a lightening free
summer.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cheers,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>John</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=timmins@optonline.net href="mailto:timmins@optonline.net">Brian and
Elaine Timmins</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=public-list@alberg30.org
href="mailto:public-list@alberg30.org">public-list@alberg30.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, March 15, 2002 7:15
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: [Alberg30] Lightning
protection</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't think the bow strip would make the
perfect lightning ground by any means (IMHO). Maybe if you reworked the
connection of this strip to the stemhead and insured a good clean electrical
connection to the forestay AND did something to radically increase the size of
the surface of the strip in the water., then maybe. I'm no expert in this
field but my feeling is that if you took a hit and the current traveled down
this strip, it would probably blow the strip off the boat. The best
looking removable protection I've seen on the web is at: <A
href="http://www.strikeshield.com/product.html">http://www.strikeshield.com/product.html</A> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't mean to endorse their product, I just
like the looks of it. If nothing else, they have some good reading on
the topic.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brian #497</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=salty@ns.sympatico.ca href="mailto:salty@ns.sympatico.ca">George
& Kathy White</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=public-list@alberg30.org
href="mailto:public-list@alberg30.org">Alberg30 Mail</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 14, 2002 8:21
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Alberg30] Lightning
protection</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>A posting to this mail group in 1999 suggested all
Alberg 30's are lightning grounded by virtue of the stainless strip running
from the stemhead down to about 3 feet below the waterline. It
connects to the forestay and thereby providing a grounding from the masthead
to the water.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Any comments as to whether this should be sufficient and
what alternatives there might be.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>George and Kathy White</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Close Harmony # 637</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>email: <A
href="mailto:salty@ns.sympatico.ca">salty@ns.sympatico.ca</A><BR>Telephone:
902 893 1080</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>