For several years now, lightning has been a topic of great interest.  
Obviously our needs vary depending on whether we are fresh or salt water  sailors. I 
entered into a conversation with a gentleman at the oil quick change  place 
about two weeks ago. The conversation got onto the topic of boating and he  told 
me about the Catalina 27 he sold this summer. His boat had been at the  
Western Carolina Sailing club for several years when about two years ago he  pulled 
it out of the water for some maintenance and upgrades. One of the  upgrades 
he did was to install lightning protection according to all the  information he 
could find told him to do. Yep, you guessed it. His boat was the  only one to 
be hit several months later during a storm. It didn't put a hole in  the 
bottom, but fried everything electrical on the boat, including all the wires  on 
his gas engine. He had to replace all the standing rigging because much of it  
had been burned. It was a real mess, but his repairs included removing all  
grounding equipment.
 
Rummy