Thunderstorms and Airstreams

[Rick56Safari]

I originally thought of this question one night during a rather terrific thunderstorm in the Highland lakes area of Central Tx.
I know my tow vehicle is grounded by the four wheels and no metal to ground contact BUT what about a parked Air Stream with the tongue jack and wheel in place and four metal jacks supporting the front and rear areas of the trailer? We were also hooked up to water and electric at the time. To me this spelled disaster if we should take a lightening strike.

So, the question is: How safe are you in a tin can during an electrical storm??

[HowieE]

Can you say Antenna?

Odds are the trees around you are more likely to take the hit being higher but I would not want to park on a bald hilltop with the TV antenna up.

Just don't hang on to the skin of the trailer during the storm.

My house was hit years ago and the bolt came in through the corner of the livingroom, 3 pieces of wire lath converged at the ceiling, and rolled across the floor between my wife and I. I left a 3 in dia. whole in the ceiling, ran the garage door up, and blow out one channel of the Hi Fi amp. We felt nothing.

[mandolindave]

There were a few different points of view. I was nearby when lightning struck a tree near my friends camper. The lightning went underground and came up under her matt and arched between her metal lawnchairs, fried her electrical system and sent Saint Elmos Fire along some speaker cables and made the soundmans hair stand on end. No branches landed on her or her camper.
You do the math, I don't want to be under trees or out in the open during a thunderstorm.
But to answer your question, the jury is out as to whether an Airstream is safer than an SOB trailer.

[CanoeStream]

Here are some threads on the subject:
Lightning storm question
Lightning
SAFETY : >>>>Lightning Strikes<<<<
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f48/...ream-5542.html
http://www.airforums.com/forums/f463...ing-33820.html

Don't forget about wind and trees overhead.

[rickandsandi]

While at a rally a few years ago we had a very strong thunderstorm pass. Aftere the light show an old timer Airstreamer came over and pointed out that our AS was not properly setup for surviving such a storm. I had leveling blocks under the front jack and under all four stabalizing legs. What we needed was a grounding cable from the frame into a stake in the ground. Now we always make sure we have at least two of the legs into the dirt when weather is predicted. Many years ago I had a new Loran unit and PC set up in our sail boat. We had the system "professionaly" installed along with a new sea antena. Some time afterwards while docked at the marina a big storm passed and sure enough the "Medalist" was struck. The charge went down the antena lead toasted every single wire in the boat ($6,500 in wiring alone) and to make things worse through the shore line connection and down the dock!

[Leipper]

Any earth grounding you may or may not use while camping is not going to make a whit of difference to a lightning bolt.

Your safety comes from the fact that an electrical currents will flow on the outside of your Airstream. Stay inside and don't stick your hand out the window to see how wet things are getting.

The major hazard to RV's in storms comes from falling or blowing debris.

If you have any electrical or electronic equipment you value, unplug it from everything until after the storm.

[Rick56Safari]

Great thread responses Thank you !! , I don't feel much safer about being in my Air Stream during a electical storm now, but I understand it a whole lot better. LOL I think I did the right thing at the time by vacating the Air Stream. Next time I will park along side some of those huge Motor Homes and hope I am the lowest thing in the park.
Before I posted the original note I did a search and didn't find a thing about it anywhere else. Thanks Canoestream for your inputs.