[TowerTalk] Lightning strike...help

[VE6WZ]

I took a lightning strike at 3:00 pm local time yesterday.  My wife
described it as an "explosion" and my daughter saw a "bright white and blue
light with orange balls" floating around in a room with no windows!!!
Scared the $#*& out of the cat. Minimal damage...looks like my ground works.

I have a US tower 89' heavy-duty motorized crank-up...it was cranked DOWN.
(motor still works ok)

 Inspection of the tower shows three distinct places along my mast where the
strike hit....these marks have a scratched look as though someone has taken
a wire brush to the mast and removed some metal....only a slight scorch/
discolored look.

Question: Should I consider my mast to be mechanically compromised ? I
assume that the galvanizing is gone at these places and may be prone to rust
now.
 Anyone out here with experience about this??  Obviously i need to have some
discussions with the Insurance company.

de Steve.



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