There is so little known about Lightning and how to route it so it does the least amount of harm
I know on missiles, they use too use a small braided wire that was grounded that would explode but gives a path for the lightning to follow, it only good for 1 strike.
I read of a steel boat that was hit in the aft end and the anchor chain blew out some links, the magnetic field erase the tape on board.
We had a case of a motor cycle rider on the freeway that was hit.
we had a 25 footer hit here and it end up with lots of pin holes at the water line.
Saw a strike that hit the middle of the lake with hill and tree all around.
I was in the middle of a storm that last for over 6 hours and knew we were dead (45 ft mast), had strikes above and all around us the whole time, like every 3 minutes. Never got hit. I am sure I aged 10 years.

It seem like lightning does pretty much as it wants.

Now you are talking about an 8 foot bar with how many hole in the hull??? Not looking for an answer.

I will be the first to say I do not know if this is a good thing or not but I sure question it.