Quote Originally Posted by George
Any protection suggestions would be greatly appreciated
How much current do you need ?

I put a 68Ohm 1W resistor in series to a 47uH coil in the input in order to lower the shortcurrent of the following parts. Then I use a 30V SOIV in parallel to a Transil (P6KE33A) towards Gnd.

Using a 78xx is a bit difficult. Maybe it is good to place a 1N4007 across Vin and Vout in order to protect the device. The 78xx is dead, if the input is connected to Gnd (Power-Off or shortened to Gnd) while the capacitator at Vout is still charged.