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Pros and cons of steel sailboats

909K views 5K replies 127 participants last post by  Faster 
#1 ·
I'm thinking about making the leap from fiberglass to steel for our next sailboat. We want to do some far flung cruising - maybe even circumnavigate. Our present boat is a 1977 Tartan 37 and while we love it - since we've had a child and possibly will have another one on the way it might get a bit small for a liveaboard situation.
This summer I drove a big, old steel tour boat around the finger lakes and started thinking that steel might be a good way to get my family around the big marble.
I've spent a week in the Caribbean on a glorious aluminium boat but have never sailed a steel one, so I have lots of questions about their performance as cruising boats?
What are some of the better designers to keep and eye out for?
How good are they in the hot climates?
Are there any extra dangers in lightning?
Thanks for any and all advice you can give.
 
#4,165 ·
Bob,

From 3-4 miles high on a hill.......hard to say, but I think I did. I looked at G dock, but did not see a mast as I would suspect FL to have. Probably should have walked down the gas dock.

Walk was with King Charles Cavalier spaniels. pic of mr winston below!

back to filling out resume for a job I am applying to that will hopefully pay and be a bit better than I have!

Marty
 
#4,176 ·
I just got on this site because I was interested in purchasing an upper end 57' Steel Ketch down in KK Malaysia. I am beginning to think I am wasting my time as all I have read about is a bunch fools paying way too much attention and feeding this troll Brent who's only claim to fame is building extremely unsightly vessels he puts together from stuff he finds in the junk yard so he can then sell to another unsuspecting fool. He then sails off into the sunset for a year until the dust settles before returning to start collecting junk for his next victim. Just a bit of advise fellas, ignore as if he does not exist, make him invisible and he will go away, no BS, LOL. One thing I can assure you, I spent 30 years building custom homes in St. Augustine. Most of these were on the beach, many in the Coastal Construction Zone. If my company statement included that we could throw down a house in three months and save you a bunch of money using materials we found laying around and discarded, how long could I have stayed in business? Forget him already, he's a hack and nobody is going to inflict more damage on his reputation than the self-inflicted damage that he has already done. Reply if you want Mr. Swain but my opinion stands, reading your crap is a painful to the eyes as the vessel you build, I refuse to reward your bad behavior. You are deleted.
 
#4,197 · (Edited)
Then why are the strongest advertisers and proponents for my boats the people who put the most miles and years on them, and my only critics those with no such experience? .Why did Winston ,veteran of a circumnavigation choose one of my 36 footers for his pacific circle cruise, then another for his NW passage trip then a third, and his daughter choose one of mine ? Why did Steve, after having sailed from BC to New Zealand and back, choose one of mine for his Cape Horn to Aleutians and back cruise?
Sorta blows your theory!

Man, finally getting some good winds! Burned barley a sniff of diesel since Ladysmith! Great sailing lately!
 
#4,182 ·
Shank:
I know that boat is shoal draft with a lifting keel. I look at that photo and I don't see a single white cap. I figure it's probably blowing maybe 12 TWS. I see the main down and the boat well heeled. In the end I wonder how stiff the boat is and well it can carry sail.

I like the look of the boat I'd offer $150,000 USD below ask. But I';d do some research into the stability characteristics of the boat first. There may be a reason this nice boat is on the market.
 
#4,185 ·
Shank:
I'd start by contacting the design and letting him know you have stability and sail carrying concerns. I would ask if there is any VPP (Velocity Prediction Program) data available. These would indicate sail carrying power but would need someone familiar with the data to interpret them. I would let the designer and the broker know that you are not interested in a tender vessel. Of course they can fib and it will fall on you to determine the actual stability feel of the boat during sea trials which are seldom conclusive.
 
#4,200 ·
It has always been my experience in life that people that are really on their game, at the top of their field of expertise, never feel compelled to constantly state how wonderful they are. Likewise insecure individuals who fail to achieve a consensus of success to which they feel entitled overcompensate by doing just that, continually expounding how they are the best and brightest. To be humble and allow ones work to speak for itself is the greatest success anyone can achieve.
 
#4,202 ·
I pulled the trigger and traded for the vessel. Anxious to spend some time down in Malaysia in the coming months. I am exploring the possibility of forming a fractional partnership with two other individuals to share use of the vessel along with the lifetime membership in one of, if not the finest, 5 star resort golf course & marinas in the South China Sea. Any experience with that sort of arrangement?
 
#4,204 ·
First let me say waves are not measured in feet and inches, but in increments of fear. Mr. Swain has never paddled out in 12' surf and never will. A twelve foot wave breaking on coral typically would have a 20'-24' face. His contention that one of his little boats withstood 16 days getting pounded before being successfully dragged across the reef back out to sea through these same breaking waves is not the testimony of a sane individual.
 
#4,206 ·
Brent:
Frank is strip planked and glued. Fasteners were used to hold the strips in place for gluing. The everything inside and out was covered in a layer of protective GRP for abrasion. Deck is grp skins over foam core. The interior is all cored panels. Keel floor structure is welded steel. In the end I think you'd have to call it "composite" construction ranging from red cedar to carbon fibre. Of course, by your rules, you have ZERO experience in this style of construction so you cannot possibly have anything of value to say about it. So don't bother wasting our time with your comments. Play by your own rules.
 
#4,209 ·
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