Quote:
Originally Posted by mallo
Hi sailingdog
Thanks for that, I think its possible to weld the copper to the steel, (I have welded copper pipe to stainless before with quite good results, however I haven’t to steel, I can feel an experiment coming on!!) but I was going for stainless steel as it would stay clean easier, if I weld tinned copper to the frame the tinning will just burn up.
If the stainless is a poor conductor how does the steel rate??
Would I be better just welding a piece of steel or trying to clean up an area on the frame and greasing it to keep it clean and corrosion free?
As the rest of the steel hull is the ground I was thinking a small area of a stainless steel lug wouldn’t have made that much difference.
Thanks for the suggestion of epoxying the copper that’s probably a good idea knowing what copper goes like on a boat….
We have very dry bilges (the joys of a steel boat) as I find it a good way of cutting back on corrosion.
Thanks again for your help
Michael
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Michael, ordinary black steel is a good conductor, as is copper.
My suggestion (least messy) would be:
1. Clean a small square patch of stringer or rib back to shiny bare metal
2. Through-bolt a copper 'tag' (piece of 1.6mm copper bar or strap and pre-tinned if you can get it) over the patch using an ordinary steel (
not galvanised!) bolt + washers either side + spring washer to hold it all tight.
3. Prime &
paint the entire thing using metal primer and your usual top coat.
If you can't get tinned copper in your neck of the woods, bare copper is fine - just prime &
paint it.
Epoxy is nice but messy and won't flex like primer will without cracking off.
As SD pointed out, don't use ever stainless for electrical connections - basically they won't work.
The above procedure is used by the major oil companies to fix earth straps to
fuel storage tanks nearly every second day all over the world, so it should work for you as well, I'd have thought..
