The Age of Steel

[Dewey Benson]

Back to Steel. I rather like the stuff. For the most part it is strong, malleble, ductile stuff. Properly prepped when new I believe it can exceed 30 years without major refinising if appropriate care is applied. Special interests of maintenence will included electrolisys prevention, and interior plumbing. Small plumbing leaks can become big problems as water (both fresh and salt) will collect along seams of frames and rust the hull from the inside out.

If you are purchacing used see how much access one can gain to the inside of the hull to inspect any area where water can collect. It's pretty easy to see the exterior condition when hauled. Areas that cant be poked and prodded or seen very well inside should have a lot of ultrasound attention by way of those spots.

A nice thing about steel is a good welding shop can be found in even the less industrial areas of the world, and reasonable repairs be affected. Maintainence must be done quickly and responsibly. Schatches digs dents sould have their coatings attended to at first opportunity.

Hope this helps.

Dewey

[sailandoar]

Our project is a steel boat that was built in 1990 and only the places that were severely abused and neglected need attention. As long as moisture was not allowed to sit/puddle for years the blasted and painted steel looks as good today as did when it was built. The design needs to minimize 'puddling places' and maximize access for inspection and maintenance if needed. Not easy to do but possible. There are some construction methods that eliminate longitudinal stringers that are the main 'puddle places' and these methods are well worth examining. (1) old fashioned dutch rolled 'fair/rounded' hull with only transverse frames. (2) Origami/Fairmetal hull construction.
Jimmy Cornell "Mr. Round the World" has a shallow draft aluminum hull with bilge keels that I think is a 'Fairmetal' hull.

Best
G

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Did you know that steel boats usually die from 'interior rust'. Little puddle pockets. The hulls are very fixable at that point but the interior needs to come out generally and who wants to bother.

[dawndreamer]

In 2000, we bought a Dutch steel cruising yacht built in 1972-73 for rivers, canals and Mediterranean. During our six years of exploring the 7500 kilometres of inland waterways in France, we met dozens of fellow canal boaters on steel vessels built in the 1890s and early 1900s. There are also hundreds of newer canal boats dating from the 1920s and 30s. We sold our comparatively very young 33 year-old steel boat this spring for substantially more than we had paid for her.

[sailingdog]

Some of the newer boats have a steel hull and aluminum deck/superstructure. The join is via strip of laminated steel, titanium and aluminum. I personally like the idea of a copper/nickel alloy boat...but the metal is far more expensive than steel or aluminum.

[sailandoar]

Copper/Nickel is a nearly ideal metal for boat building.


Except for the cost! Just a few have been built.