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Advantages of Cruising in a Steel Sailboat?

31K views 17 replies 16 participants last post by  harmonic 
#1 ·
Are there any substantial advantages to cruising in a steel sailboat? How about protection in a grounding? Any cruisers have experiences with steel sailboats they can relate?
 
#3 ·
Nothing tougher...
 
#6 ·
There is an advantage with steel in terms of hitting coral or rocks versus sand, in that steel may well withstand it. Sure I guess some will say that should not happen but charts are often unreliable.

2 However seemingly minor damage has to be dealt with in both cases - rust versus osmosis.

3 Repairs are relatively easily done by any welder.
However properly protecting from rust is difficult and relatively sophisticated but then so is osmosis protection.

In smaller sizes like less than 40 ft the hulls tend to be heavy without the centre of gravity being lower.

Often they are homebuilt and finished and it shows.

In short, they can be ok if you expect to hit coral or rocks, & consider that their life cycle can be limited. So can that of other boats if you consider the value of replacing different components or say proper osmosis treatment which may be uneconomic.

So an older boat may not be cheap when the value after repairs is considered steel or not.

You may well hit rocks and coral depending on where you cruise. Otherwise you will hit mud and sand. In the former case steel might be useful.

There is no free lunch. A lot of steel boats will have been built by people short of a buck. A lot of other boats will be owned by people who did not spend the bucks required. Either way expect to either scrimp by, ie adapt your sailing to that to which the boat is suited or spend $$.
 
#10 ·
Our decision to take steel was based on a number of factors, but one of the more persuasive ones was the ability to do deck repairs and hull damage in far-off locals (there's welders everywhere, but not good glassers), and the very simple observation that a large percentage of "expedition yachts" are aluminum or steel. We know we've got a heavy boat (Saturday's weight on the crane with empty water and full diesel was 29,500 lbs.), but we have confidence in her, and attitude is really a large part of successful sailing.

Even so, I am doing some extensive modifications of the tankage to get her a little stiffer, as I feel that I can get a bit more out of the sail plan if I lower the CG a bit, not to mention the motoring range extension I will get with a third fuel tank.

Keeping on top of rust is an issue, yes, but not an onerous one if you try to keep a clean boat. For some of the concerns involved, I would suggest reading "Metal Corrosion in Boats".
 
#11 ·
Steel boats can also be quite noisy as in hull slap noisy.

A lot will depend on the fitout. If it is minimal there will be less sound deadening from interior fittings.

Before we filled up Ravens lazarette/cockpit locker she was bloody loud when wash came in from behind. Now there is so much crap in there it's not such a problem.

Provided a steel boat has been built to a professional standard all should be well. Although I'm not a great fan on ferro at any time, it is fair to say that it is the crappy amateur built boats that give both ferro and steel a bad name.

Oh yes, one of the other things you need to get used to with steel is that a large proportion of steel boats are hard or multi chine giving them a look that has been likened to floating origami. Chined hulls take a bit of getting used to and they are most certainly not as pretty as round bilge.

If I ever found a really nice 40 odd foot round bilger methinks I'd be headed in that direction. Sell everything and buy buy buy.

Mind you , apparently chined hulls are the coming thing in the racing world.
 
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