Steel Boats and Welding

[Matt sachs]

Thanks again for the input. I am dividing the empty keel in half. Only the forward half will be used for fuel, so I want to coat the inside for a little added insurance against seepage
The sides of the keel is 1/4, and I really don't know the thickness of the bottom plate. I'll check into that.
I just returned from 10 days teaching scuba in the carribean without a boat......must....get ....boat ...finished..:-)

[bcarli]

Hi
we spent six years cruising on a 48 foot steel Ted Brewer cutter. Never spent much time welding...but spent one hell of a lot of time fighting rust. One steel boat was enough for me...

[SaltyMonkey]

i love steel, but alas anything under say 34 feet is not really practical so I am moving away form em.

[Yachts66]

If treated properly rust is not such a hard thing to keep ahead of. Neglect any boat and you'll have problems regardless of what it's made of. Glass boats blister and delaminate, steel boats rust, all boats have maintenance issues regardless of what they are made of. It's very true small steel boats under 34 feet can have weight issues...just like men over 50! LOL However the Dutch build dinks out of steel, so I guess it's all about how things are built. Aluminum boats don't have the same weight issues steel boats have, so for a small boat, Aluminum might be the way to go, but then they tend to be pricey.

Regards,

Thomas

[SaltyMonkey]

True. Alum is in some ways an ideal compromise.

[Yachts66]

Not ideal, there is no such thing as "ideal" but a compromise for sure.

Thomas

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

i love steel, but alas anything under say 34 feet is not really practical so I am moving away form em.

Some Swedish biker friends sailed a steel hard chine 28ftr down to the Med in the 90's and she was no slouch... My Carter 30 at the time beat her in an informal winter cruisers rally from Agua Dulce to Almerimar... but only by a knot or so.. as a cruiser she was acceptable performance wise...

[SaltyMonkey]

Yes...ideal Y66...then I don't have to keep hearing you yell at me about "say salty steel is the best in the west" all the way across the pacific.

boatman - only a knot or so? I'll take a knot or so...and so and so...

I keep eye-ing these though

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1456&url=

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1741&url=

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=64229&url=

[Brent Swain]

Originally Posted by bcarli

Hi
we spent six years cruising on a 48 foot steel Ted Brewer cutter. Never spent much time welding...but spent one hell of a lot of time fighting rust. One steel boat was enough for me...

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Did you ever get around to sandblasting her and painting her properly?
If not, then you were the source of the maintenance problem, not the steel.
My current boat is 26 years old with the original paint job on her, as good as the day I first painted her, except the few places where it has been chipped . I started with wheel abraded and primed steel, covered with 30 gallons of epoxy tar, on a 31 footer. Maintenance since has averaged about an hour a year. Never had to worry about welded on fittings working loose ,a major problem on non metal boats . Nothing ever breaks on her, unlike on non metal boats.
After nearly 35 years on steel boats , I'll never consider going to sea in anything else. Too much stuff floating out there which can sink a non metal boat , but not a steel one.

With so many very successful steel cruisers under 34 feet, some under 30, when anyone says, according to his calculations , steel is impractical under 30 feet , his calculations are way out. Every successful smaller boat is proof he is dead wrong.
Outdated, imitation wooden boat building methods are usually the source of the problem.

[SaltyMonkey]

Ok Im sold again

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Yes...ideal Y66...then I don't have to keep hearing you yell at me about "say salty steel is the best in the west" all the way across the pacific.

boatman - only a knot or so? I'll take a knot or so...and so and so...

I keep eye-ing these though

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1456&url=

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...g_id=1741&url=

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi..._id=64229&url=

I would add these:

1990 Brewer Murray Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1984 Murray Custom Built Steel Cutter Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1994 Murray Cutter Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1983 Murray Sloop***REDUCED*** Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

1982 Ganley Snowbird Junk Rig Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

[ninethlife]

Greetings, here's a boat I built singlehandedly in 87. The last picture was taken last year. Boat building days

[S/V Alchemy]

Originally Posted by ninethlife

Greetings, here's a boat I built singlehandedly in 87. The last picture was taken last year. Boat building days

Nice work! Who drew it?

[ninethlife]

Ted Brewer Alaska 43 Ted lived in Anacortes where I built it. Funnest thing I ever did.

[S/V Alchemy]

Amazing. I got into boating via an old friend who bought a Goderich 40, a steel round chine ketch designed by Ted's former partner Bob Wallstrom in the late '70s. Four were built and one of them was the first private yacht to the former Leningrad and the first private yacht to cross Hudson's Bay.

My steel boat, while not designed by Ted or Bob, bears a "family resemblance" to yours:




You can't see it here, but I also have a transom-hung aluminum rudder on a hydraulic ram that has a bypass so I can tiller-steer with a windvane:



May I ask if, having built the thing, there is anything you wished you'd done differently or perhaps rectified later on that would have been better done during the build?