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senormechanico · 12-04-2015, 15:39

This reminds me of a beautiful 1969 Porsche 911E I purchased many years ago.
It was near perfect everywhere you could see from the street, but a mechanic showed me where the front suspension was being held to the body with rust holding hands with more rust.

Reefmagnet · 12-04-2015, 15:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

homeless,

I'm also not wanting to rain on the parade, but I feel a great deal of disquiet, as it seems your hull is really almost lacy with corrosion. I hope you take a moment to consider the good advice from monte, europaflyer, and Terra Nova.

With a hull weakened by corrosion, the boat will have less resistance to flexing at sea, and that could easily open up and tear the weakened alloy.

So, I have two concerns, one is for your own well being on your trip to Singapore, and the other if for whoever you might sell the boat to. A prospective buyer deserves a sound boat, more than just a can of paint, if you get what I mean.

You've worked really hard, and that is laudable, and it would be better if you do a proper job on it.

Ann

Only certain regions of the hull will be prone to corrosion and electrolysis "sight unseen". It might be an idea to get those areas ultrasonically tested.

Reefmagnet · 12-04-2015, 15:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by senormechanico

This reminds me of a beautiful 1969 Porsche 911E I purchased many years ago.
It was near perfect everywhere you could see from the street, but a mechanic showed me where the front suspension was being held to the body with rust holding hands with more rust.

Reminds me of a freshly repainted '59 Chevy Bel-Air I brought as a young bloke. On close inspection (after purchase, of course!) it was more body filler than steel. Lesson well and truly learnt on that one!

lancelot9898 · 12-04-2015, 15:57

While the goal apparently is to sell the boat once completed, there is something important missing. Granted that the documentation telling of the work done is great, but actually showing the in-progress pictures would to me seem most useful, not the before and after pictures in which much can be hidden.

homeless · 12-04-2015, 16:14

Some strange comments above, indicating a lack of understanding of the cause and the symptoms, and a lack of clear understanding of my posts.

There was a 1mm pin hole in the middle of a plate caused by wood touching the plate, and a persistent deck leak keeping it wet. I have fixed the deck leaks and cut the wood away from the plate, which takes care of the cause, and have had a professional welder inspect the problem, then drill and spot weld the hole, which takes care of the symptom. I have cut back the foam around the hole and inspected the surrounding plate for any additional pits or deformation, and found none. The weld is on the outside of the hull and has not been faired over, so anyone inspecting the hull can see the spot weld, and anyone investigating further on the inside of the hull can see where it was drilled and welded and see the clean plate around that area. I have previously commented on this thread that I am NOT hiding any defects, and will be open and honest with future buyers.

If you think a 1mm pin hole in the middle of a plate with an obvious cause will lead to a weld failure or loss of the boat, then you are not qualified to comment. There is no thinning of plate or welds, and so no impact to structural integrity. The boat could have safely sailed around the world with a hole that small, and I only fixed it because my goal is a perfectly dry boat to avoid any future corrosion inside. I could have easily fixed it invisibly with a drip of epoxy, but believe welding is the correct resolution for issues with aluminium plate, even if the fix is obvious to future buyers. If you want to accuse me of hiding problems, or of deception, after I have gone to great lengths to explain what is being done, then I can't be surprised to receive that sort of response from unqualified people on the internet who don't know me.

**hpeer** · 12-04-2015, 16:25

We have two steel boats.

I get what you are saying.

I've seen it myself, small hole, obvious source.

homeless · 12-04-2015, 16:40

Trying to attach pic of the weld on the outside of the hull, obvious during any inspection. For some reason this site displays many of my images upside down, so will see for this one ...

senormechanico · 12-04-2015, 17:06

Upside down weld photo? UNACCEPTABLE ! <sarcasm>

captlloyd · 12-04-2015, 17:29

CF pile-on warning. With-out being there and with-out seeing pictures, a lot of folks are now experts in how to restore this boat. I have also observed how easy it is to spend other peoples money. If his intention is to sell the boat, I would think it prudent for the BUYER to have a survey, just as in any other boat sale. I know about corrosion, I built and owned a 64' Sutton designed sailboat.

stillbuilding · 12-04-2015, 19:16

I have had an old alloy yacht (lovely) and have two steel yachts now. Alloy is more at risk of pin-point deterioration for sure. Had numerous spots resulting from bits of metal debris in bilge, steel fasteners in toe rails, corrosion around the integral lead keel etc. All fixable but unless the fundamentals are addressed it is an on-going heartache. In my case a suspect minor spot near the lead keel revealed a 6" x 18" area of paper-thin alloy held together by the paint. Surely enough to sink the boat really fast - just lucky on that one.

In retrospect, I would pass on a couple of suggestions to the buyer but lost track of them.

One of my boats is a project and I share the aims of the OP in this thread. Frustrating situation cos I have to have the yacht sailable to an economically feasible yard and at the same time knowing I have to gut it back to bare metal and re-do the whole show. Some compromise required.

Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

stillbuilding · 12-04-2015, 19:22

Just one small additional note.

Alloy faults move real fast so even a pin point leak would likely prevent any long distance sailing. Almost unbelievable how fast a small piece of copper wire in a wet bilge will dig into the metal. My previous owner dropped a copper swage into the bilge - almost through 6mm in 6 months

Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

Marqus · 12-04-2015, 21:10

I enjoy reading this thread, and I don't get the impression that Homeless is, or will be, remotely deceptive about the state of his vessel.

If you give 10 experienced sailors a boat to refit on a limited budget, you will likely get ten different approaches. I am happy to read and learn from his approach, which has never come across as reckless or ignorant.

In this thread, and other similar threads on boating forums, you will always get a subset of posters that believe that there is ONLY one way to attack a problem - their way. Just have to bear with those. Sometimes, exceptionally, there may actually only be one sensible way, but mostly there are several viable ways.

Given the OP writes so intelligently and with attention to detail, I am keen to follow his progress, and hope he will continue to share his experiences with the boat as he makes his way up to Singapore, which I have no doubt he will do.

Warby12 · 12-04-2015, 21:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marqus

I enjoy reading this thread, and I don't get the impression that Homeless is, or will be, remotely deceptive about the state of his vessel.

If you give 10 experienced sailors a boat to refit on a limited budget, you will likely get ten different approaches. I am happy to read and learn from his approach, which has never come across as reckless or ignorant.

In this thread, and other similar threads on boating forums, you will always get a subset of posters that believe that there is ONLY one way to attack a problem - their way. Just have to bear with those. Sometimes, exceptionally, there may actually only be one sensible way, but mostly there are several viable ways.

Given the OP writes so intelligently and with attention to detail, I am keen to follow his progress, and hope he will continue to share his experiences with the boat as he makes his way up to Singapore, which I have no doubt he will do.

x2