Check a Steel Hull without a Haul Out ?

[Chief Engineer]

Randy Jordan in Baltimore can Probably give you a good lead.

[lorenzo b]

Keep in mind that testing the thickness of bottom steel is just a spot check. Had mine done when on the hard to check the fish hold area and it seemed okay until my wife power washed the bottom while I was knocking off foam insulation inside and I got wet.
I ended up putting new steel on that whole section.
There is no such thing as a cheap boat, but I chose steel because all the working boats seemed to be steel and I wanted something solid. Welding is pretty easy to learn and fun.

[hpeer]

Yup, ditto that. I found a "spot" that we ended up cutting out and redoing. The boat had an ultrasound, about 120 "spots" were checked, one within inches of "this" spot.

Ultrasounds are OK. Finding a really good steel surveyor is hard. If he it to do a really, really good job then you will be looking at probably two days.

Steel rusts from the inside out. Get yourself inside, crawl around, look at every spot that could have had some long term drip. From the sink, from a through hull, from a stanchion fitting, from a bow light. Pull up every floor board, look for newly painted areas.

I developed a good bit of rust on my Murray 33 because of a radar mast. Water came down the wire, into the base of the mast, there it dripped down the wire into the hull. Since I leave the boat in a remote area it took me 6 years to find the source of the leak. One year it damn near filled the hull to the floor boards. After that I had a bung hole cut in her for insurance.

[ViribusUnitis]

Originally Posted by lorenzo b

Keep in mind that testing the thickness of bottom steel is just a spot check. Had mine done when on the hard to check the fish hold area and it seemed okay until my wife power washed the bottom while I was knocking off foam insulation inside and I got wet.
I ended up putting new steel on that whole section.
There is no such thing as a cheap boat, but I chose steel because all the working boats seemed to be steel and I wanted something solid. Welding is pretty easy to learn and fun.

Is the ultrasound gauge even worth it in that point?