Steel beams in the Leopards

[aqfishing]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Putting steel beams into cats is laughable. The only justification is cost savings. It won't be stainless due to cost. I believe Lagoon also used steel beam starting with the L39 to support the aft mast. What a joke[emoji849]
Steel when contacted by the catalysts used in fiberglassing, corrodes very aggessively.

IMO, after having discussions with NA on this issue, there is no reason carbon composite structures could not have been used to achieve the same stiffness design goals. The reason carbon isn't used is cost & time, pure and simple.

“ Steel when contacted by the catalysts used in fiberglassing, corrodes very aggessively.”

Sorry to say but that is garbage. We have been using steel frames wrapped in GRP on various structural areas on our commercial GRP fishing vessels for many many years with no hassles. In fact one guy used mild steel square tubing as the main cross beams that held the 2 hulls together of his 60ft GRP cat. After about 15 years he thoughts he better grind open and check their condition. They were almost new. This was regular mild steel, not even galvanised. Not painted either otherwise you cannot glass over it. Also when we have done modifications and had to cut or remove them the steel has always been fine, even after many years.


Cheers.