Welding on a steel Ketch

[Leele Belle]

Hi all,
I have to re-weld the stanchions on my steel ketch and was hoping anyone might be able to give me any advice and tips in doing this. Is there anything I should know before I undertake to this.
Any and all advice would be great fully accepted.

Cheers
Jerome

[Sailmonkey]

How to weld would be a key bit of knowledge I would think........


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[fkittson]

You probably all ready know but I've seen it done before. MAKE SURE ALL YOUR ELECTRONIC ARE DISCONNECTED.


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[chris95040]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

How to weld would be a key bit of knowledge I would think........


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Man there is some serious snarkyness on the forum today!! lol

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by chris95040

Man there is some serious snarkyness on the forum today!! lol

Can't be helped, I'm sitting next to a drilling rig.......and am loosing patience with operations.


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[unbusted67]

Nope, you should be good to go.

[Xthewater]

My only thought is to have the ground as close to the point of welding as possible. Keeps stray currents from getting into areas not desired and causing mischief.

[Scaramanga F25]

Make sure that inside, under the stanchion base where you are welding
that there are no wood nor inflammables.
Keep wet rags near the weld spots to keep surrounding area, hull and deck, as cool as possible and prevent paint from peeling.
Do short TIG welds at a time and let cool before continuing.

[jheldatksuedu]

The stanchions on my boat have a solid pin welded to the bulwark or deck and the tubular stanchion fits over that with a through bolt to hold it in place. I'm sure a much stronger weld can be made with this construction and no pocket to hold water to rust inside the stanchion.

[reed1v]

We cut steel blocks into sharp Vs at one end and welded from that point so the entire block was welded to the deck. A lot of folks seem to think that just welding around the perimeter will do. It wont. If you want to get compulsive about it, raise the block just a bit so the entire base is welded to the deck. A direct weld is way stronger than the alternatives.

[Xthewater]

Originally Posted by Scaramanga F25

Make sure that inside, under the stanchion base where you are welding
that there are no wood nor inflammables.
Keep wet rags near the weld spots to keep surrounding area, hull and deck, as cool as possible and prevent paint from peeling.
Do short TIG welds at a time and let cool before continuing.

Don't quench else cracking.

[ventura 38]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

How to weld would be a key bit of knowledge I would think........


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maybe you should leave you smart remarks somewhere else. if you have nothing helpful to say say nothing. this forum is for people to help people.

[techmans]

What process are you going to use? Stick or flux core wire or wire -CO2?

If stick use 7024 rod.They start easily because of the iron powder in the coating and the welds are not preferentially corroded over the surrounding base metal.

If wire welding try to avoid the lower voltage settings since that would increase the likelihood of "cold" welds that are inadequately fused or not at all to the parts to be joined.

Since cold lap welds are impossible with stick welding I would stick with that if your parts have 2mm thickness or greater. Pun intended.

The greater heat input with the stick process will cause more distortion if you let it.
So, fix the stanchions solidly in place before welding if you don't want to do an alignment job after the work is finished.

Be mindful where you rest the torch; have a rubber mat around for the purpose.

[MCOS]

As previously indicated, keep ground as close to welding site as practicable. You could ground on the stanchion, strike arc on the stanchion and carry to joint. Grind off all paint and rust in area to be welded. Bevel edge of stanchion base to allow better penetration of weld. Burn 1st pass in hot. Chip out slag and grind if necessary. Fillet weld to finish. Probably a 7018 5/32 rod at 150 amps or so, DC. If the stanchion is open on top or might allow ingress of water, drill a small weep hole in lowest part of the stanchion to allow drainage. This will preclude water accumulating and freezing in the stanchion, or completely fill the void with high density urethane foam. You should be able to find a local who offers on site welding. Worth the money if you don't have access to the equipment yourself or are not up on welding - check with your boat yard. They might also frown on individuals welding or doing other major work that is not on their list of vendors. Also, post someone with fire extinguisher while welding and keep an eye on the area for a period after done in case a hot spark wandered off and found something to ignite.

10 years a mill wright and independent contract welder for another 20 yrs part time. Now retired. Good luck in your endeavor.

[S/V Alchemy]

You don't state whether you are on the hard or in the water, or whether you have a separate power supply for the weld unit, what type it is or whether you have power running to the boat while this is going on.

It's very difficult, therefore, to give a yes or no to you because of the absence of fairly critical information.

And yep, I know whereof I speak: http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...r/103_1011.jpg