Feeling 286S stern tube material

[greeny]

Friend has just had a stern tube failure due to corrosion on her 286s Feeling. Fortunately she was on hand to run bilge pumps and get her lifted out.
Stern tube has been removed but here in portugal there seems to be a lack of information or supplier around, although there must be, and its just a matter of finding the right person. My usual contacts are drawing a blank at the moment.
I am travelling back to uk tomorrow and can easily bring one back with me if I can get one in time. Any suggestions or recommends welcome.
Can anyone comment on what material I'm looking for? Maybe Viv? Its suggested here that it's brass but can't believe that. I've also seen composite grp ones in the past so that option may be a consideration.
I'm not involved in doing the work because I leave tomorrow for a couple of weeks, or I'd have had it totally in bits by now. For now "hands off" but trying to help her by identifying and sourcing a replacement.

 

[vyv_cox]

Many are brass, hard to believe but there it is. Try TNorris for a better option.

 

[greeny]

Thanks Viv.

 

[greeny]

Seems the longest one at T Norris is 10 inches and for narrow boat. Wrong diameters as well. Once I get back to UK I will call them and see what they can suggest. The one we want is about 55cms long. I need to go and get accurate measurements laters.

 

[Tranona]

lakesterngear.co.uk/catalogue.pdf page 5 onwards

 

[greeny]

lakesterngear.co.uk/catalogue.pdf page 5 onwards

Thanks, Longer tubes here but not direct replacements for the tube section. Will pass on to the "engineer" and see if he can use one of them with a bit of adaptive ingenuity. Thanks again.

 

[greeny]

Finally got a hands on look at the tube. 40mm dia. 2 mm wall thickness. Simple. Looks as though it may be silver soldered or similar into the end/external boss. Should be easy to obtain a length, cut and solder in I'm thinking. Sometimes I don't understand the difficulty these relatively simple jobs seem to be to our continental cousins. They have the workshop, they have oxy-acet. Think they make it sound hard to push the price up??? Then they say they can't get 40mm brass tube in Portugal. So I'll bring them some from UK. Then they don't know what silver solder is. So now I have to source that and determine the correct one for them to use. Any advice on that?

 

[vyv_cox]

Beware galvanic corrosion between brass and silver solder. Higher silver content solders are better for corrosion but need higher heat input. Use plenty of sealant when refitting into the hull.

 

[greeny]

Beware galvanic corrosion between brass and silver solder. Higher silver content solders are better for corrosion but need higher heat input. Use plenty of sealant when refitting into the hull.

Thanks Viv. Is siver solder the best option then or should i be sourcing something else?
Ill probably get it in uk while im here and take it back with me. What would you say is a good silver content for this job then?

 

[vyv_cox]

Brazing might be a better option to resist galvanic corrosion but information about this is scarce. I would go for brazing with copper-phosphorus rods. Lots of info here Brazing copper and copper alloys Brazing copper and copper alloys. Sorry it is USA based with temps in degrees F but that should not matter a lot. Copper is anodic to brass but not by a lot, so hopefully should last well.

OTOH silver is quite noble compared to brass so might be a better choice, weaker but this may not matter. Your welders may not be familiar with it and will probably prefer to braze.

 

[greeny]

I've got some brazing rods and flux in garage from a job years ago. I'll take them back with me just in case. The old tube joint looks like it's been silver soldered but I guess it won't matter that much whichever we use.