Should I be concerned...3.2mm steel thickness

[KellysEye]

>Having the shell plating only spot welded to the frames is unusual, because it means that the shell plating is likely to be inadequately supported. There are also plenty of properly designed steel boats that have stringers.

We haven't seen any lack of support of the frames they are hard against hull. On the subject of stringers I accept that you can have holes in them but as I said they are not needed for structural support unless the frames are widely spaced, which is not a good way to build a steel boat because the stringers add weight.

Were the steel boats you've seen with stringers built by a professional yard or home built? If professional I would be interested to know the names of them.

Our boat was built by Tak Jachbouw to a De Vries Lentsch design. Tak's main business is ocean going tugs so she is built to commercial standards including steel firewalls in the engine room.

 

[chinita]

Were the steel boats you've seen with stringers built by a professional yard or home built? If professional I would be interested to know the names of them.

My Callisto 460 built by Croft Marine in Stratford upon Avon in 1988.

My friends Trintel 1 built by Anne Wever in s'Hertegenbosch in 1961.

If you care to read the construction details of this boat - a very well respected Wylo II, you can see the stringers quite clearly:

http://svkallisto.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/story-of-our-wylo-ii-design-yacht.html

This is a home build but the plans are the same. Wylo II is now being built professionally on the IoW.

From Bruce Roberts website:


'We have designed many boats using the ‘Frameless’ building technique. When we speak of small steel boats this can cover the size range from a 16 ft dinghy through to an under 40 ft power or sailboat. ‘Frameless’ is something of a misnomer because even a frameless steel boat may contain some frames and most will contain some fore and aft framing by way of stringers and perhaps chine bars. Steel is certainly an excellent choice as a building material for any ‘cruising’ boat, but because of its inherent weight some special considerations must be given to keeping the overall weight of the boat down to reasonable levels.'

Even this:

http://www.edmistoncompany.com/luxury-yachts-for-sale/ranger-511/

is built with stringers!

 

[KellysEye]

>My Callisto 460 built by Croft Marine in Stratford upon Avon in 1988.
My friends Trintel 1 built by Anne Wever in s'Hertegenbosch in 1961.

Interesting, thanks for that I am surprised.

 

[DownWest]

Close sailing friend's cousin built a VdeS 35ft design from a kit. Bit like a Mirror, join the panels up then stitch weld them together in a simple frame. Followed by seam welding. Pretty certain it was 4mm.