Steel boat as a long-term liveaboard (in a warm(er) climate).

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skipper_stu said:
Having spent a winter (the boat that is with us visiting every couple of weeks) in Bruces Yard in Faro and seeing loads of old wrinklies cutting, grinding and welding old steel boats
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I suspect you've just lost a few friends (again):)

What you say is true though, old steel = high maintenance.

Plenty of CC Moodies, Beneteau etc. on the market well within budget and refit may only mean new rig, sails and minor items which could all be done professionally. Keep just below 12m to keep marina costs down.
 
GrahamM376 said:
I suspect you've just lost a few friends (again):)

What you say is true though, old steel = high maintenance.

Plenty of CC Moodies, Beneteau etc. on the market well within budget and refit may only mean new rig, sails and minor items which could all be done professionally. Keep just below 12m to keep marina costs down.
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Hey, when you get to our age I reckon "old wrinkly" is a compliment!
Stu
 
Sailing from BC to Tonga , my light beige decks got hot crossing the doldrums and equator . Next time I painted them white. Like adding air conditioning.
North of Cabo my hull stays dark green . Much drier in the lockers, which get musty if the hull is white. In ice at minus 12 c the hull feels warm to the touch, when in the sun. South of Cabo , I paint it white, hull, decks, everything. It's like adding air conditioning.
I recently met a cruiser who had 2 previous steel boats, and was now sailing in plastic . He said that , after owning two steel boats, he now feels like he is sailing in a fragile eggshell .
A week ago , I met a guy who, while sailing off Mexico, hit a whale. The boat sank quickly , leaving him in a dinghy in open ocean. Luckily, he had a VHF, and only rowed for a couple of hours. Luckily it was calm, or he would have sunk quickly. He agreed, when we said he should have been in a steel boat. That would have suffered no damage from hitting a whale.
Huge increase in peace of mind, sleeping in a steel boat, doing hull speed on a dark, moonless night .Not the case, sailing in plastic.
I have not found maintenance on my 33 year old steel boat to be much of a problem. It was heavily epoxied on clean steel , inside and out, initially .
Most 35 ft steel boats make roughly the same passage times as most moderate displacement plastic ones.
 
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Ultra sound equipment is just over $100. Every steel boat owner should have one, and learn to use it . Eliminates one argument against steel.
 
>So, anyone have any experience of sailing/living aboard in a warm climate? Caribbean, Mediterranean, ... ? Do they turn into an oven? Also, she seems quite heavy - weighing in at 12 tons. Do you find that you're motoring more than sailing? How about maintenance? What to look out for?

Temperature on a steel boat in hot weather is no differ to an AWB. Our boat was 15 tons fully loaded to get up to speed needed 20 knots if there was no wind we just drifted until the wind came back. Apart from electronics everything on a boat will break more than once, it's all made for weekend and holiday sailors, we carried two spares for everything, exploded diagrams and appropriate tool dozens of them.
 
Not steel, but how about this?

Within budget, smaller than the OP's present yacht at 39ft, the perfect conventional answer to relaxed ocean cruising. Beautiful interior, take a look at the photos:

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat.phtml?id=513944

513944_1.jpg
 
dancrane said:
Not steel, but how about this?

Within budget, smaller than the OP's present yacht at 39ft, the perfect conventional answer to relaxed ocean cruising. Beautiful interior, take a look at the photos:

http://yachts.apolloduck.co.uk/boat.phtml?id=513944

513944_1.jpg
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Thanks for the tip.

I like it - looks gorgeous.
It's going on the list - subject to SWMBO approval.

At the moment, we are finalising the sale of our current boat.
Hope to be on the water in the 'new' boat next Spring.
 
We live aboard a steel yacht in the UK. During the hot spells we have had in the past couple of years, we have been much cooler than everyone else in the marina (and warmer in winter). We put this down to being well insulated, using a boom tent to keep the sun off the coach roof, keeping the sun out of the cabin by putting shades up and a bimini over the companionway and using a wind scoop. Adequate insulation is the key point I believe.
 
I have no love for knowing a simple collision can sink me quickly . I don't love my couple of hours a year maintenance on my steel boat ,but I hate it less than having to worry about a fragile, plastic, eggshell hull, being the only thing between life and death, on a dark moonless night,while laying in my bunk, doing hull speed.
I'll take a bit of maintenance ,over that option.
 
Brent Swain said:
I have no love for knowing a simple collision can sink me quickly . I don't love my couple of hours a year maintenance on my steel boat ,but I hate it less than having to worry about a fragile, plastic, eggshell hull, being the only thing between life and death, on a dark moonless night,while laying in my bunk, doing hull speed.
I'll take a bit of maintenance ,over that option.
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You do seem to have a strange view of the world that says GRP boats are fragile and steel boats are low maintenance when all the evidence around us says the opposite. Thousands of GRP boats are sailing the world's oceans successfully and boatyards the world over have their little group of rusting steel boats providing lots of work, mainly for their owners.

Open your eyes and recognise that all boat building materials have good and bad points but please do not paint such a biased picture that is not supported by any real evidence. For example, please list all the GRP boats that have sunk because the hull has been breached and particularly what %age that represents of all the GRP boats in use.

Generalising from one anecdotal particular is never a good idea if you want to be taken seriously.
 
Tranona said:
You do seem to have a strange view of the world that says GRP boats are fragile and steel boats are low maintenance when all the evidence around us says the opposite. Thousands of GRP boats are sailing the world's oceans successfully and boatyards the world over have their little group of rusting steel boats providing lots of work, mainly for their owners.

Open your eyes and recognise that all boat building materials have good and bad points but please do not paint such a biased picture that is not supported by any real evidence. For example, please list all the GRP boats that have sunk because the hull has been breached and particularly what %age that represents of all the GRP boats in use.

Generalising from one anecdotal particular is never a good idea if you want to be taken seriously.
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A couple of weeks ago I met a guy who was sailing his stock plastic boat off Baja and hit a whale. The boat sank quickly and left him in a dinghy. Luckily, it was flat calm, and he had a VHF, or he would have been a goner. He agreed when we said he should have been in a steel boat.
A Canadian was off the great barrier reef, when his super soft Yanmar engine mounts broke, and the engine punched a hole in his stock plastic boat. He was airlifted off by a helicopter. Later in the same stock plastic design, he went missing without a trace on his way back to BC from Hawaii.A steel hull would have probably eliminated any serious problems in all such cases.
A stock plastic boat I had rafted up to, hit a container off Costa Rico later, and sunk quickly .He suddenly took a keen interest in steel boat building.
My first boat, lost on a Fijian coral reef, would have had no problem, had it been steel, but would have broken up just as quickly, had it been plastic.
Read Moitessier's s book 'The Long Way" then Web Chiles book "Storm Passage" for a comparison between steel and plastic. Chiles was pumping for dear life the whole way , Bernard did zero pumping, and broke nothing. The bow sprit he bent was easily repaired at sea.
Missing at sea stories ,are all too common, as are serious structural failures and keels falling off, while well built steel hulls would drastically reduce the numbers, if not eliminate them. If people had a better understanding of what a well built steel hull would take to seriously damage, or the huge increase in peace of mind cruising in a steel hull gives one, there would be far more of them.
I recently met a very experienced offshore cruiser who, after owning two steel boats, was cruising in a plastic boat. He said, after steel, he felt like he was cruising in a fragile eggshell. The peace of mind was no longer there.
Disinformation on this matter continues to cost the lives of cruisers and their families.
 
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My first offshore boat was built to "yottie" priorities, varnished cabinsides, varnished toe rails , handrails and hatches. The varnish surfaces contributed absolutely nothing to function ,safety, seaworthiness, and practicality, yet wasted a huge amount of time, which could have been far better spent on things which really matter. Maintenance on them was far more than on any subsequent steel boats I have owned and cruised, mostly full time in, over the last 41 years , in fact many many times more.
Welded down stainless handrails ,cleats, mooring bits, chocks ,hatch coamings, rail caps, etc etc, don't work lose, don't leak, don't need maintenance and don't break.
Building them costs a fraction what bolt down fittings from the yottie store cost.
 
Brent Swain said:
My first offshore boat was built to "yottie" priorities, varnished cabinsides, varnished toe rails , handrails and hatches. The varnish surfaces contributed absolutely nothing to function ,safety, seaworthiness, and practicality, yet wasted a huge amount of time, which could have been far better spent on things which really matter. Maintenance on them was far more than on any subsequent steel boats I have owned and cruised, mostly full time in, over the last 41 years , in fact many many times more.
Welded down stainless handrails ,cleats, mooring bits, chocks ,hatch coamings, rail caps, etc etc, don't work lose, don't leak, don't need maintenance and don't break.
Building them costs a fraction what bolt down fittings from the yottie store cost.
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Brent I am with you on this.

I have a steel boat that I finished from an abandoned project That was designed by a well known local designer who not designs aluminium power cats in New Zealand.

The designer specified an aluminium deck and cabin but the previous owner made it in 3 mm steel. This is where all my maintenance occurs mainly due to cracking or chipped paint work.

I agree with Tranona there is no ideal boat but steel comes close for strength, lasting maintenance repairs if done correctly. This is the main issue that most people who own steel boats don't understand and just want a quick fix that does not last.

A storm that passed through our marina 2 weeks ago shows how easy GRP boats are sunk when coming up against a heavy and strong object like the marina structure and other steel boats.

The video in this thread shows the carnage.

My boat Distantshaws can be seen at 2.45 to 2.48 into the video.

Yes I have some dings and scratches and a couple of dents that would have holed a GRP boat but still a dry bilge.
 
Trimming all outside corners with stainless trim or stainless weld can reduce your maintenance by up to 80% , as that is where paint chipping is most problematic. Using stainless on hard to reach spots, like mast tabernackles, winch bases ,hatch coamings, and wear points ,etc ,is also a good idea.
 
Brent Swain said:
Trimming all outside corners with stainless trim or stainless weld can reduce your maintenance by up to 80% , as that is where paint chipping is most problematic. Using stainless on hard to reach spots, like mast tabernackles, winch bases ,hatch coamings, and wear points ,etc ,is also a good idea.
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Is that advice in your book, Brent?
 
pvb said:
Is that advice in your book, Brent?
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Yes, along with far more.
You learn a lot about designing a steel boat for low maintenance after owning one for 33 years that you would never learn after only ten years.
My current steel boat requires far less maintenance after 33 years , than my last one did after ten years. You simply don't get that advantage from a designer or builder with no such experience, especially not from one who has specialized mainly in plastic boats.
 
I always think it a dangerous strategy to slag off other peoples choices in hull construction. They choose what they want for their reasons be it right or wrong. By all means tell people you like steel hulls but dont start telling us what is wrong with grp. My 38 year old grp hull is in excellent condition like most 38 year old grp hulls. Very few 38 year old steel hulls are anywhere near as good as the day they were built without a huge maintenance programme. I wont slag off stell boats but they are not for me
 
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