Steel boats what advantages ?

[Tradewinds]

I would like to thank you all for your contributions it has been most helpful.
For those that are interested I have been looking at a Dennis Ganley designed Hitchhiker 27 ft , looks like a tough little boat.

More about Dennis Ganley here.

Colin Lowe, who used to write for Yachting Monthly, completed a circumnavigation in Wild Bird a 12m Ganley (extended Timerider IIRC) with his family. It certainly sailed well - it had to, Colin didn't like using the engine & I remember him towing, under full sail, a broken down yacht up the Malacca Straits.

I'm not a fan of steel boats but I'd be happy to have a Ganley yacht like Wild Bird.

Here's a pic - sorry it's so big but it's linked to his blog so I can't do anything about it .

 

[Chrusty 1]

Tough, relatively easy to repair, "cheap" (possibly) to build, flexibility of construction allows one offs and unusual designs.

Attractive in some applications such as canal boats (tin boxes filled with the contents of a bedsit), l


I'll bet you wouldn't mind a bedsit as well appointed as this!

http://www.abnb.co.uk/boat_pages/2253web/2253abnb.php?BoatID=2253

 

[prv]

I'll bet you wouldn't mind a bedsit as well appointed as this!

http://www.abnb.co.uk/boat_pages/2253web/2253abnb.php?BoatID=2253

Well, the work appears to have been competently done, though the Swedish sauna look of endless light wood is not to my taste, but I think "bedsit" is a fair description of the overall result.

Is it normal in ditchcrawlers to have an un-enclosed (un-soundproofed?) engine proudly displayed in the middle of the accommodation?

Pete

 

[Tranona]

Tough, relatively easy to repair, "cheap" (possibly) to build, flexibility of construction allows one offs and unusual designs.

Attractive in some applications such as canal boats (tin boxes filled with the contents of a bedsit), l


I'll bet you wouldn't mind a bedsit as well appointed as this!

http://www.abnb.co.uk/boat_pages/2253web/2253abnb.php?BoatID=2253

Still a bedsit. Limited in scope by being a box 70' long * 7' wide and only able to walk down the middle. Size of internal fitout budget (and taste of the owner!) can't alter that.

 

[steve350]

For those that are interested I have been looking at a Dennis Ganley designed Hitchhiker 27 ft , looks like a tough little boat.

This one? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Steel-Yacht-long-keel-sailing-boat-designed-by-Dennis-Ganley-/130711364771?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item1e6f0124a3

 

[Madhatter]

This one? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Steel-Yacht-long-keel-sailing-boat-designed-by-Dennis-Ganley-/130711364771?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item1e6f0124a3

Yes thats the fella !
Only looking though

 

[steve350]

I've seen it on Ebay several times this year. I seem to remember it being offerd at around £10K when I first noticed it. Looks good doesn't it?

I'm not the seller!

 

[Sybarite]

The French certainly seem to make some good Aluminium boats but am I missing something here? If you want to make a boat using a thicker alloy why not just specify a thcker alloy? Fewer ribs etc and I suppose that the detail design will differ but what is so special about this material?

Just curious.

For a given weight it's stronger than steel, it does not need to be painted, it won't rust and is maintenance free. The way the yard prepares it means that it is guaranteed not to be subject to electrolysis.

In the following clip (in French), the architect, Michel Joubert, talks about a boat that you could safely take into ice-bound seas.

http://www.voilesetvoiliers.com/cha...marthe-46-voilier-exploration-joubert-nivelt/

There is something comforting about a boat that is built like a tank, yet has good sailing qualities, comfortable living accommodation, a Trans-Atlantic range under motor (3 tonnes of fuel) and heavy duty anchoring arrangements. This would be my boat if the lottery comes up!

As far as thicker ordinary aluminium is concerned I can only think of the zinc silicate treatment of Strongall which might make it different.

 

[V1701]

Halcyon 27, Albin Vega?

 

[alant]

What are the advantages (if any) of having a steel boat rather than fibreglass please ?

If you lose your compass, it'll point North!

 

[Madhatter]

If you lose your compass, it'll point North!

 

[Conachair]

GRP for the masses and aluminium for the select few who can afford the luxury of having something a little bit better. Steel is only for the paranoid and those home building an edifice in their gardens which one day may, or may not, ever reach the water.

How many thousands of people around the world are there right now happily anchored or on passage on sound steel yachts who would disagree with such a simplistic "black or white" statement.

Steel has a lot of pluses for a long distance cruising boat. As has grp, ferro and aluminium. You pays yer money, in the end the best boat is the one that takes you cruising.

 

[Tradewinds]

Steel has a lot of pluses for a long distance cruising boat. As has grp, ferro and aluminium. You pays yer money, in the end the best boat is the one that takes you cruising.

Spot on

 

[machone]

Steel boat

+ 1 for the steel boat.

Rust is a pain but they can be fixed, even the old ones. There are not many fibreglass commercial vessels........... although the HSS is carbonfibre/alu mix.

 

[prv]

There are not many fibreglass commercial vessels........... although the HSS is carbonfibre/alu mix.

Well, fibreglass stops making sense as you get bigger, so nobody's going to make a container ship out of it. But I believe GRP is not uncommon among smaller fishing boats, and some of the lifeboats use it too.

Pete

 

[photodog]

Well, fibreglass stops making sense as you get bigger, so nobody's going to make a container ship out of it. But I believe GRP is not uncommon among smaller fishing boats, and some of the lifeboats use it too.

Pete

Hunt class minesweepers are made of grp.... 60 meters length and 750 tons...

 

[JomsViking]

LCP and SAR

Well, fibreglass stops making sense as you get bigger, so nobody's going to make a container ship out of it. But I believe GRP is not uncommon among smaller fishing boats, and some of the lifeboats use it too.

Pete

Current vessels

Glass/Carbon, several SAR vessels too. In the eighties the Royal Danish Navy built the Standard Flex (STANFLEX) vessels of GRP too (Danyard) and they're 450 tonnes, however are now sailing in Lithauania.

http://www.navalhistory.dk/Danish/Skibene/F/Flyvefisken(1989).htm#Fotos

 

[Bobobolinsky]

Corten steel is a very good product for boats. Very good corrosion resistance and stronger, size for size, than standard steel plate.

Not quite true, Corten was developed as an architechtural steel, which would corrode to a "patina" and did not require painting.
It is a high tensile difficult to weld material (compared to 34 grade boiler plate) requires a low hydrogen welding process, either low hydrogen rods which require baking and expensive storage, or Mig/Mag welding, which typically requires downhand/vertical welding and thus positioning.
When coated it is likely to "blow off coatings in a specific way and may perforate in a localised manner (pin holing). Although a hull may be thinner and thus lighter than 34/52 grade plate, it is more expensive to build and repair.
Typically is available as plate and when mixed with mild steel tube (edgings/handrails) deferentially corrodes the less noble material. The additional cost and difficulty to process makes it more problematical.

 

[SailingNewYorkCity]

Monel?

I recall seeing a yacht for sale a few years ago made with a Monel (nickel with copper, iron and trace elements alloy). Monel doesn't rust but it can have issues with galvanic corrosion. In fact the New York Times of August 12, 1915 published an article about a 215 foot yacht, "the first ship that has ever been built with an entirely monel hull," that "went to pieces" in just six weeks and had to be scrapped, "on account of the disintegration of her bottom by electrical action." The yacht's steel skeleton deteriorated due to electrolytic interaction with the monel. I would hope some progress has been made since then.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I have heard Monel is much more expensive but have no experience with it. I do have (according to the survey) a Monel fuel tank in my Dufour Safari but it came with the boat so other than filling it my experience is limited to say the least.

 

[Kelpie]

That's strange- the only time I have heard of monel is as seizing wire- I always assumed it was electrolytically quite safe as it is used on mooring shackles.