On Mar 6, 4:01 am, ray lunder wrote:
Anyone owned a steel hulled sailboat in the 40 foot range and have
some advice on what to look for when buying one? Thanks as always.

I own a steel trawler and there is much to be learned in dealing with
metal boats. The boats of today should have been white blasted
immediately followed by multiple coats of epoxy primer before any
finish coatings and all interior areas have at least 2-3 inches of
high density foam sprayed in before building interiors. Exterior rust
is actually less important than interior rust. Many steel vessels rot
from the inside out. Then there's electrical isolation
techniques.....a whole new topic.

Overall, maintenance is somewhat higher (your labor), but not a bad
trade off in terms of vessel strength. If crossing the pond and you
happen to bang into a semi-submerged cargo container, you may get a
dent in the steel. With fiberglass, you're boat is likely to take the
Davey Jones express to the bottom.

Capt. John
http://www.blueseas.com