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#11
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which hull material
"Lee Huddleston" wrote in message .. . snip I like steel for its strength and safety. I have ridden out seven hurricanes in the boat -- most at the dock, one at anchor. One hurricane drove my boat up against a pylon. Wooden pylon was chewed up; steel boat was not even scratched. Probably good sailors can own fiberglass boats. For those of us who have a habit of running aground and into other objects, steel is the only way to go. When we started looking for Fintry, steel was a requirement. I hope to never go aground, but when I do, I want to hurt the ground more than its hurts me. During the summer of 1996, when we crossed the Pacific, seven boats went on the reef (all due to owner carelessness). Four, all glass, were lost -- ground to little bits. Two glass boats came off -- they had attempted to enter port at night, hit the reef because they mistook shore lights for leading lights, and were pulled off quickly after a call for help. One, steel, went on the reef on the SE side of Fakarava -- 30 miles from the village of Rotoava and 250 miles from Papeete. She spent a week on the exposed reef and was finally dragged off by a tug -- looking like a kid's toy pulled across the playground on her side. Horribly battered, she floated without a leak, and , after repairs to her rudder and shaft, continued on her journey. -- Jim Woodward www.mvFintry.com .. |
#12
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which hull material
I prefer Al alloy for many of the reasons you like steel.
I once owned a French built Al sloop. I always felt safe with her. In France, where ocean sailing is almost a national pastime, Al is preferred over steel. I have never owned steel, but some say the maintenance is equivalent to wood. What do you think? Bill "Lee Huddleston" wrote in message .. . I agree with Neil. I own a steel boat designed by Aussie Bruce Roberts-Goodson (now living in Annapolis, Maryland, USA). He has created several good designs that can be built of steel. My Roberts Mauritius 43 has about 2-3 inches of foam insulation on the interior of the hull and the underside of the deck. It makes for a cool and quiet boat. It also prevents condensation that would otherwise cause rust. I have owned my boat for several years and have never sandblasted it. I lightly sand the bottom and re coat with antifouling paint every couple of years. The topsides and deck get spot painted when chips appear and lightly sanded and repainted every few years as needed. Much much easier maintenance than I ever would have imagined. I like steel for its strength and safety. I have ridden out seven hurricanes in the boat -- most at the dock, one at anchor. One hurricane drove my boat up against a pylon. Wooden pylon was chewed up; steel boat was not even scratched. Probably good sailors can own fiberglass boats. For those of us who have a habit of running aground and into other objects, steel is the only way to go. Lee Huddleston s/v Truelove |
#13
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which hull material
I prefer Al alloy for many of the reasons you like steel.
I once owned a French built Al sloop. I always felt safe with her. In France, where ocean sailing is almost a national pastime, Al is preferred over steel. I have never owned steel, but some say the maintenance is equivalent to wood. What do you think? Bill "Lee Huddleston" wrote in message .. . I agree with Neil. I own a steel boat designed by Aussie Bruce Roberts-Goodson (now living in Annapolis, Maryland, USA). He has created several good designs that can be built of steel. My Roberts Mauritius 43 has about 2-3 inches of foam insulation on the interior of the hull and the underside of the deck. It makes for a cool and quiet boat. It also prevents condensation that would otherwise cause rust. I have owned my boat for several years and have never sandblasted it. I lightly sand the bottom and re coat with antifouling paint every couple of years. The topsides and deck get spot painted when chips appear and lightly sanded and repainted every few years as needed. Much much easier maintenance than I ever would have imagined. I like steel for its strength and safety. I have ridden out seven hurricanes in the boat -- most at the dock, one at anchor. One hurricane drove my boat up against a pylon. Wooden pylon was chewed up; steel boat was not even scratched. Probably good sailors can own fiberglass boats. For those of us who have a habit of running aground and into other objects, steel is the only way to go. Lee Huddleston s/v Truelove |
#14
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which hull material
Nothing sails like wood or fiberglass under 40 feet. Spend some time
wanting steel as my next boat, but bought fiberglass. Did not have time for the maintanence of wood. All of the steel boats I looked at were build to survive groundings. Decided I would spend a better percentage of my time sailing. |
#15
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which hull material
Nothing sails like wood or fiberglass under 40 feet. Spend some time
wanting steel as my next boat, but bought fiberglass. Did not have time for the maintanence of wood. All of the steel boats I looked at were build to survive groundings. Decided I would spend a better percentage of my time sailing. |
#16
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which hull material
On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 09:57:23 -0500, "Bill"
wrote: I prefer Al alloy for many of the reasons you like steel. I once owned a French built Al sloop. I always felt safe with her. In France, where ocean sailing is almost a national pastime, Al is preferred over steel. I have never owned steel, but some say the maintenance is equivalent to wood. What do you think? Bill Bill, I have owned wooden, fiberglass, and steel. Wooden was extremely maintenance intensive but sure had that wonderful feel and sound. Fiberglass has been relatively maintenance free, but is a 25 foot O'Day on an inland lake -- probably not a fair comparison. My steel boat is 43 feet and on the North Carolina coast. Nevertheless, I have been very pleasantly surprised at how little maintenance the steel boat has required. For example, the last couple of years have been exceptionally rough for me on the home front. I have gone for over a year at a time without even being able to see my boat. Needless to say, she received zero hull and deck maintenance. In three years the only thing that has been done to the hull and deck is to wash them one single time. Yet, they are in good condition. I probably have three or four places that need to be spot painted on the deck. And I plan to re do the bottom paint this next spring. When I bought my boat, people gave me dire warnings about spending all my time chipping paint and grinding out rust. That has not happened. Perhaps it is because the boat was well primed and painted before. Otherwise I can't say why the naysayers were so wrong. S/V Truelove is built to withstand groundings, which I have done hard twice, but she also sails remarkably well for a 32,000 pound displacement boat. She certainly will not stay up with ultralight boats or multihulls, but she will sail competitively with most fiberglass boats of her size. And, off shore, where I hope to be very soon, I am very confident that my chances of survival are significantly enhanced with steel hull and deck. To each his own, but for me, I would rather take longer to get somewhere and not worry that I might fail to ever get there. Better to be a day late in this world than a day early in the next. Lee Huddleston s/v Truelove |
#17
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which hull material
On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 09:57:23 -0500, "Bill"
wrote: I prefer Al alloy for many of the reasons you like steel. I once owned a French built Al sloop. I always felt safe with her. In France, where ocean sailing is almost a national pastime, Al is preferred over steel. I have never owned steel, but some say the maintenance is equivalent to wood. What do you think? Bill Bill, I have owned wooden, fiberglass, and steel. Wooden was extremely maintenance intensive but sure had that wonderful feel and sound. Fiberglass has been relatively maintenance free, but is a 25 foot O'Day on an inland lake -- probably not a fair comparison. My steel boat is 43 feet and on the North Carolina coast. Nevertheless, I have been very pleasantly surprised at how little maintenance the steel boat has required. For example, the last couple of years have been exceptionally rough for me on the home front. I have gone for over a year at a time without even being able to see my boat. Needless to say, she received zero hull and deck maintenance. In three years the only thing that has been done to the hull and deck is to wash them one single time. Yet, they are in good condition. I probably have three or four places that need to be spot painted on the deck. And I plan to re do the bottom paint this next spring. When I bought my boat, people gave me dire warnings about spending all my time chipping paint and grinding out rust. That has not happened. Perhaps it is because the boat was well primed and painted before. Otherwise I can't say why the naysayers were so wrong. S/V Truelove is built to withstand groundings, which I have done hard twice, but she also sails remarkably well for a 32,000 pound displacement boat. She certainly will not stay up with ultralight boats or multihulls, but she will sail competitively with most fiberglass boats of her size. And, off shore, where I hope to be very soon, I am very confident that my chances of survival are significantly enhanced with steel hull and deck. To each his own, but for me, I would rather take longer to get somewhere and not worry that I might fail to ever get there. Better to be a day late in this world than a day early in the next. Lee Huddleston s/v Truelove |
#18
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which hull material
You can read his opinions in condensed form in the latest (December
03) issue of Sail. He acknowledges steel's superiority in terms of ease of repair, cheapness and strength, but ultimately chooses aluminum for ease of construction, lightness and ease of maintenance. Interesting trade-offs. If I was buying new or building custom, I would go aluminum and learn how to perform the specialized welding. I would also carry the special, not-widely-availabe alloys that constitute marine aluminum. Used, I'd go with overbuilt steel after a THOROUGH surveying and inspection of the interior coatings. A good choice here might be a steel boat from the Great Lakes that had never seen salt G. If I ever get to do long passagemaking, steel seems more forgiving in the "learning curve" phase, and the fact that they can be a little slower is not an issue if I'm not racing. I've read too many stories of passagemakers whose lives were saved because they circumnavigated in some big-arsed old Dutch ketch built of steel for the North Sea...oh, yeah, and then there's Moitessier's love of steel boats... Of course, if I win the lottery, I'm going for a nice, fast Kanter... R. On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 17:01:21 -0500, "Charles T. Low" wrote: Find the book "The Nature of Boats" by Dave Gerr - he discusses the pros and cons of different building materials quite intelligently, which is not to say that he doesn't have strong opinions. ==== Charles T. Low - remove "UN" www.boatdocking.com www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat ==== "aussie" yup wrote in message news:3fb53e58@news1... Buying a used 45 -50 cruising sailboat soon, but what material? concrete?...seems difficult to get a good one wood....lots of maintenance? steel....hot in summer down here in australia grp....don't know much about it all thoughts most appreciated! |
#19
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which hull material
You can read his opinions in condensed form in the latest (December
03) issue of Sail. He acknowledges steel's superiority in terms of ease of repair, cheapness and strength, but ultimately chooses aluminum for ease of construction, lightness and ease of maintenance. Interesting trade-offs. If I was buying new or building custom, I would go aluminum and learn how to perform the specialized welding. I would also carry the special, not-widely-availabe alloys that constitute marine aluminum. Used, I'd go with overbuilt steel after a THOROUGH surveying and inspection of the interior coatings. A good choice here might be a steel boat from the Great Lakes that had never seen salt G. If I ever get to do long passagemaking, steel seems more forgiving in the "learning curve" phase, and the fact that they can be a little slower is not an issue if I'm not racing. I've read too many stories of passagemakers whose lives were saved because they circumnavigated in some big-arsed old Dutch ketch built of steel for the North Sea...oh, yeah, and then there's Moitessier's love of steel boats... Of course, if I win the lottery, I'm going for a nice, fast Kanter... R. On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 17:01:21 -0500, "Charles T. Low" wrote: Find the book "The Nature of Boats" by Dave Gerr - he discusses the pros and cons of different building materials quite intelligently, which is not to say that he doesn't have strong opinions. ==== Charles T. Low - remove "UN" www.boatdocking.com www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat ==== "aussie" yup wrote in message news:3fb53e58@news1... Buying a used 45 -50 cruising sailboat soon, but what material? concrete?...seems difficult to get a good one wood....lots of maintenance? steel....hot in summer down here in australia grp....don't know much about it all thoughts most appreciated! |
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