Wayne.B wrote:
The steel beam on my old Cal-34 was galvanized as I recall and it was
holding up fairly well when I sold it about 10 years ago. The boat, a
1968 model, is still going strong although it is no longer being
raced.

I worked on a 40-something foot X-Yachts boat that had a massive
galvanized steel beam structure crisscrossing right through the bilge
area. Apparently they guarantee the boat can withstand up to an 8 knot
collision against a rock with the keel without damage to the hull. A
different boat I know the owner of ran into a rock with the keel at
about 6 knots and nearly tore the bottom out - $85K damage to the hull.
Maybe steel ain't so bad...
Red