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.

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.

Ray,

Are you looking new or used??

Howard

hpeer wrote:
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.

Ray,

Are you looking new or used??

Howard
Ray,

I have a 33 foot steel boat, a bit small for steel but that's OK with me.

The best advise is to go to the Metal Boat Society and get on their
forum. That site has a number of professional designers and builders
and they are generous with their advice.

The advice about boats rusting from the inside out is true. You can get
to the outside, but not as readily to the inside and that is where the
moisture traps and causes rot. Warmer climes with humidity are worse.

See if you can find out how the inside was treated and if it was done by
someone competent. Interior metal preparation is probably the single
biggest deal in the boat for you will play hell redoing it.

Insulation is a big deal for a couple of reasons. I like the sprayed on
insulation as it seems to protect the underlying steel best.

Proper weep holes that let the water run down into the bilge are also
important. Keep the moisture off the hull.

I have seen some boats where the welding was pretty shabby, especially
if it was done by a home builder who was not up to par. My boat, lucky
me, if very fair by comparison.

I have had my boat three years. It is about 1,200 miles from where I am
so I only go out for 6 weeks in the summer then close her up. Last year
I had someone put a heater in her and when I got to her she was filled
with water almost to the sole. It cause some of the interior coal tar
epoxy to separate from the metal. I spent too much time them sanding and
recoating with two part zinc primer. My knees still hurt. However, the
metal was shiny underneath.

Steel expands something like 16 times its original thickness when it
rusts so you should be able to see rust when it starts. You will need
to get on it right away to control it.

There is disagreement over monel or mild steel. From what I can tell
either will do just fine. The builder needs to be careful of using
dissimilar metals and you need to pay attention to bottom paints. On
the other hand lighting is not much of an issue for you as opposed to
glass boat. You do have to go outside to use the cell phone and the GPS
won't work for beans down below.

Another issue is hard chine or fully developed sections. From what I
can see it makes no difference. Some even say they prefer the hard
chine. I think it is mostly a European vs American preference.

The thing about steel, or even aluminum, boats is that they are Gaud
awful strong. Very hard to hole the boat. A couple of years ago an
older fellow was single handing down from Nova Scotia, got beat up
beating, and called to be taken off. His boat washed up on the beach
back in Nova Scotia. By all reports she was a total wreck, because the
scavengers stripped her, but the hull was still good to go.

I saw a boat in Annapolis that had the port side all dented up and
canned in. Seems that it was an older couple who lived on their boat
for many years. They were motoring out of the harbour to lay on a
mooring happy as clams.

Then again, I saw a boat in NC that was for sale. Inside was fine but
the fore lines were all messed up. At first I thought that the boat had
hit the rocks but by all accounts she hardly ever left the berth. Seems
as though it was just nasty welding. Strong but ugly. What a shame.
Then again, I was helping a guy dock a 40 something glass cat and he
wacked the dock, not hard but firmly. I could see the hull deform and
the gel coat fracture and leave a spider web where he hit. Ouch.

I love my steel boat. Bernard Montisiour went with steel. When his
boat got caught on the hook in a storm it dragged up on the beach. Then
they dragged it off again. Other boats were a total loss. Supposedly
his losses were because of down flooding through an open or damaged
hatch. If its good enough for Montisiour that's pretty good.

"ray lunder" wrote in message
...
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.

The word I'd be worried about :: Rust...

There is a metal [ not sure if it is steel ] sail, yacht, near me in the
boatyard.

There are holes large enough to put your hand through on the bottom of the
hull.

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've seen some power boats less than 50' which are steel, but not, IIRC,
sailboats. Anyway, I helped in a survey of a steel hulled boat mostly to
learn what there is to learn about them. The surveyor had a great deal
of experience with these. Mostly I learned that if I ever bought one,
I'd insist that the survey be done by a surveyor with specific steel
hull experience.

-paul

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:01:18 -0800, 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.

My wife and I own a 40' steel hulled sailboat, homebuilt in 1985, that we
bought in 2007. It is the only kind of sailboat we even considered once
we decided to buy. All materials have some problems, be it wood,
fiberglass, steel or cement. The obvious problem with steel is rust. The
obvious advantage is strenght. Do have any boat you are considering
purchase surveyed unless you are very knowledgeable about all aspects of
sailboats. We intend to live on the boat most of our retired life (now)
and wanted a boat we could be confident would not sink if we should
accidently hit a rock or coral reef. Rust is not easy to detect as it
will start on the inside of the boat and work it's way out. You have to
diligently inspect the areas of the boat that are difficult to see, both
before purchase and periodically as long as you own it. THERE SHOULD BE
MANY AREAS IN THE BOAT WHERE YOU CAN GAIN ACCESS TO THE HULL FOR A VISUAL
INSPECTION. My wife has owned 3 previous sailboats, 1 wood and 2
fiberglass and would never own anything but steel now. Feel free to
contact us at our e=mail address if you would like to discuss any other
points or to just start up an ongoing dialogue of mutual experiences
sailing. Ken and Diana

"ray lunder" wrote in message
...
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.


Why buy one? Just get a good side scan sonar and do a search of the Gulf of
Mexico from zero to 20 miles downwind from where "Red Cloud" was prematurely
abandoned and left to her own devices and was, consequently, lost because of
a frightened, unskilled and unseamanlike captain and crew. If you can't
afford side scan sonar then look for the coffee colored water.
Bwahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahahahahhahhah!

Greg Hall

Ray,
First I have a real problem with anyone responding to queries when they have
no experience or specific knowledge of the subject and yet it happens all
the time in these use groups. Out of all the responders to your query only
Ken Marino should have responded.

For the benefit of all, steel boats offer the most for the least. The very
best yachts are made from steel. There are many good reasons why that is so.
However, they do have a poor reputation with the uninformed for a few
reasons. The first is that steel boats are virtual stones and cannot get out
of their own way and that can be true IF the boat was built from a design
not specific for steel. The second is that rust is a killer and the risk
cannot be economically mitigated. This is patently untrue. It is a risk, but
very easily prevented and most importantly, very inexpensive to deal with if
it should occur. The last is ugly, yes, they can be, but they don't have to
be. Did you ever see an ugly Super yacht?

Steel boats go away from the inside. Condensation is the killer. Stop
condensation and they will last forever. I had a freind that built a 28'
steel sloop and lived on it as a university student. He had no money and
couldn't afford paint. When he graduated he sold the badly rusted boat, but
the bottom of the boat was still shiney steel. No bottom rust in 4 years in
salt water. The inside of the hull must be sprayed with insulation material.
There are a few materials that work, but not many. The first is polyurethane
foam, another is special cork based materials. All others are suspect and
due dilligence and scrutany is required. Another problem area is teak decks.
I could write a book on that subject alone. The last area to be mindful of
is dissimilar materials, potential electrolysis and the electrical wiring
system. The hull must never be electrically connected to the wiring system
in any capacity, even earth. If any of these situations are discovered
during an initial inspection, a very serious survey should be undertaken.
Hulls that have not violated these very basic rules will outlive you.
Steve

"ray lunder" wrote in message
...
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.

Steve Lusardi wrote:
Ray,
First I have a real problem with anyone responding to queries when they have
no experience or specific knowledge of the subject and yet it happens all
the time in these use groups.

Ignore this fool's post. He clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

"Paul Cassel" skrev i en meddelelse
. ..
Steve Lusardi wrote:
Ray,
First I have a real problem with anyone responding to queries when they
have no experience or specific knowledge of the subject and yet it
happens all the time in these use groups.

Ignore this fool's post. He clearly has no idea what he's talking about.

Such arrogance- had it occured to you that he might actually know what he`s
talking about?
Clue.... what he says is correct, so what does that make you?
Bob Larder