How to stay out of maintenance hell.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Louis Riel

Build in steel . Nothing properly welded together ever breaks nor leaks .
For steel boats , stainless trim on all outside corners and thick paint , inside and out , the thicker the better, is key to minimal maintenance .
Brent

But what about the issues of having to haul her all the time to do the sandblasting and painting? How often does that expensive and time consuming project have to be done?

What about all the zincs to replace?

Those hull issues are tough, in addition to the normal systems that all break.

I ask not to suggest steel isn't a good alternative, but more for a personal reason, since I'm looking at some steel boats and am quite nervous about the expense involved in keeping them up.

[dana-tenacity]

As a broad generalisation hulls aren't a big maintenance issue if you go to the trouble initially to find a quality build. Biggest maintenance issues are with all the extra systems that get added. Try this, if it stops working ,throw it overboard.

[Alan Wheeler]

Nothing properly welded together ever breaks nor leaks .

Arrrr, and there is the issue. How do you know if it was properly welded together. How do you know if it was properly prepared before painting. Not pickign on steel, I am suggesting the same "how do you know" with any boat. You just simply can not make such a broad painted statement like that. I know of two steel boats. One built by a Diesel Mechanic and I would never step foot on her she was welded so bad. Infact, I could see through the weld in places. He solved the problem by fairing every weld with filler. I lost track of that boat about 20yrs ago. I can only imagine the headaches the new Owner found.
The other built by an engineer and tanks leaked along welds. So What was the hull like?

[seafox]

He solved the problem by fairing every weld with filler.

So it is not really a steel boat. It is a steel reinforced epoxy boat

[Alan Wheeler]

Close,....an epoxy reinforced steel boat. That's worse than the otherway around

[hellosailor]

You know, Wheels, you could probably hire a couple of ex-Soviet nuke boat welders and get a nice solid Titanium hull built up these days. All for a good price, too.<G>

[Boracay]

Steel does not seem too bad but it is very maintenance intensive.

A continuous program of inspection and repair seems to be necessary.

It would not be a good idea to park a steel boat on a mooring for a few years the way plastic owners sometimes do.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Boracay

It would not be a good idea to park a steel boat on a mooring for a few years the way plastic owners sometimes do.

Amen - a guy here just got done with about a $60k repair job on his "new" steel boat. Seems unprotected steel has a tendency to rust from the inside out.

He had huge panels to cut out and weld in.