Matrials for Keel Bolts/Nuts

Hi! This is my first post on this forum, so please be gentle!

Anyway, I'm from Portsmouth, a City in the UK with a strong Naval history. For the course I'm doing, I have to prepare a report on materials which would be suitable to use for the nuts on keel bolts.

I was wondering if anyone could reccommend me any suitable materials, and tell me why u would suggest them?

The research I've done already has turned up Stainless Steel (type EN58J), and Bronze (specifically Phosphor Bronze and Aluminium Bronze) as likely candidates. Anyone agree/disagree with this?

Any information/thoughts on the subject would be gratefully received!

Cheers,

Chris.

 

Generally it depends on the bolt material, which in most cases, are dependant on the ballast material. What are your ballast and bolt materials?

 

Monel and 314/316S are also adequate.

 

See "Keelboat Concerns" by Don Casey (Sailnet)
SailNet Articles
http://www.sailnet.com/collections/articles/index.cfm?articleid=caseyd0039

 

Keel bolt materials

The first thing in determining out what type of keel bolt material you use is what kind of keel it is . Lead or cast iron. The second thing is what kind of keelson you are going through. If it is oak then don"t use 304 or 18-8 stainless. use 316 or better yet use silicon bronze. If you are using a cast iron keel in general you should not use stainless
. The stainless is higher on the galvanic series chart and it will attack the cast iron threads. The exception to this is if you can get an epoxy that will isolte the stainless form the cast iron.
There are so many variables that the best thing is to e-mail me.
husemand@netscape.net