Need Stainless Steel Tubing Source For Rudder Tubes

[CatBuilder]

Does anyone know where I can find very high quality 316 stainless tubing for use as my rudder tubes?

Ideally, I'm looking for something in North Florida, Jersey, PA, Carolinas or Georgia for local pickup, but will order online as a last resort.

[CatBuilder]

Life moves faster than the internet sometimes.

I have found some available tubing, but it's from China. Can I trust it? Is there any quality stainless made in the USA, or imported here from Germany or something, or is Chinese stainless the only game in town?

At $1000 for the tubing and $1500 for other materials for rudders, it seems I'd want to get the highest quality material possible.

Any ideas on this? Anyone know the US steel market?

[TeddyDiver]

If there's any welds you better to have 316L..
Try here :
1101 North Main Street
Wildwood, FL 34785-3432,
(352) 748-1313
They should have Outokumpu stainless steel from Finland..

[hoytedow]

http://www.stainless-structurals.com/

Stainless Structurals, LLC · 590 Beautyrest Avenue · Jacksonville, Florida 32254
Phone: 904-781-6447 · Fax: 904-781-6444 · Toll Free: 877-739-6057


"Distributor of stainless steel shapes including beams, channels, angles, square & rectangular tubes, tread plate, smooth plate, cold drawn flats, half rounds & bar products. Special shapes including tees & zees are also available. Steel shapes are manufactured by rolling, or LaserCon® fusion methods. Annealed & pickled shapes are also available. Steel grades include 304, 304 L, 316 & 316 L. Products meet QQS, ASTM, ASME & AMS specifications."

"If you don’t see the shape you need give us a call. There’s a good probability that we can manufacture it, even in small quantities."

Phone: 904-781-6447

[hoytedow]

We would very much like to see a couple of photos of your progress.

[CatBuilder]

No welds, guys. It's mostly a composite rudder with a proprietary system to keep it all together. I'm not sure I should give up Kurt's secret here, so I'll just have to say the tube isn't welded at all.

[hoytedow]

So you need it extruded as a tube, right?

[hoytedow]

http://www.plymouth.com/seacure.aspx

[whitepointer23]

do you need steel cat, the last time i had to make a rudder tube and stern tube , i purchased fibreglass tube and glassed it in.

[waikikin]

Catbuilder, we used to use a stainless boiler tube from Sandvik, about 60mm with @ 6mm wall. dunno if they have Sandvik in US though.......... http://www.sandvik.com/sandvik/0140/...e!OpenDocument ...........this might link . Regards from Jeff PS: we also would install a sleeve inside the tube inway of the lower bearing.

[CatBuilder]

Oh boy, I hope I'm not using the wrong terminology here. The last couple posts make me think I made a mistake. Sorry if I did.

By stainless steel tubing for the rudders, I mean the tubing used for the rudder posts, which are hollow. My mistake. I don't mean that I need any kind of tube inside the boat to house the rudder post, but just the post itself, which is (confusingly) made from a stainless steel tube.

My rudders are the kick up style, so they aren't even technically inside the boat. There is no "tube" per se inside the boat, but rather just a couple of bushings outside the boat on the cassette that swings and allows the rudder to kick up.

Sorry for any confusion.

[waikikin]

Rudder "stock"