Is a stainless steel boat possible?

Discussion in 'Materials' started by hansp77, May 2, 2006.

  1. Mercury
    Joined: Jun 2009
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    Location: California

    Mercury Mercury

    Mercury

    Here in Southern California there has been an effort to ban the use of cuprous oxide paints due to fouling of the waters, this ban is making its way up the entire West Coast. A company has developed a Stainless steel coating applied by spray or roller and it is lightweight, very durable possible ten + years of life, very slick and is diver proof. The environmental benefits would be huge and the boater would appear to be saving dollars as a plus.

    The product is due to launch very shortly and I am eager to see how well accepted the product will be.

    Terry Gould
     
  2. Biothree
    Joined: Jun 2009
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    Biothree New Member

    SS Boat

    The Corps of Engineers drained a flood control lake behind my son's house. There was a small boat submerged there. It was a 14.5 foot V bottom stainless steel boat. At first I thought it was a Lone Star AL boat but on closer inspection it was not AL but SS. I am in the process of restoring it. It had wood rails around the top; one the inside and one outside. The transom was wood also. The SS was in excelent shape. The boat is surpizingly light.
     
  3. apex1

    apex1 Guest

    Quite interesting, are there some pictures?
     
  4. Biothree
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    Biothree New Member

    SS Boat

    This is a picture before restro was started. There is a SS keel (abt 1/4" by 1") that the front one fourths are spot welded to. Then that 1/2 is spot welded to the back 1/2. The boat did not have a drain plug hole and it did not leak. We got some big rains and I had to pump the water out before loading onto the tilt trailer. Inside the boat there are U shaped SS pieces spot welded to the sides that the wood seats slide into. Each seat had a galvanized box full of floation material screwed to it's underside.
     

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  5. Tanton
    Joined: Nov 2003
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    Location: Newport RI

    Tanton Senior Member

    63' Sailboat

    Stainless steel internals.
     

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  6. Crag Cay
    Joined: May 2006
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    Crag Cay Senior Member

    The Spirit yachts have stainless frames with cedar strip over.

    The boats in Chay Blyth's Challenge Races all had stainless steel decks, cockpits and coachhouses.
     
  7. Raggi_Thor
    Joined: Jan 2004
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    Location: Trondheim, NORWAY

    Raggi_Thor Nav.arch/Designer/Builder

    Mahogny planking over steel frames was the standard composite construction for many years.

    MOtorboats like this one,
    http://www.djurgardsvarvet.se/yacht/argus/Argus.htm

    And sailing yachts like this one,
    http://www.lachodrom.se/typehistory.htm :

     

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  8. HannesMiller
    Joined: Jul 2009
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    Location: Cape Town SA

    HannesMiller New Member

    Hi Hansp77
    Ive fabricated stainless steel structures and pressure vessels, and there is one major thing that is being overlooked here....
    Stainless steel does not like vibration or flexing at all, it work hardens very fast, and then cracks, especially the more noble grades like #316 / #316L, where the higher Molebdynum content gives it better crevice corrosion resistance, but causes work hardening as a downside.
    If you really wanted to use stainless you would have to use the new generation, called Duplex, which is much thinner, but delivers about the same performance as material 1/3 to 1/2 thicker (read heavier..$$$)
    This material is remarkably resilient, and is used in decompession chambers where there is a lot of contraction and expansion, with no cracking. The downside is it cannot handle more than two heats during fabrication, so only your root weld, and then the cap, no reruns or repairs.
    If you want the best of both worls, with the flexibility and ductility of mild steel, but the increased corrosion resistance of stainless steel, you can manufacture your whole yacht out of 3CR12, which is made specifically for this purpose.
    It is available here in SA, and I have a friend who has built his yacht out of 3CR12, with no problems.

    Good luck!

    Hannes
     
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  9. HannesMiller
    Joined: Jul 2009
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    HannesMiller New Member

    Stainless steel welding in tanks

    Fuel tanks can and are made of stainless steel. If it is too small to enter for welding, it should be purged inside and welded from outside. It is the post weld passivation that is important.
    All oxides formed during the heating process can be removed by either Hydrofluoric acid or electropolishing.
    Unless new scratches are made on the inside of the tank after passivation, no rusting will occur.

    Regards,

    Hannes :)
     
  10. Mercury
    Joined: Jun 2009
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    Mercury Mercury


    Thanks for the input, most valuable

    Mercury
     
  11. Çemberci
    Joined: Apr 2007
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    Çemberci Senior Member

    nickel

    NICKEL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
    CA-706 Copper-Nickel Alloy Hulls
    Oktay Çemberci
    İstanbul
     

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    Last edited: Jul 10, 2009
  12. Mercury
    Joined: Jun 2009
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    Mercury Mercury

    Thank you for your forwarding of the links, these provided further supporting data of a stainless steel coating being used as an alternate to cuprous oxide coatings. The company providing the coatings states... "The materials both Copper and Stainless are actual metal powders suspended in a hybrid polymer resin, in the case of the SS it is 316L and in copper it is 99.9% pure. The leach rate of the copper has been determined to be less than that of the copper pipes used to carry our drinking water and the SS is an extremely tough material both resistant to abrasion as well as power washing or divers cleaning of the hull.

    Thanks again,

    Terry
     
  13. Cheesy
    Joined: Aug 2008
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    Cheesy Senior Member

    I would keep a very close eye on that 3CR12 yacht, there have been cases here where that material has been used where massive cracking problems occured after welding. For a boat the duplex grades would probably be the way to go
     
  14. wardd
    Joined: Apr 2009
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    Location: usa

    wardd Senior Member

    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) -- It's the end of the line for converting New York City's old stainless steel subways into artificial reefs off the New Jersey coast.

    The Garden State has ended the program because officials say the cars are deteriorating too quickly.

    The program originally called for dumping up to 600 subway cars into the ocean. About 100 were submerged before the program was suspended in February.

    Environmental Protection Department spokeswoman Darlene Yuhas says a survey of 48 cars placed on the Atlantic City Reef found only two had remained intact.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had estimated the cars would serve as a reef for up to 30 years.

    No other problems have been found with a different type of subway car. The so-called "Redbird" was made of steel instead of stainless steel.
     

  15. Mercury
    Joined: Jun 2009
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    Mercury Mercury

    Very interesting!

    Mercury
     
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