Is a stainless steel boat possible?

[Cheesy]

Originally Posted by gattward

I have ha experience in making a product for use in sea water that was submerging all the time. We made it from "Super Duplex" and it worked fine. This has better corrosion resistance than 316L.

I think the ideas of using stainless from containers is false economy. Scrap prices are very good for stainless. Buy the blanks in virgin laser cut shapes. There the material will be nested efficiently from sheet in clean material ready to weld.

Has any one tried "Super Duplex" stainless for boats and/or laser cutting?

I dont know what "super duplex" actually is but 2205 for instance laser cuts fine, however it is significantly stronger than your average 304/316 so you know about it when you have to drill a hole in it...

[SuprGeek]

Originally Posted by TAGRAPHICS

This boat is registered as a 1955 regal. I think it is unlikely since Regal is celebrating their 40 anniversary.

Hey bro, that boat's got a striking similarity to the 1947 Sears Elgin 14' stainless runabout I'm restoring. It belonged to my Grandfather, then my Dad, and now it's my turn I suppose.

When I got it the wood had pretty much left the scene so it was in about the same shape as yours. Dad and I still remembered a lot of the details and I managed to get it back in really good shape... finishing it up this weekend. I've also got a brand new 6HP mercury 4-stroke for the back. I thought about a vintage motor but I wasn't up to that kind of a challenge.

Attaching some pics to help you out, including the a snap from a sears catalog that contained a 1955 model. Hope these help, and I'll have a couple of finished product pics in a couple days, hopefully. I'm bending the Cypress for the side rails now, and that's the last thing to do.

So, to answer the orignial question, yeah, it's pretty much possible to make a stainless steel boat, but apparently you better have a plan for who's gonna be driving it in 60 years. Or a hundred. Or more.

-Jeff