The perfect Passagemaker? II (building material)

Eric, you have a good point.
But let say the vessel will be for you to enjoy a retirement making long passage by all sort of weather and going to all sort of place, without thinking of the cash flow necessary for that, nor who will built it, what will be your choice of material?
For myself it will be the timber one, but that's me, I was wondering your personal choice

Daniel

 

Richard,
You asked also for amateur opinions, so here is one. For large boats like the one in this thread I would go for steel. Partly my preference is based on my predjudice for what a real boat should be (and look like; I also voted for the second alternative). As an engineer I value the ductility of steel, which gives steel the ability to take abuse and to dent instead of cracking. A boat of the size in question should be able to withstand some ice, floating logs etc. I also value the possibility to do repairs myself.

Even though I like wood, I wouldn't buy a new wooden boat of this size even if I had the money. My preference is a steel hull and as much wood as possible for the interior and maybe superstructure.

Erik

 

I would not call yours a amateurs opinion, but of course I asked the novices as well.

Concur widely on the rest.

Regards
Richard

 

As an amateur "epoxy" builder that has done a fair amount of work on small boats over the past five years (glass over marine ply) I will go for steel in a vessel this size. I had the very good fortune to see how Wynand built this last Dix 43 in steel. It was properly sand blasted and really painted correctly with marine paints. If your builder knows what he is doing, steel is low maintenance, easy to repair and definately a go anywhere boat.
Having said that, the problems come in when the owner's specifications and requirements change. Then the steel hull is 10% of the headaches and the owner the other 90%.

So I voted for the gentlemans yacht IN STEEL

 

I was a tool and die maker so I go with steel because I understand it

 

Well, personally, I'd likely go all steel or steel hull/aluminum deck house as on the Moloka'i Strait motoryachts.

You know, as for style, there are lots of styles that I like, and I guess I tend toward the more traditional lines. I like the older Feadships, the Royal Passagemakers, the Flemings, and designs by Steve Seaton and Jay Benford. When we design boats, we are hired to reflect the desires of the client and his or her personal tastes, not necessarily our own. So on the professional side, we end up designing boats that do not necessarily reflect our own personal preferences. Oh, that we should be so lucky to actually be able to afford boats designed and built purely to our own tastes--but that rarely, if ever, happens.

Eric

 

It will Eric, be sure, it will...........

But we do our homework first, and we do it here on the open platform.

After 35 years in this business I give a **** on customers opinions and desires. They nearly all fail to a scaring extend when they choose a boat.
Most choose what they think would be useful. But rarely they use it that way.

I therefore look for nothing less than "The perfect Passagemaker" in the very best way one can interprete that. Choosen by knowledgeable members of a open forum like this.

And it would be nice if you vote according to your choice mentioned above.

Regards
Richard

 

Eric, steel hulls with aluminium superstructures have been standard practise for the last 55-60 years, maybe longer. Are we saying that time and materials have stayed still every since and we've learned nothing?

 

If we boil it down to the very extend......
I would say yes.

I am not aware of any single fiber composite boat (except racers) I would call a good boat! Not even my own products. All cr@p. ***

And lightweight? Phhh, nonsense

Ohh, sorry I wanted to hold back with my personal choice.


Regards
Richard

***talking series production

 

Done, my dream rambling deleted on this thread and went to the right thread.

Daniel

 

Deleted my comment too.

 

As a metallugist I voted for all Aluminum. Unpainted is much better than painted but might look odd on a boat of that size and style. Give me more fuel instead of more weight in materials.

 

Not at all. Of course, huge advances have been made with all materials, including aluminum and steel as well as composites and wood. And that is why I say you cannot pick a "perfect" choice because every owner is different, every mission is different, so every yacht is going to be different. If I had a composite yacht, I probably would not take it into ice, but that does not make it a bad yacht. There are lots of good reasons to use all the different materials--to numerous to go into here.

I will never be able to afford a large motoryacht passagemaker, plus I would rather be on a sailing yacht than a motoryacht, so this speculation on my part is totally moot. I would like to someday retire back to a sailing life, and in order to do that, realistically, I am probably going to buy a used composite or wood-epoxy 35'-40' sailing yacht and modify it to my desires. That's all I'll be able to afford (unless my wife sells the movie rights to her latest book--which is being shopped around Hollywood by her agent--then everything will probably change.)

Eric

 

how is alu isolated from the steel on boat hulls?

 

Triclad