You may recall some unflattering things I have had to say about Stainless
screws being used to fasten wooden boats together. To put a fine edge on
the argument; I think it is folly to use even a high quality marine
stainless screw below the waterline on a boat to be used in salt water.
Fresh water, maybe. Salt, never! And this assumes that the fresh water is
in fact, pretty pure stuff, not contaminated with lots of chemical ions.

I was viewing a promotional video for Hacker Craft, built on the US East
coast and noticed that they openly advertise that they use SS screws
exclusively in fastening their hulls. I assume this means below the water
line. These boats are held to be built to the finest standards of
craftsmanship and materials. If this is the kind of materials that are
going into the finest wood boats being built in the US, then Caveat Emptor.
Under the circumstances I would be wary of any wooden boat built in the
last 20 years or so, if you have any suspicions that it has been fastened
with SS or re-fastened.

It is a sad day, when the boat buying public can be sold the notion that
Stainless Steel screws and fittings are the finest materials to build boats
with, wooden or otherwise. Every time you pass a boat, yours or your
neighbors, notice the small rust stains weeping from underneath the
stainless steel bolts and fittings. If the fitting is stressed from rigging
loads or whatever, the bolts will wiggle a little, the salt water gets
underneath and crevice corrosion is setting in. One day, without warning
the bolt or fitting is going to fail. It may be 10 days or 10 years or
more, but it will almost certainly fail with little warning, such is the
nature of crevice corrosion. Note my earlier post this date about spinning
propeller wheels into the abyss, caused by hairline cracks in the prop shafts.

I understand that Silicon Bronze bolts and screw are more expensive, but
re-fastening is VERY, not just more.

Regards,
Mike

Capt. Mike Maurice
Tualatin(Portland), Oregon

You may recall some unflattering things I have had to say about Stainless
screws being used to fasten wooden boats together. To put a fine edge on
the argument; I think it is folly to use even a high quality marine
stainless screw below the waterline on a boat to be used in salt water.
Fresh water, maybe. Salt, never! And this assumes that the fresh water is
in fact, pretty pure stuff, not contaminated with lots of chemical ions.
+++++++++++++++

WOW,
Wait till all ( we are talking  THOUSANDS  of boats) of  the commercial
shrimpers, fishermen and oystermen along the Gulf of Mexico coast with their
wood boats from new to 60 yrs +  old , learn that they are in such danger. How
these boats have held together for so long  is amazing,  due to the use of SS
screws in  the original construction  and refastening..
There are hundreds upon hundreds of these boats  that are in the 55 to 80 ft
range. so we are not talking abt  trailerable skiffs.

CCC
Charles C. Jr., and Pat Culotta
M/V CCRIDER
Patterson, La.
http://www.geocities.com/charlesculotta

Yes, I have to agree with Charles on this issue - lots and lots of wooden
boats here in the PNW are fastened with stainless screws. In fact, I have
just put close to 7000 in my hull during its refit and under the advisement
of one of the most well know wooden boat builders in the PNW.

I saw a rather sad occurrence earlier this week when a local chap, who is
also doing a refit on his wooden boat, started to refasten the hull below
the water line with silicon bronze screws that he had imported from on of
the well known eastern US suppliers - about every 3rd screw would just about
come up tight and then the head came off. Now we are not talking about
trying to drive the screw blind into oak or such hardwood, we are talking
about a guy who had the correct tapered drill / counter bore drill and was
driving the screws with an old style brace and driver bit. In looking at the
screws that failed we could not see anything wrong like cracks or such, they
just did not seem to have enough strength and these were # 12 X 2 1/2 screws
not little by any means..
Sure glad that did not happen to me as I used a cordless drill / driver set
up and drive the screws (same size)  until the drill stalled. In all the
screws I used I only damaged about 20 and that was due to the driver
slipping.

I think that since this issue has been chewed to pieces at least once before
on this list, it comes down to a persons personal opinion possibly based
again on personal opinions of the shipwrights in the area they hail from.

I personally know of a 60 foot charter boat locally that I observed being
refastened about 10 years ago with stainless so I guess I had better warn
the captain that his vessel is about to fall apart under him.<grin>

John Tones  MV Penta
Sidney, BC

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