I had chance to spend some time with a man who had built his own 44' Bruce
Roberts Steel sailboat. I started off by asking what he would do
differently if he had to do things over. His first comment, was to not do
it. In other words he did not think he could be talked into doing it again,
period. I gently maneuvered him back to the original question.
The first thing is to use pre-shotblasted and primed steel plate. He
figured that would have cut in half the amount of effort it would have
taken to build the hull and get the priming down.
The second major thing was to spend more effort on the interior hull paint
job, as steel hulls rust from the inside out, not the outside in. To make
the tops of the fuel tanks slope so as to cause water to drain off and to
protect the tops from water and condensation better.
He used one of the dripless shaft sealing hardware solutions and it leaked
saltwater into the boat. Since replaced with a conventional shaft packing
system.
Boats intended to weather serious storms would benefit from having wave
diverters installed to break up the force of boarding waves. Installed
forward of hatches to prevent direct water pressure from being applied to
rubber hatch seals, etc.
Bulwarks and "Portuguese bridges" are a form of water diverter and short
metal risers can be put just outside of hatch seals to prevent direct attack.
Cor Ten steel is recommended by Michael Kasten as being suitable for small
vessels ordinarily too small for mild steel plate. He mentions that 5 mil
Cor Ten is stiff enough and stable enough when welded to be used for small
boats, say under 35 feet.
Capt. Mike Maurice
Wilsonville, Oregon (Portland)
I had chance to spend some time with a man who had built his own 44' Bruce
Roberts Steel sailboat. I started off by asking what he would do
differently if he had to do things over. His first comment, was to not do
it. In other words he did not think he could be talked into doing it again,
period. I gently maneuvered him back to the original question.
The first thing is to use pre-shotblasted and primed steel plate. He
figured that would have cut in half the amount of effort it would have
taken to build the hull and get the priming down.
The second major thing was to spend more effort on the interior hull paint
job, as steel hulls rust from the inside out, not the outside in. To make
the tops of the fuel tanks slope so as to cause water to drain off and to
protect the tops from water and condensation better.
He used one of the dripless shaft sealing hardware solutions and it leaked
saltwater into the boat. Since replaced with a conventional shaft packing
system.
Boats intended to weather serious storms would benefit from having wave
diverters installed to break up the force of boarding waves. Installed
forward of hatches to prevent direct water pressure from being applied to
rubber hatch seals, etc.
Bulwarks and "Portuguese bridges" are a form of water diverter and short
metal risers can be put just outside of hatch seals to prevent direct attack.
Cor Ten steel is recommended by Michael Kasten as being suitable for small
vessels ordinarily too small for mild steel plate. He mentions that 5 mil
Cor Ten is stiff enough and stable enough when welded to be used for small
boats, say under 35 feet.
Capt. Mike Maurice
Wilsonville, Oregon (Portland)
