Hey mate,
I have never sailed one but have done a fair bit of work on my them. I know a lot of Trawlers that are steel and work on steel tugs pushing and towing steel ships and barges.

First steel is Tough a well built steel boat will last forever. You can give them a good flogging and they will come out fine. Some tug captains are rough and like to come flying up the side of ships at 10 knots.

As for yachts. In jimmy Cornell's book, 200,000 miles he talks about owning his second boat. Aventura 2 (yes it is Romanian). He reckons it performed reasonably well over 15 knots of breese, anything under that she doesn't move. From memory she weighed 17 ton for a 42 footer but I can't confirm this as the last time I read the book was 10 months ago.

PROs: 1. Strong
2. Easy to repair
3. Not hard to maintain
4. Less prone than Aluminium to electrolysis
5. Can be easily shaped into Weird and Wonderfully designs naval architects seem to come up with these days, easily

CONs: 1. If not prepared properly before painting you Will have problems with Rust.
2. Heavy
3. If some wanka does a below average welding job expect water ingress causing rust OR breakages ( cough cough golden globe race wind vanes)

These are all I can think of at the moment.

Would I buy a steel boat? Personally i would prefer an Aluminium boat for a sailboat because of the lightness. I have heard that corrosion isn't an issue if you keep up on maintenance. For a motor boat, certainly a steely is exactly what I want.

Dont know if you watch the Deadliest Catch Shows (yes very dramatised) but their boats are 30-80 year old Steel boats. The Wizard was built for WW2 and is still being thrown round in 40ft seas 75 year after.

Seems I am rambling on a bit. Now you know what I think anyway.

Cheers,
Mick

simple answer, no. Had a friend who kept his steel Vandetadt 34 in very good condition. He painted the deck and within a week rust started showing through. Was a never ending battle. On my Fibreglass UFO 34 the maintenance has been way less effort. My friend sold the Vandestadt 34 and bought a fibreglass yacht.

Ilenart

I really want this. If the stars align....
Steel.
www.trademe.co.nz/1896858717

Sectorsteve said..
I really want this. If the stars align....
Steel.
www.trademe.co.nz/1896858717

I hope you can follow your dream

Bundeenabuoy said..
Pros and cons?

Can't think of any pros apart from they are cheap or free!

Steel yachts are the predominate build material in my homeport. Only one of them goes to sea. This boat is a round bilge steel and underwent a full on 9 year rebuild before taking up residence here. Tiny amount of rust stains occasionally but the owner is constantly on top of maintenance. One Adams 40 went up on the hard at Myola for a 3 months stay and has been there 3 years so far! Another round bilge steel 40 footer built by her shipwright owner is always immaculate and is going some place sometime in the future, possibly during my lifetime. The only liveaboard we have just sold his boat recently. He was given the boat, round bilge steel built in Germany. Very good looking hull about 34 foot with an expensive feathering prop, Aries windvane and other quality stuff. It has serious rust problems and constantly gets attention from the local boating officer! Mobi, the steel ex navy Sydney Hobart racer built by navy apprentices out of expensive steel is still here. It was refurbished and repainted with $180,000 of public funded money a few years ago. Has severe rust problems and is going to the "farm" at Myola shortly. Still a nice looking boat but some careless modifications by previous owners adding teak toe rails and unsuitable window surrounds have done some serious damage. There are 4 others here I don't go past but can see from my residence and they only move with the change of tide.
One steel boat was condemned on the slips and had to be craned off and trucked to the farm. Sand blasting is banned at our slipway.
I would not buy steel myself and I decided that long ago when chipping paint in the navy. I prefer to watch the deck maintenance workers on cruise ships touching up spots with phosphoric acid each morning.

The Navy like them

Bundeenabuoy said..

Sectorsteve said..
I really want this. If the stars align....
Steel.
www.trademe.co.nz/1896858717

I hope you can follow your dream

Me too. Seems to be a lot of people interested but no ones going for it. I'm still in limbo unable to do much til affairs are finalised in oz. Once they are I'll be seriously considering that boat. The bowsprit makes the boat a bit too long and I've never smoked a gaff cutter. Some research required by me if I'm to go down that route

if you are seriously considering a steel boat this is a good read:

www.yachtmollymawk.com/books/how-not-to-build-a-boat/

As I said in another thread about this, you're gonna get the knockers!!

Yes I am biased, I own a steely - I have previously owned plastic as well.
Yes, there is a bit more maintenance owning a steel boat but nowhere near as much as some would like you to believe!!

Opinions are like arseholes - everybody has one!!

I've found, over the years, on this forum that there are many different types of people here with many different views.

Some think they are god's gift to sailing and need to share their opinion, some think they know everything about everything & leave their opinion, some have to post on just about every topic, whether they really know anything or not on the subject yet some really know what they are talking about on certain subjects & share their views etc. etc.

I have just about worked out who fits into which category & really only take any notice of the posters whose opinions I value & can rely on - & there are still a few, thank goodness!!

Sectorsteve said..

Ilenart said..
simple answer, no. Had a friend who kept his steel Vandetadt 34 in very good condition. He painted the deck and within a week rust started showing through. Was a never ending battle. On my Fibreglass UFO 34 the maintenance has been way less effort. My friend sold the Vandestadt 34 and bought a fibreglass yacht.

Ilenart

Did you like the UFO? Still got it?

Have just bought a larger yacht (yep fibreglass :) so about to sell the UFO 34. The UFO 34 was a great yacht as a cruiser / racer and very impressive performance upwind.

This wiki article has a good summary of the UFO 34's

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_34

Ilenart

Shanty said..

Lazzz said..
As I said in another thread about this, you're gonna get the knockers!!

Yes I am biased, I own a steely - I have previously owned plastic as well.
Yes, there is a bit more maintenance owning a steel boat but nowhere near as much as some would like you to believe!!

Opinions are like arseholes - everybody has one!!

I've found, over the years, on this forum that there are many different types of people here with many different views.

Some think they are god's gift to sailing and need to share their opinion, some think they know everything about everything & leave their opinion, some have to post on just about every topic, whether they really know anything or not on the subject yet some really know what they are talking about on certain subjects & share their views etc. etc.

I have just about worked out who fits into which category & really only take any notice of the posters whose opinions I value & can rely on - & there are still a few, thank goodness!!

Which one do I fit into

I would like some feedback on my contributions as well please . [ no smiley face inserted , deadly serious ........]

I wouldn't own one, but it is perfectly good boat building material. Horses for courses.

Cheers

Bristol

stray said..
Ive built 3 steelies over the past 20 odd years and if they are built with consideration to ease of painting in the first place you dont really have rust problems. The first paint job is critical and the vital step of brushing every single corner and weld zone in the entire boat is often missed because pro painters dont have the time.
It also has to be built so that no where is hard to paint and many old designs weren't.
Steel boats dont need to be slow and heavy, dont need to be built like a hungry horse, and can be relatively low maintenance.

Thanks for the PM too!

Sectorsteve said..

Ilenart said..

Sectorsteve said..

Ilenart said..
simple answer, no. Had a friend who kept his steel Vandetadt 34 in very good condition. He painted the deck and within a week rust started showing through. Was a never ending battle. On my Fibreglass UFO 34 the maintenance has been way less effort. My friend sold the Vandestadt 34 and bought a fibreglass yacht.

Ilenart

Did you like the UFO? Still got it?

Have just bought a larger yacht (yep fibreglass :) so about to sell the UFO 34. The UFO 34 was a great yacht as a cruiser / racer and very impressive performance upwind.

This wiki article has a good summary of the UFO 34's

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_34

Ilenart

is that your boat for sale atm thats in rushcutters?

nope