Hi everyone ive recently bought a steel hull 42ft boat the problem I have is when it was hauled out and pressure washed we found to small holes.
I'm guessing the hull was thin it has now been patched and sitting back in the water.
I will be hauling out again around march April to do a thickness check all over I'm a trades qualified boilermaker welder my question is, could this be a a difficult job I'm taking on also has anyone else taken on a job like this before
Nothing a welder let alone a boiler maker can't deal with, generally issues develop along the stringers as normally limber holes aren't made and each stringer becomes a little bilge, the task is easier or less difficult than replacing planks in a timber vessel. Hopefully your furniture & fixings are not in the way ( much ) and none of that spray foam has been used
No haven't seen any spray foam used furniture maybe in the way. I was thinking of slotting the new sheets to pick up the stringers and back weld to keep welding from inside minimal
Best bet is a visual inspection of the whole inside of hull below waterline. Its very difficult to test every square centimetre of the hull and often a rust hole will only be very small. The most likely spots that will need work are the ones you cant access without removing sections of fitout.
When it comes to welding plates in, be careful with concentrating heat anywhere. This is why you see some very rough steel boats, so its spread a heap of stitches first and no welds longer than about 100mm.
The really ugly jobs, you know the starved horse look, are caused by heat expansion, obviously the chines, garboard etc need to be a continuous weld but the rest of the welds frames & stringers are tacked with short welds and I suspected this is why limber holes in the stringers are overlooked, as initially water can run freely between the stringer and the hull plating then overtime the gap is filled with detritus and paint. Access to the internal sections is imperative for many reasons least of which is being able to paint the inside of the new weld
