Ultrasonic tester for steel hull?

Hi,

What does the hull look like in general and how has it been stored?

What appears to be a large amount of scale can often only be a few thou of actual parent metal so the first impressions of a rusted lump are not always an accurate representation of it's actual condition.

As for Ultrasonic Testing, you need to concentrate on areas where water has likely sat, having no experience with this brand myself I can only speak from what I have read on here about these boats and my own large boat experiences.

I have seen several posters here write that they had rot problems in the areas of tanks, I suspect this is because of a lack of drainage in these areas and condensation/ leaks have been allowed to sit for long periods of time and fester nicely.

You should spot grind any loose scale and paint off the metal if you can for the most accurate reading.

Here is a company in Georgia that rent them: http://www.instrumentsdirect.com/rental-thickness-gauges

Cheap ones are on ebay for under $200 "buy it now" price. You'll need to grind back to clean in places so you'll need electricity. I'm assuming you're doing this to see if you even want to take on the project. If you've already decided to, you might as well just start by blasting it to white metal inside and out so you can see what you have to start with. If you haven't though, and there is a bunch of scale rust, I'd rent a good gasoline powered pressure washer, minimum 2500psi, and blast it back to firm metal (or blow holes in it). That is where I would start. Clean up the garbage so you can see what you have to work with. If there hasn't been significant steel replacement done in prior years, you can safely assume you will have a good bit of steel to replace. Rarely are these projects financially viable. Most of the time you can build a new boat cheaper. These projects are usually done because people love the boat for whatever sentimental reason. You indicate that the boat is in a remote place, do you plan to complete the project in the remote place, or will you move it? Remote operations, especially in Hawaii as I'm sure you're painfully aware if you live there, are very expensive in hundreds of hidden ways, not only in $$$ but in time. Quality help can get to be an issue as well. I also inferred that $$$ are an issue for you with this project. That alone may be the best reason to spend the money on getting a good surveyor in to assess the actual project and advise you on what's all going to be involved and help you formulate a project plan that will make the most efficient use of your $$$. It is very easy to make a $10,000 error in planning when you have to rip out something you've done to do something you missed. I don't want to sound like a downer, but in 20 years, I've seen a lot of people spend a lot of money on these projects and never get them complete because they ran out of funds. I think that getting an ultrasound to make an initial Go/NoGo decision on your own is a good thing. I'd say though that if you found you had reasonable metal left (which I kinda doubt, but hey, you never know....), and you are planning to salvage a good bit of the vessel in the refit and make a Go call, that the next step is to get an experienced shipwright/surveyor in with project management experience to come and help you lay out a project plan and budget. I'm on a project right now I got on in June that has been a nearly 3 year year, over $4million dollar project on a NEW 110' boat. A fair bit of that was spent because this commissioning was handled a individual problems rather than a consummate project. Even if it costs $10k or more, in the scope of the project, it'll be some of the best money you spent. You'd have to find a bronze anchor windlass at a yard sale for $20 to find much higher value spending.

You say you've owned plastic boats for years, well this isn't much different than doing the same level of restoration on a glass boat. Steel is not expensive or difficult to work with. There are some fabricating tricks for forming curves and compound curves that involve a rosebud tip on a torch and a garden hose. Corten steel is good, it has some copper in it which oxidizes and provides some help in resisting corrosion.

Steel...

Look for aluminum... in most cases, it's the best IMHO