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Treating steel frame of house boat for anti-rust and corrosion

May 11, 2018

Q. Hello,

A few friends and I have gotten together to build ourselves a houseboat. The boat will mostly be constructed of wood, which will rest on a steel frame, and this steel frame itself fixed to four aluminum pontoons.

We are very new to this, and I am looking for advice as to how to properly treat the steel. I have received suggestions to use appropriate anti-rust primers/paints, or to have it galvanized. Galvanizing would make things much more costly, though most secure. So if possible, we would prefer to be able to use primers or paints to do the job.

However, I have not been able to find anything specific to our needs, as most anti-rust primers and paints seem geared towards things that normally inhabit a dry environment, while our needs are a bit different since the steel frame will be constantly in contact with water.

Does this change anything? Would that fact alone require us to have the frame galvanized? Or are they special primers we should be looking out for?

Any advice at all, even just pointing us in a clear direction or where to look for further information would be greatly appreciated!

thank you.

Jordan Leech
Hobbyist - Berlin, Germany

A. Try to use aluminium only, forget steel (galvanic corrosion!).

Try next webpage: http://www.leuch.de/hausboot-wohnschiff-3000-euro-bauen/

Hope it helps and good luck!

Goran Budija
- Zagreb,Croatia
May 12, 2018