New (old) McCurdy Rhodes/Luke-built ocean racer

[Wampum]

Greetings all! I'm the (so far) happy new owner of a '71 McCurdy Rhodes-designed/Luke-built 46' aluminum sailboat. She was specifically commissioned for long distance ocean racing and early IOR rules. As a life long sailor now with three little boys (5,3 and 1) I appreciate her safe, fast design with many single bunks!

She's structurally sound but has her original interior and rig layout. I've just sent her up to a small boatyard in ME (Warren Pond Boatworks) for a comprehensive refit. We'll replace the entire electrical, update and rearrange the interior, install new systems and relocate the traveler, etc. to make her family and solo-short-handed friendly. I look forward to the insights on this board, especially as I attempt to insulate her hull from galvanic activity and replace some of her s/s hardware.

I've already searched through many of the postings. I'm relieved to read that the combo of stainless steel and aluminum (if insulated, of course) isn't the end of the world. What I'm particularly curios about is what to do with her original s/s stanchions? We had to cut off 6 of 16 just to transport her because they were so fused to their aluminum bases. for cosmetic reasons, I'd like to replace them all. So my first question to this forum is this - what is the best solution?

- Can strong-enough stanchions be fabricated of annodized aluminum pipe? OR....
- How do I best insulate a new s/s stanchion from a very tight fitting aluminum base?
- Would it make any difference to annodize the s/s stanchions?

Any thoughts will be appreciated!

[capeannfisherman]

Love your boat, We sailed alot when our children were young. It is the perfect time to be able to take off for a couple weeks at a time without having to get back for baseball games, band camp, etc... I'm sure some of the more technical members will help answer your questions, but I just can't resist a beautiful sailboat. Where do you keep her? Where do you cruise?

[Chaps]

I would offer that aluminum stanchions would be fine but in order to achieve the strength needed they will have to be larger in diameter which would probably not look right on that boat. I think I would look at drilling out all of your stanchion mount holes and inserting SS Heli-Coil thread inserts (or equivalent). Those would eventually bond in solid but your stanchion fasteners would thread into those and would not get stuck.

[Wampum]

A like the idea of helicoils. Can I just cut the remainder of the old s/s stanchions down to even with the aluminum base and instead of using a sawzall to remove what remains, insert the coil into it? That would make life simple! Might even be stronger?

[Chaps]

I would drill out the old stuck fasteners and remove the remains of the old stanchions. The holes need to be drilled oversize and tapped for the heli-coils anyway so no worries about saving the existing threaded holes if the drill wanders a bit. If you really goof up the old holes just rotate the bolt pattern a bit on the new stanchion bases and drill fresh holes for the heli-coils. Your method could also work though not sure how cosmetic it would turn out.

[IronwoodIsland]

Wampum - looks like nice fast boat and all the advice sounds good. I gather that you have seen all the advice about using some kind of dielectric compound in the joint between the Al and the SS.

Just out of interest regarding the old issue of "Aluminum meets Steel":

Lots of larger vessels have Aluminum topsides and steel hulls. One of the ways they do this is by making two sided welding plates by explosively welding steel bar to aluminum bar (believe it or not).

Not sure where you would get this stuff or if you could get SS bar one side and Al on the other but it is an interesting thought.

Cheers -Graham