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Almost all flying boats (seaplanes which have a fuselage for a hull instead of floating landing gear) in the past 50 years have been built with fiberglass hulls
by darksaints 2y ago
Almost all flying boats (seaplanes which have a fuselage for a hull instead of floating landing gear) in the past 50 years have been built with fiberglass hulls for this exact reason. Aluminum has a durability problem more than a corrosion problem, and steel has a weight problem and a major corrosion problem. At the speeds that they hit the water, anti-corrosion coatings don't last long, and with a non-amphibious flying boat, repainting requires a haulout, which is very expensive.
- algo_trader 2y ago> and steel has a weight problem and a major corrosion problem if i want a salt water low tech floating shed (not mission critical), can you make it work with galvanized/re-painting schedule? or is marine grade steel a must ? (man, its expensive... )
- darksaints 2y agoGalvanized steel has almost no protection against continuous contact with salt water. There aren't even any stainless steels that I know of that can handle it well (just varying levels of resistance). I would say if you absolutely need a metal, you'd need marine grade stainless as well as a strong protective coating that you need to repaint on a regular basis, or possibly aluminum (as long as it's not going to have impacts or stresses that could bend it repeatedly). If it were me, and it really is low tech and not mission critical, I'd probably use wood, fiberglass, or PVC.