StrengthofAluminumvsStrengthofSteel.docVIP

Strength of Aluminum vs Strength of Steel Copyright 1999 Michael Kasten Is There a Difference? The question has been asked: What about rocks and ice and things that a boat can run into? Does either steel or aluminum provide an advantage in a real-world sense? As a partial answer to those questions, here are a few things to consider... In addition to these few thoughts, you may want to review my Cruising World article, Aluminum For Boats, (to which CW gave the title To Thine Own Chines Be True). The CW article gives a good overview of aluminum, both in terms of building, and in terms of owning an aluminum boat. This page offers a bit of additional information regarding the relative strength of the two materials. This brief article is intended only to be a general way of viewing steel and aluminum as they are used in boat structures. As we will see, the issues of strength are tipped somewhat in favor of aluminum, mostly for the reason of its lighter weight. Being much lighter, aluminum will permit a more robust structure within any given weight budget. Built to the Same Standard An aluminum hull, built to the same standards, weighs roughly 30% less than the same hull in steel. As a result, if high strength is of the highest priority, the alloy boat can be built to the same structural weight as the steel vessel, and then be considerably stronger. This is less of an issue for larger vessels which are able to carry the necessary displacement for whatever materials choice is made. For smaller vessels however, the weight of the hull structure is very much an issue. For a small cruising vessel, say under around 35 feet or so, steel becomes less optimum, as one must resort to a large water plane and a large displacement to carry the weight of the structure. When alloy is designed to the same standards as steel (ABS, Lloyds or other similar classification society), it is made to be higher in overall strength. The reason for this is that aluminum reaches its endurance