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I'm at the point of rebuilding my floor framing (sister keelsons and the lateral pieces that cross over and join to the keelson). I had thought that the sisters and the laterals were joined together with bronze angle "iron", but taking them apart, I found that the angles look like galvanized steel. They just looked like yellow bronze because they had been varnished, turning them a nice golden amber.

The cross members and galvanized angles were through-bolted with galvanized carriage bolts & square nuts into the sister keelsons. The front two cross members had 1-1/2"(w) x 2-1/4"(l) angles. The rearmost had 1-1/2"(w) x 3"(l) angles. The second from the rear was simply screwed through the sister keelson into the end grain of the member with two large bronze screws. The cross members were joined to the keelson with narrower angles (~3/4" x 2") and round head bronze screws.

What have others out there done -- or what do you recommend -- for reattaching the floor structure? I'm not keen on mixing metals down there where they may be subject to getting wet. Although I don't expect to be doing much saltwater boating, I'll do some, and I know fresh water can cause galvanic corrosion as well.

Thanks,
Bill

A few of the Peshtigo built Sea Lancer models I have worked upon had these metal angles on the floor framing. I always assumed they were brass or bronze. I cannot recall if I ever put a magnet to them to check if they were steel.

If they are galvanized steel, they lasted all these years with few problems so why not keep 'em?

Andreas

You know, I've been considering that. There's really no rust or corrosion on them. The bolts would be replaced if I did that; had to hit the heads of a couple with an angle grinder to get them out b/c the squares under the carriage bolt heads wouldn't bite into the wood enough to get the nuts unscrewed. Definitely steel, though.

On the ones you've worked on, if they didn't have angles, what held the sister keelsons to the cross members? Were they just screwed in from the sides into the end grain like that one cross member on mine? There really shouldn't be much force pulling the screws out. It's mostly vertical shear force tying the sister keelsons to the keelson by way of the cross floor members.

-wte