Glen-L.com

I am just completing a Squirt and would like to add some metal strips on the stern sides of the boat for protection and the decorative look.
I have included a picture of a classic Chris Craft with such strips.

Question:
1. What type of metal is usually used? Thickness?

2. Is there a good retail source for these strips or they usually custom-made in a metal fabrication shop?

Thanks for your help.

John

Hey John, re you talking about the transom bands that run up along the side where it meets the transom?

There is a source for those,but they are so simple,I don't see why a sheet metal shop couldn't cut and drill some for you.

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

I believe most builders use stainless steel. I work with stainless steel everyday and it is a shame I wont be using much on my squirt since I can fabricate and tig weld everything in my little workshop.
When I need a small order of metal I use these guys: http://www.onlinemetals.com/index.cfm
You can get almost anything you need from them.

Making the transom bands is not too difficult. But polishing them is a lot of work. Mike's Cutwaters makes them reasonably priced when you consider the chasing for metal, cutting, drilling, and polishing it takes to get something that looks not nearly as nice as his. His cutwaters are also works of art.

http://www.cutwaters.com/

Roberta

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Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

That's the place I was thinking about

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Not all of us are metal fabricators and investing in equipment needed to get a really good finish on stainless may not be worth the one time you might use it. I was only suggesting an alternative. Stainless is not the easiest metal to work with.

Roberta

_________________
Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

When you purchase 316L stainless steel from "onlinemetals" it comes with a polished side with a protective film covering it. A resourceful individual could easily have a shop cut the sheet to spec and drill all the holes needed for transom bands. The only finishing required would be to smooth the cut edges. Now making a cutwater is a different story altogether.

Does the 316 come with a mirror finish on it? The 316 I have purchased only came with a satin finish. When trying to polish it to mirror quality, like Mike did, it was really hard. I tried to make my own transom bands and gave up because I just could not get a good mirror finish.

Roberta

_________________
Roberta
Built Zip "Oliver IV" and Super Spartan "Jimmy 70"

To go from satin to mirror finish you need to use a polishing compound suited for hard metals. Some are formulated specifically for stainless steel. if you really want to burn your retinas out you can finish it with chromium oxide. Usually that will satisfy most people but you can go a step further with some super fine compounds to remove any imperfections that the chromium oxide did not get out.

Great....now we know both ways to do it!!!


Thanks for the info Roberta and J Clark

I've polished copper and aluminum, but don't think I ever did Stainless Steel.

When I did a small piece of copper jewelry I made in school shop, we screwed it to a piece of wood to hold it easier when buffing....I think I'd do that with long pieces of Stainless thin sheet metal so the buffer didn't catch the metal

_________________
Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

I've done all my own stainless work on the Titan and on my 34' sailboat. It's not really al that hard to do.
I actually start with my grinder with a 120 disc ( carefully!) to shape any corners and edges, then put a sanding disc on the VS polisher ( I use a Simonize...$49 on sale works great ) and go thru the grits till iget down to abuot 220. After that it's buffing compound on the buffer.
It's messy, but you can come up with good results.
Doug

I see no reason why you could not make your own transom bands. I used Mike at cutwaters.com. However, I made the trim for my 4 hatches. This is the stuff I used and the really nice polished side is beneath the peel off backing. Both sides are shiny, but the highly polished side is covered by the white peel-off strip. I used a metal cutting jigsaw blade and then my bench top belt sander to round the corners and smooth them. I still want to get a cut water for my boat but it will cost $500 if I use Mike. If I had another large piece of stainless, I could probably use my template to cut my own and have someone weld them:


If I can remember where I got this, I'll post it. I really thought I bought if from West, but I don't have a receipt. That makes me think that I actually got it from an ebay seller.

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2011 MALAHINI - KICKED IN THE HEAD

I wake up with a 16ft woody every morning
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=534DBtp1Cnc
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Some help 4 u guys with few answers. These answers will pertain to traditional Chris-Crafts and how they provided c-waters and t-bands.

1, pre 1933 c-waters and t-bands were chrome plated brass, 18 gauge, 050 thick. Post 1933 c-waters and t-bands were polished stainless steel, 18 gauge.

2, No really good retail place. Go to a sheetmetal fab shop, ones that handle plate steel willbe best stocking s-steel. Your heating and cooling sheetmetal shop normally won't handle s-steel. Make a pattern of what u want before u go.

They'll only be simple if your t-bands required your design are sheared "straight edge" straight and of parallel front and rear edges.
MOST ARE NOT STRAIGHT EDGE STRAIGHT. Most are cut on the curve and then that curve is paralleled for a 1 7/8" width. To cut these on a curve a Beverly hand shear is used. You'll realize this when u lay your pattern cardboard onto the hullside and reach around the backside to mark the transom corner top to bottom. Its a curve.....

For c-waters and t-bands I purchase 5'x10' sheets of 18 gauge 304 b2 finish. b2 finish is a dull finish. I machine my welds and then the whole surface with 400 and 600 grit polish paper and finally use s-steel (white) rouge for almost like chrome. I don't recommend using satin/brushed s-steel because it takes alot of burnishing to get the brushed scratches out. I would check with a fab shop about purchasing s-steel "drops" before ordering retail.