Is bronze the new gold?

[dwhatty]

Am replacing a couple of in line ball valve/thru hull conglobulations for proper bronze seacocks mounted on proper backing blocks. Went to get 6 bronze 1/4 " X 1" bronze lag screws. Price: $7 per screw!!! Checked galvanic table. 316 ss lag screws (of same size) are closely compatible with bronze and are "only" about $1 each. Went with the ss. Any reason I should not?

 

[RickB]

dwhatty wrote:Went with the ss. Any reason I should not?

If they get wet and stay wet they will fail pretty quickly.

 

[FF]

Monel is the new gold .At least as far as production boat assemblers .

 

[dwhatty]

RickB wrote:

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dwhatty wrote:Went with the ss. Any reason I should not?

If they get wet and stay wet they will fail pretty quickly

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They won't go through the hull, just into the backing blocks to prevent the seacocks from rotating. The bilge where the seacocks are is dry.

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[Baypoint]

If it is not protected the stainless will fail over time. Make sure it is 316 grade not the 304 or the 400 series. Inconel is self protecting as well as monel.* Dont know if these are any less expensive.* Used quite a bit in the oil industry

 

[RickB]

dwhatty wrote:They won't go through the hull, just into the backing blocks to prevent the seacocks from rotating. The bilge where the seacocks are is dry.

If I knew they would be dry and not soaked I wouldn't have any problem using SS lag bolts in my boat. Pull a different one every year and see what it looks like.

Like Baypoint mentioned, make sure you*specify and receive*316.
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[Tomas]

How 'bout 1" x 14 silicon bronze wood screws available from boltdepot.com for about $1 each. Not quite 1/4" but real close.

 

[dwhatty]

I gave up. Gritting my parsimoneous Yankee teeth, I just ordered bronze lags from an eBay seller. Best price I could find, but they were still $5.73 apiece plus $5 shipping.

 

[sunchaser]

Good decision. I had a SS eye bolt fail after 3 years. It was the connection for the bitter end in the chain locker therefore often wet.

 

[koliver]

Sunchaser:

Now you will have us all sticking our heads in that uncomfortable space to check on our SS eye bolts. Mine is now 30 yrs old. I think I last put a strain on it about 10 yrs ago. Time to whack it with a hammer and see what kind of sound it makes.