TIG welder onboard - pulled the trigger

Have several s/s jobs I want to get done but trying to get them quoted on let alone actually done is problematic and, clearly trades don't want the job judging by prices so after a years worth of umming and ahhing have placed an order for a 200amp TIG so as to do them myself.

Reckon it, regulator and gas will be payed for in the first hour of usage.

New or at least a patch job to engine exhaust pipe and a set of flopper stoppers arms will be first on the list

That should be interesting, make sure to take some photos for us.

Comodave said:

That should be interesting, make sure to take some photos for us.

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Of what, the Tig machine?

No, the work you do.

Comodave said:

No, the work you do.

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It's been a while but I'm pretty confident I'll produce good value for expenditure given previous work history

Getting tube, elbows and plate delivered to a nearby pontoon will be the bigger issue me thinks.

Hey Simi,

Did you get a full-size bottle? Trying to decide if I want to go TIG on the boat, but the gas bottle is a big negative...curious how you are dealing with that

TheAtomicDog said:

Hey Simi,

Did you get a full-size bottle? Trying to decide if I want to go TIG on the boat, but the gas bottle is a big negative...curious how you are dealing with that

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I'll start with a D and work windless days with job inside cabin
Should be able to get a few days of actual welding at less than 5lpm

Big hardwares here do swap and go, $200 deposit and $99 for argon
$300 and $150 for an E

In the States, you dont buy bottles, you swap them. If you buy a bottle you assume all the unpaid debt on the bottles (serial #). Of course this may have changed since the early 70s.

OldDan1943 said:

In the States, you dont buy bottles, you swap them. If you buy a bottle you assume all the unpaid debt on the bottles (serial #). Of course this may have changed since the early 70s.

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i buy my bottles. there's no liability on them that i know of. you just exchange them, you never get the one you actually purchased unless you go through some hoops. i had a large bank of nitrogen bottles that we arranged to get the originals back, but it wasn't exactly easy. my small bottle is 80 cf i think.
curious what machine the OP is going to use onboard. i have a couple of smaller tig machines, the little dc only one will actually run on 120 volt and is big enough to weld stainless railings with ease. the next size up (185 amp) does dc or ac. lots of wave form adjustments, 240 volt only. i have a 5kva transformer setup that i can plug into 120 volt shore plugs when 240 isn't available. i can't run too hard on the transformer, but most things that actually need to be done on the boat are fairly small. big stuff goes to my shop.

Are you guys welding on an FRP boat? How do you protect boat surfaces? I’d love to have a welder on board, but when I think of the mess from welding, and more so from cutting metal, I think all I’d do is trash the boat. But it sure would be nice to do my own stainless where the finish doesn’t need to be perfect. Stainless work is so hideously expensive.

In Russia you buy bottles and have them filled. That's part of why I don't want to deal with it.

In doing any substantial SS fabrication, the TIG welder is the smallest piece of equipment you need. A band saw, small plate break, drill press, several portable grinders and polishers would be needed. Lathe and small mill would also be useful. Dedicate a cabin on that 68'er and you might have the space! Protecting the fiberglass from welding isn't an issue - just need a small metal topped bench. TIG is a very well controlled process.

twistedtree said:

Are you guys welding on an FRP boat? How do you protect boat surfaces? I’d love to have a welder on board, but when I think of the mess from welding, and more so from cutting metal, I think all I’d do is trash the boat. But it sure would be nice to do my own stainless where the finish doesn’t need to be perfect. Stainless work is so hideously expensive.

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there's no spatter when tig welding. it's the prep that makes the mess. i have welding blankets for when i need to get serious though. but it's always better to do things "off the boat" whenever possible.
welding blankets will protect the area, but they leave glass fibers behind that need cleaned up as well. if you bag everything off, then lay a blanket, you can trap most everything.

TheAtomicDog said:

Hey Simi,

Did you get a full-size bottle? Trying to decide if I want to go TIG on the boat, but the gas bottle is a big negative...curious how you are dealing with that

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For my TIG setup I use two 50 cu.ft. tanks. If one runs out during a job I can just
switch to the other and keep going. That way I always have a full one standing by.
A 50 is easy to lug around to get refilled.

DDW said:

In doing any substantial SS fabrication, the TIG welder is the smallest piece of equipment you need. A band saw, small plate break, drill press, several portable grinders and polishers would be needed. Lathe and small mill would also be useful. Dedicate a cabin on that 68'er and you might have the space! Protecting the fiberglass from welding isn't an issue - just need a small metal topped bench. TIG is a very well controlled process.

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I think "all the other stuff" is what keeps it from being practical for me.

twistedtree said:

Stainless work is so hideously expensive.

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It certainly can be!


Just yesterday my guy - he does work for Williams F1 and the local hi-tech science industry round here - welded a stainless plate to a stainless tube for me. A support for my home made outboard holder.


It cost me a packet of Tunnock's Caramel Wafer biscuits...........................

Jarrow Lily said:

It certainly can be!


Just yesterday my guy - he does work for Williams F1 and the local hi-tech science industry round here - welded a stainless plate to a stainless tube for me. A support for my home made outboard holder.


It cost me a packet of Tunnock's Caramel Wafer biscuits...........................

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if the stainless fabrication falls outside the scope of my work i don't charge for it. it's just too hard to charge what it's worth. but i limit what i'll do for people to just what i can put on the bench and take care of easily. (usually) there's always exceptions.

I have a small wire feed i take with me for long trips. Small bottles i own for stainless and aluminum. But im a cheap ass, dont wanna pay the rates for hired work, especially when something just broke

DDW said:

In doing any substantial SS fabrication, the TIG welder is the smallest piece of equipment you need. A band saw, small plate break, drill press, several portable grinders and polishers would be needed. Lathe and small mill would also be useful. Dedicate a cabin on that 68'er and you might have the space! Protecting the fiberglass from welding isn't an issue - just need a small metal topped bench. TIG is a very well controlled process.

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Did many years doing s/s in the superyacht and brewery game
Never once saw a bandsaw, never used a plate break, lathe or small mill

A drill press would be usefully
Drop saw with cut off wheel and grinders can do most everything
And I can do without polishing, pickling paste on the weld will do fine.

Simi 60 said:

Did many years doing s/s in the superyacht and brewery game
Never once saw a bandsaw, never used a plate break, lathe or small mill

A drill press would be usefully
Drop saw with cut off wheel and grinders can do most everything
And I can do without polishing, pickling paste on the weld will do fine.

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one can do most anything with an angle grinder. i have quite a few set up for different tasks.
but i also have a full compliment of other tools. i use them all. i'll polish my own stuff sometimes, depends on where it goes.

Nice to have that capability on a boat your size for sure. I need a TIG machine. Currently have a Miller 211 Autoset MVP and spool gun and various shop tools that gets me by. But its all in the home shop.

What model are you going with?

For those that aren’t already experienced welders, a TIG machine isn’t where you want to start unless you are willing to spend a lot of time to learn and practice. I have a pretty complete metal shop (and wood) and recently sold my Miller TIG welder because I didn’t use it enough to get the weld quality that I want. I would rather pay for the occasional TIG job to be done professionally and perfectly rather than settle for the quality and appearance I can turn out with my rusty skills.

Simi has different situation since apparently the skilled work is hard to come by in his area. Sounds like he has the ability and experience so that won’t be an issue for him.

Simi 60 said:

Did many years doing s/s in the superyacht and brewery game
Never once saw a bandsaw, never used a plate break, lathe or small mill

A drill press would be usefully
Drop saw with cut off wheel and grinders can do most everything
And I can do without polishing, pickling paste on the weld will do fine.

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You can do everything with a file and a piece of sandpaper. That doesn't make it practical. It depends on the level or complexity and finish you expect, and how much time you have. Sure you can do a little repair work or bang something agricultural together without much equipment.

Simi 60 said:

Did many years doing s/s in the superyacht and brewery game
Never once saw a bandsaw, never used a plate break, lathe or small mill

A drill press would be usefully
Drop saw with cut off wheel and grinders can do most everything
And I can do without polishing, pickling paste on the weld will do fine.

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Five on the gas flow huh what kind of tungsten do you use what size cup .What gas do you use I heard somebody say you need a different gas for different metals help a poor illiterate guy out here . I’d sure appreciate it.Years in the business ,stainless for a super yachts . Welders love taking pictures of work they’re proud of ,I’m sure you’re bound to have one or two showing some work you’ve done big grin on your face holding your tig torch a picture or two maybe the kind of welding helmet you use help a poor dumb guy like me more details please .You know Thumb Control or pedal anything you can tell me would sure be of help

For the totally illiterate like myself, what can a TIG do that can't be done with very thin, say 1.6mm, electrodes? Honest question as I have absolutely no knowledge of TIG's strengths and weaknesses.

GoneDiving said:

For the totally illiterate like myself, what can a TIG do that can't be done with very thin, say 1.6mm, electrodes? Honest question as I have absolutely no knowledge of TIG's strengths and weaknesses.

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Tig does the nice pretty welds on stainless that you can't really get with stick though the new machines being inverter type supposedly are a lot more stable so I'll be keen to give stick a run on some heavier plate




Or if you have a machine that can do ally, welds like this

Scooby5959 said:

Five on the gas flow huh what kind of tungsten do you use what size cup .What gas do you use I heard somebody say you need a different gas for different metals help a poor illiterate guy out here . I’d sure appreciate it.Years in the business ,stainless for a super yachts . Welders love taking pictures of work they’re proud of ,I’m sure you’re bound to have one or two showing some work you’ve done big grin on your face holding your tig torch a picture or two maybe the kind of welding helmet you use help a poor dumb guy like me more details please .You know Thumb Control or pedal anything you can tell me would sure be of help

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If im paying for the gas I'll be going as low as I can.
Back in the day when I wasn't paying for it I didn't care that much about flow, there was an endless supply of argon available
50+ guys running migs and a few tigs, all running argon, the daily usage was high.

And, all in the days pre mobile phone, where we worked and didnt sit around all day taking selfies of us and our work.

Google Lloyds Ships and you'll see vessels I worked on .

Scooby5959 said:

Five on the gas flow huh what kind of tungsten do you use what size cup .What gas do you use I heard somebody say you need a different gas for different metals help a poor illiterate guy out here . I’d sure appreciate it.Years in the business ,stainless for a super yachts . Welders love taking pictures of work they’re proud of ,I’m sure you’re bound to have one or two showing some work you’ve done big grin on your face holding your tig torch a picture or two maybe the kind of welding helmet you use help a poor dumb guy like me more details please .You know Thumb Control or pedal anything you can tell me would sure be of help

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i can't figure out what you're going for here. seems pretty obvious that you already know a thing or two.

GoneDiving said:

For the totally illiterate like myself, what can a TIG do that can't be done with very thin, say 1.6mm, electrodes? Honest question as I have absolutely no knowledge of TIG's strengths and weaknesses.

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tig is a very clean controlled process. the base metal needs to be very well prepared, and the using right filler can be critical. the chances of getting pinholes in the welds are much lower with tig also, making it a good choice for tanks or critical plumbing.
it is awful at trying to repair something that's been corroded, or even has some residue on it. if conditions aren't perfect it will not go well. tig power sources can almost always weld stick though, so if it's dirty and needs a strong weld grab the stick electrode.
i'm guessing the OP might have a pretty good sized work bench in that vessel, or he wouldn't be putting a welder on board. (although, there are a few little inverters the size of a bread box)

Bmarler said:

tig is a very clean controlled process...it is awful at trying to repair something that's been corroded, or even has some residue on it. if conditions aren't perfect it will not go well. tig power sources can almost always weld stick though, so if it's dirty and needs a strong weld grab the stick electrode.

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Thanks.