designs in steel

Steel has many advantages for boat building, among the foremost of which are its strength and resistance to abrasion and impact. “A small boat built of steel is as close to truly indestructible as it’s possible to get,” writes naval architect Dave Gerr in The Nature of Boats. Another advantage of steel is that it’s easily worked on by welders anywhere in the world, making repairs inexpensive for cruising boats. It is also ductile, or stretchable, which means that if you hit a rock or a half-submerged shipping container, you’re not likely to sink. The hull may be dented and deformed, but it probably won’t be holed, as a wooden or fibreglass hull might be. On the other hand, steel vessels are heavy because to keep the skin plating from wrapping during welding, a plate thickness of 3 mm is minimum, and often 4 mm is used for this reason.
So it takes boats longer than 15.00 metres to become more or less equal with some other building materials, although it remains a lot heavier than composite for instance.
However the performances of a proper designed heavy displacement yacht are just what is ideal for the long distance cruiser, taking a lot of stores and gear along.
She will more easily float on her designed lines, while a light displacement yacht taking the same load will become dangerous as well as misbehaving.