"Alert-Alert" ATTENTION ALL BOAT OWNERS

[StargazerP303]

Today I have launched an investigation and may result in a class-action against the distributers of "Stainless-Steel" and may include distributers nation wide!
1. False statement, misleading advertisement and the distribution and sale of fake or inferior stainless steel products. etc..

I just reviewed my vessel's chain plates that were rebidded and all hardware: bolts/, screws, lock-washers appear to be compromised and show's detrition and or rusting taking effect of the stainless, and not to exclude any corrosion.

I'm urging all boat owners to validate your purchases of any stainless steel products that it really is the quality your paying for. Ex: simple test is to carry a "Magnet" around your vessel and check to see if it is attracted to your current stainless screws/bolts/washers..etc install on the boat. Make a list of all that need to be changed-out or replaced for ease of local.
This "MAY" have an effect to your proper navigation of your vessel.
So please purchase anything stainless but, VALIDATE or TEST to make sure it is quality STAINLESS.

[ removed due to copyright infringement - SBO Police Bot]

Best regards, Capt. Rob

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Just what we need is another class action suit.

I think you should do your homework. "Stainless" isn't stainless. It's stain less.

 

[justsomeguy]

stainless-Steal

Could be a loophole there.

 

[dlochner]

I'm not quite sure what your point is. As Larry notes, Stainless steel (not steal) is stain less, i.e., more resistant to rust than plain old everyday steel. In the right conditions, SS will corrode and rust, the causes are many, including poor quality SS, a build up of salt, contamination of the steel from tools used to install fittings. And there is most insidious corrosion, crevice corrosion that occurs when SS is immersed in deoxygenated water.

If you are upset that there is some staining and rusting on your SS fittings, then you should try and determine the cause of them. First, you would have to contact every prior owner and inquire about their maintenance and cleaning procedures and what they might have done that promoted staining and compromising the SS.

And, then who are you going to sue? The entire industry? Good luck with that. That's not the way class action suits occur.

Go find a competent attorney and run this by him/her, then come back with the Attorney's name and contact info.

 

[Scott B]

Is "Stainless-steal" a manufacturer or a miss-spelling of stainless steel.

 

[Chief RA]

SS is not all rated the same! Man, you are way out there! Chief

 

[agprice22]

Huh? Are you trolling us?

 

[StargazerP303]

When you pay big bucks for repairs and are told all hardware used if 316 quality! and you find out later that its not SS 316 and its going to have to be redone. You bet I'm pissed off. Just the engine mounts themselves have to be reworked. The chain store VP has already called and had notified all it's stores to put up a sign to help customers Identify what type Stainless Steel they carry and on the shelf's.. Hey I'm trying to let you all know this is really serous when your misled that its marine grade being used. All I can say is "It's your boat, and your call!" Be safe.
Capt Rob

 

[SBO Police Bot]

Funny how the words Law Suit start ringing alarms around here. So, we will be watching this very closely. So far no manufactures have been listed. As soon as they do we will shut down this thread. OK?

Also of critical importance, here on SBO, is the proper presentation of quoted material. Please refrain from copy & pasting the work of others, and presenting it as your own. At a bare minimum the use of quotation marks. The site or author you grabbed it from also helps. The same rules apply here as would in college. Present the work of others, as your own, and you fail.

If the quotes above are not corrected, this thread will go into the trash bin.

 

[Chief RA]

Thanks Chief

 

[Meriachee]

Now you've gone and done it. Is there a metallurgy course offered by SNU?

 

[SG]

The "magnet screening" is fine. Obviously if it fails that's test, you have one issue.

However, how do you determine if it's 316 SS so easily?

I understand that you could have issues with the wrong grade, but it shouldn't be so quickly noticed with structural issues. The shear stress working loads, and ultimately resistance to corrosion and fatigue are issues that take a while to evidence themselves. S

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

I say we all head for China (where this stuff is made) and show our displeasure .............

Should be just as effective as a class action suit (maybe even more so) and more interesting if you've never been there.

 

[Meriachee]

Should be just as effective as a class action suit (maybe even more so) and more interesting if you've never been there.

That looks like Ralph on the lower right. You gotta lose that 'stach, nice hat though.

 

[Ralph Johnstone]

You gotta lose that 'stach, nice hat though.

The "stach" is left over from Movember.

The hat keeps the sun off my cranial solar panel.

 

[Meriachee]

Excellent. Now just some sunshine that isn't liquid. Or frozen.

 

[kloudie1]

Having been an injun-ear for one of the majors, I watched the production of many alloys move offshore because of excessive gov-mint interference in the business.. spin that how ya might, I saw it happening in my dealings with the alloy producers here in North America.. Along with the production went quality control.. We got to the place where mill certifications are required on everything and a high sample count is analyzed on batch orders.. Trouble was not limited to Chinese produced material, we saw problems from most producers except from Germany and the UK.. Some folks figured out that we used small, hand held portable nuclear analyzers to read the alloy recipe; and knowing that it reads surface only, they went to the extreme of surface coating with the ordered alloy over a cheaper substrate .. There is a LOT of fake stainless out there.. destructive testing now has to be done on critical orders .. very critical stuff is watched over at the mills by guys who know what to look for..
It is good to see some production coming back here!

 

[StargazerP303]

Funny how the words Law Suit start ringing alarms around here. So, we will be watching this very closely. So far no manufactures have been listed. As soon as they do we will shut down this thread. OK?

Thanks for the heads up Police Bot. I assure you that this will not happened here! If and when, and I mean "IF" the companies fail to make the necessary full disclosure by means of informing the consumer or it's agents, that there SS is "Grade XXX". This is just like the FDA requiring food label's of contents to protect the consumer. I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill here. I'm trying to help "educate the boat owners and readers" on what happened to me, could happen to them. When you "assume" that all is right and you have been misled not by the mechanic(s), but by the manufactures advertisements, and makes false claims. This is what irks me. Tonight I removed in different locations several screws through my vessel only to find the screw threads are rusting. However, removing the ones that are real SS (316) are fine. This should make boat owners to take pause, on where and who they buy products from and review their claims as to quality type. I personally, like others assumed what the manufactures claimed and advertised was truth.. "NOT"
Regards, Capt. Rob Stargazer ll

 

[Stu Jackson]

Golly , hecky darn. What new news??? Fascinating what one can also learn from a West Marine Advisor article...

 

[dlochner]

I personally, like others assumed what the manufactures claimed and advertised was truth.. "NOT"

That might be your first mistake.