[Antonio Torres]

Sailronin,

I believe the russian subs class name is Typhoon.

[Codger]

Seems that both Typhoon and Mike class Soviet submarines have titanium pressure vessels. Interesting, but military budgets and materials applications don't really relate to civilian surface vessel applications, unless you happen to own a country.
So far it seems that there is no good technical reason that titanium has not been applied to the manufacturing of yachts.

[gja]

I repaired several part from a half tonner.the hull is carbon kevlar and all the hardware is titanium.I just got some rods and though I´d give it a try with my TIG.I mainly weld aluminium and found it quite easy to get used to.I asked a technician what would be the correct process and it´s true you need to clean the parts with acid (which I did not do,just brushed it with stainless steel brush).(not that I recommend this).Ti is a beautifull material,but it´s true that the excess material removed on a lathe for example is highly flamable.Anyone interested should buy small surplus parts on the web and try on small projects.I found once a website with the pictures and description of a russian runabout prototype made of titanium,powered by a small diesel engine and equipped with foils.It was said to speed to 40knts+.I´ll try and find the link if anyone is interested.

gja

[Codger]

gja
Yes please. I've only done cursory searches but have not come across the vessel that you mention.

[Loren Schweizer]

A titanium bicycle left out in the rain looks good over time and one would imagine that a Ti hull would do well, esp. as evidenced by posters noting the (previously) Evil Empire's subs.
Interestingly, our new F22 will contain ~34% by weight Ti, the highest ever for a warplane.

Sadly, there's no free lunch, just expensive hammers.

The price of hot rolled plate steel is roughly $650 for a metric ton and about thirteen times that for Ti sponge... and this with Ti prices having been on the decline after 9/11.

[Titanium Guru]

I have heard of a yacht hull made of titanium, located in Russia.

Japanese fisherman have made a nice titanium fishing boat

[MacMcL]

To put this in perspective, for all of you golfers out there, look at the costs of a Big Bertha driver, then imagine the metal necessary to fabricate an entire yacht.

[Dhowdodger]

I am aware of a Sailing yacht that was built out of Monel, the builder was involved in the construction of a refineary here in the mid east so had access to some free 'off-cuts'.
A friend caught sight of her a few years after she was launched, pristine unpainted hull.

[chuckb]

Originally Posted by Codger

Let me preface this by stating that I have not looked very far for information on this topic. Honestly, I just did a search for Titanium on Yachtforums and that's about it. Only mention is small pieces.

Was playing with a beautifully engraved, solid titanium globe of the earth this morning and it just got me to thinking about this....

Is there much use of titanium in yacht manufacture?
It is a very interesting material with many of the attributes of steel with one major advantage, less weight. With the evolution of various alloys and surface preparation via the rather impressive advances in anodising technologies the applications are seemingly endless.

This just was published... makes for an interesting read.

U.S. Navy: The Business Case for a Titanium

It looks like it might be suitable for a unique yacht, certainly the weight benefits could help the "big and fast" tradespace, and the corrosion resistance is a big plus. What do the Naval Architects in this crowd think?

[BMcF]

My company has been fabricating various underwater appendages in titanium for almost 10 years now. It is lovely 'stuff' to design and build with and is completely unaffected by corrosion.

But the material expense is, as everyone knows, incredibly high. IMO..the only rational way to justify a titanium hull is based on total cost of ownership over a very long planned life expectancy. (Or some fairly extreme performance objective(s))

Although...and as noted in the USN studies..the recovery of $$ in the scrap process is significant.