Stainless tubing bending and fabrication.

[Sue Clancy]

Does anyone know of a fabricator willing to do a small job requiring bending and welding of stailess tubing for a small stainless item. Would love if they are local to the northeast or someone willing to ship.  Have tried googling and sending my design specs but so far most say they can't do it or the job is too small.
Thanks

[KWKloeber]

Sue,

I have used two. I emailed you.

Tom is highly qualified - he and I built my back porch out of my stern rail on a Saturday afternoon in his driveway.  Well actually mostly he did.  I mostly held his beer, ran for the pizza, and stood in amazement as he cut up my rail, bent some tubing, and put it together without needing to use a tape measure.  I did do the bull work of polishing the tubing and welds after I reinstalled it.

Mike - I have used once on exhaust riser work.  Did ok work and was rea$$onable.

Larry - never used, was only referred to him by another boater.


Ken

[KWKloeber]

PS

Sue, these days I double or triple the time any welder tells me a small job is take.  none can get enough help and are overwhelmed with work because we've trained the last couple generations that it's not sexy to pursue a career in any of the trades.  Except Wall Street trades of course.

k

[Roc]

Sue,
Is there a business near you that does awnings for store fronts.  They should have the means of bending and welding ss tubing.

[Sue Clancy]

Interesting idea on the awnings. I'll look for someone like that too.

[Ron Hill]

Sue : Most plumbing shops that work in Big buildings can bend tubing in the 3/4" and 1" diameter.

Just get on the phone and ask around.

A thought

[patrice]

Hi,

I did my solar panel support my self.
Bought SS tubing.
Rented an electrician tube bender.

It bend pretty easily.

[Sue Clancy]

Patrice, were you using 316 stainless tubing?  1 inch diameter?   My husband really wants to do this himself but the bending is the challenge.

[Jon W]

Was the electrician tube bender a hand bender with the long arm, an electric bender, or hydraulic bender?

[Roc]

My guess is HD has tube benders to rent.

[patrice]

Patrice, were you using 316 stainless tubing?  1 inch diameter?   My husband really wants to do this himself but the bending is the challenge.

Hi,
Yes it was 316ss.
It was a manual bender with a long handle.
But it does take some effort  💪

[KWKloeber]

Sue

Check YouTube for vids of diy stainless tubing bends. 
Tom M bent mine w a manual bender and had a jig he made to use in his shop to get the right radii. Many years ago, can't recall the particulars.  CRS.


K

[Sue Clancy]

I just wanted to follow up on this post.  Since we had cutting, bending and welding of stainless tubing and some precision on the measurements we were hesitant to do this ourselves given the cost of the material.  So after looking at all the options people proposed I had a VERY tough time getting any quotes to do this.  And some of those we got were in the $1000 or more range. 

I finally found a company that advertised in Good Old Boat magazine - Stainless Outfitters in Ontario Canada https://stainlessoutfitters.com/

They gave me a very good quote of $232.95 including the shipping and customs and included some extra parts and did a beautiful job of it and were very pleasant to work with.  I would highly recommend them.

So, what did we build you ask?  As many of you know we sold our 1987 Catalina 34 and bough a 2008 Hunter 36 - Try not to groan too hard on that.  The previous owner of our Hunter had designed a really great helm seat and some friends with a slightly older Hunter 36 wanted to replicate it.  I think this design can work for some of the Catalina 34 boats especially those with a walk through transom with some modifications on the measurements so I wanted to share some photos here.  I don't have good photos of it actually installed so I will get those this weekend and post here.

[KWKloeber]

All:  I note on their website that they do lifelines and fittings.

ken

[Sue Clancy]

Here are the photos of our helm seat. As you can see it uses 2 Bimini stand off pieces to secure it to the stern rail and then the 2 legs in the front. 1/2" starboard provides the seat with an added 2 inch cushion. We can lean a little against the pool noodle on the lifeline gate. This removes easily to access the swim platform.  It stores for us if we are at anchor for a few days under the dodger on the cabin too turned upside down.