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Hello Subdudes, I used to try to design every thing on the exterior of a sub, with no overlaping metal. I still think this is generally a good idea. But some times it seems like a ok option with what I've learned. If you do overlap metal, like was done on the saddle collar around my CT or the little plates that are part of the original tangle guard on my sub. Then you want to make sure your have a good solid leak free weld. TIG is the best for that from what I've been told. I wanted to remove the six tangle guard/crash cage attachement points from my subs hull. Since they were made of mild steel, and not of a good rust free configuration. I have some new ones designed out of 316 SS that will attach to the new 2" aluminum crash cage, like you see the ski boat towers being attached. To remove the attachment points, I just used a metal cutting abrasive blade in my skil saw, and they came of in a juffy. I was very careful to not cut to deep. But with the welding blow out in some areas, I'll need to add some filler weld beads anyways. They were stick welded on, and the welds didn't penitrate very far. Once I removed them, I could see that a few of them didn't have a complete seal, and rust had started to work it's magic. On a side note, when I was copper slag blasting the sub, I some times finished to late to paint the blasted areas. I noticed that the mild steel parts like the crash cage attachment points, and other mild steel parts, would rust very quickly. While the A516 GR70 hull would stay rust free for much longer. I thought that was weird. Here are the pictures that relate to the above. http://cid-5085d10eb6afe47c.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Overlapping%20Metal%20on%20the%20Exterior%20of%20a%20Sub Regards, Szybowski |