We have explored so many wrecks on reefs in our travels that I have become very skeptical about the touted benefits of steel boats. At least with regard to private yachts, not ships. I've seen fiberglass sailboats on reefs with minor damage even though they've been there for several years. The worst damage, in the Caribbean, has been that done by the Venezuelan fishermen and probably passing yachts removing all the valuable hardware they could take. The hull remaining, in many cases, unholed.

Steel can be holed more easily than GRP, for example, if both boats run into sharp rocks. Steel also can develop pinhole leaks that can be difficult to locate (though I acknowledge that it is probably rare, I have personal knowledge of two steel yachts that suffered this problem, one of which sank in Niuatoputapu, Tonga in 1993).

An interesting book is one called "SITTING DUCKS" by Betty Hitz-Holman, recounting their disastrous attempt to go cruising, starting in the Caribbean. It's out of print now, but it can still be found on used book lists. She ran her fiberglass boat up on the reefs of Las Aves, off Venezuela. And succeeded in salvaging the boat, in spite of some pretty greedy rip-off artists "helping" her, as well as some pretty great people who really did help her. There's a lot more to the story, including a machete attack in Friendship Bay, Bequia, but this boat was literally dragged across the reef to water deep enough to refloat it, and then it was sailed for about 7 hours to get to Bonaire for repairs.

I also posted on Cruiser Log a discussion about steel vs fiberglass, and attached an article from Passagemaker Magazine called "Fiberglass Rules". I still haven't gotten around to putting the article in my Cruiser's Dictionary (ah, the road to hell is paved with good intentions).

anyway, just my opinion.