AluminumAlloyBoats.com

Hi,
New to all this, and very excited. Been wanting to build an ALU boat for some time now, dreaming about it is over.
Live in Serbia now, moved here recently from Australia, looking after elderly father here. So have some time up my sleeve and need to do something to keep me sane and maybe make some money also, best job is the one you love they say. Have a Fronius TSP 2700 on it's way from England which will be here any day now. The ER5356 6 kg wire is on hand and so is the 40 Lt bottle of Argon. Have heaps of ALU TIG experience and zero ALU MIG welding behind me, but can't imagine it being too difficult.

Will have all my build documented here and will be asking for advice, am a noob so bare with me.

The boat that I will be building is a river boat. But want something a bit more exciting than just a flat bottomed type, so going with a 7 deg deadrise the length of the hull. Large reverse chines to aid in static stability and dynamic lift. Also would like to build into it a dynamic water ballast that fills when stationary and empties when you start to move forward. The volume will be approx 80 Lt of water, expecting the total weight of the boat to be around the 180-200 kg mark. Surely that is enough ballast, any calcs for that??

Have included a JPG with some initial layout dimensions. Will model the boat in Solidworks and Rhino3D to develop the hull and all components will be laser cut out of 3 mm plate.
Haven't decided on the material yet, considering building the whole thing from 6061 T6, depending on availability, as all panels will be developable and no stretch forming would be required. Some folks here that build boats form mild steel are saying that 6061 T6 is too brittle???? Now they have me doubting my self a little, I used to build back in Australia components for race cars, 6 sec drag cars, out of 6061 T6 and were under much more stress that would ever be put on a boat and there were only failures due to bad design, not the material. Am I wrong here guys???

One thing that I do want to do is insert an extrusion the full length of the keel and weld the hull plates to the extrusion as opposed to plate-plate, have found such joints much stronger in race car applications where possible. may even do the same for the chine welds, I'm doubling the welding but the load is spread over four weld as opposed to two. Plus would look nicer and the 3 mm plate would not pull as much due to the welding, a boat has to look good rite......

Ok...Just had a go at drawing a boat hull in Rhino3D and developing the surfaces.
This is not the design I will be going with, was just practice. It developed quite well, a few gaps due to my poor scissor skills and also the hull formed is not very fair due to the nature of the cardboard I used.
All in all very happy with the formed hull, didn't take in account the thickness of the material which will need to do so in the final production drawing and hull development. All in all very pleased as I just build my first proper boat....... a little small but still a boat...

Let me be the first to welcome you aboard! What a fantastic start and it does look like a proper boat regardless of the carboard. There will be loads of great information from around the world coming your way. I can say that I will be looking forward to watching this whole build and I venture to say that I am most likely saying it for the rest of us here as well...WELCOME!

What is going to power this 18' slender river craft of yours? What do you invision the interior layout to be? What is the purpose of this build other than to fill your time?

I do hope that helping with your father, that he can be part of your excitiment and experience. Good luck and I'll be waiting for your posts and progress.

WELCOME! Capt. PJ

Thanks pjay9, been looking and reading for ages before I decided to sign up an donate. A great bunch of people on here from what I can see. Invaluable resource of knowledge. looking forward to getting to know you guys.

Well thinking of starting a business here in boat building, not just for the sake of doing something but also to help out a close dear relative as he has lost his job due to the economy downturn, he is doing it real tough. While his dad was alive they built a few steel river boats, and is something dear to him. Not sure if we will make money but like I say to him at least we will enjoy it, hehehehe.

Here is the boat that I drew up for the little model I made. Program is Rhino3D. If anyone needs a hull drawn up and developed, just ask. If anyone wants the print files for the hull , just ask and I will make them available.
Well have a 18 hp Evinrude for initial testing, then also a 45 hp Mercury to try out......But would like to buy a nice Honda 25 4 stroke for it eventually.

Got a phone call 15 min ago from the courier company, my Fronius TSP 2700 will be here Monday...WOOOOHOOOO....can't wait...

What sort of fixtures do you guys use for the formation of the hull. I need to make something just need some ideas, will need to be adjustable for different dead rise hulls.

The design has progressed and evolved to a pontoon style boat, but the pontoons wont be closed like on the StabiCraft, imitation is the best form of flattery..hehehehe.
The design will lend it self well to making the internals of the boat modular, stow boxes, consoles, half cabins and the like. So I like the idea, not only that, will stand out here and draw attention.

A little frustrated still no Fronius, stuck in customs. They asked me is it a piece of medical equipment... ...it does look fancy, but c'mon...

Ok here is the basic unfinished design.
All the panels will be laser cut and CNC formed on the press brake. So hopefully she will assemble like a jig saw puzzle.
Transom needs more reinforcement. Hull plate is 3 mm, sides 2.5 mm and transom and reinforcing plates are 5 mm.
The material I will be using for all the plates will be ALMg3 as that is what is readily available and very strong, so happy with the material availability. Already have a 6 kg reel of AlMg5 MIG wire waiting for the Fronius, when it finally lands in my hands.

Did you show them how the medical equipment works?

pjay9 wrote:Did you show them how the medical equipment works?

hahaha... finally got the beast.....sooooo excited.....'Westermans International' (http://www.westermans.com) are awesome, that's where I got the machine from in England. Brand new Argon reg and brand new earth lead. Really happy. Although I got reamed by the customs here, but just happy to have it in my hands.
Reg don't fit bottle, will fix that tomorrow....and then time to lay down some beads boys.....

Did I mention I'm excited.........

Waiting on a Teflon liner for the torch, and a some gas shrouds (dropped it and stepped on it, idiot). So can't try machine out properly, ran a few quick beads. Need to get software upgrade to get the Fronius SynchroPuls (pulse-on-pulse) option activated, so I can run pretty weld beads.....

Just a quick question if someone could answer me.
What angle for the transom? To suit most motors from 25-100hp.
At the moment got it at 12 degrees.

I want to finalize the design as will be having the material cut in a week or two. Want to make sure all is 100% before things get cut.

I am no designer. But my Transom is 12*. Better start ordering up the 5356 wire and Argon. Just to build the Fort and the Deck I used 15lbs of TIG Rods 6.7 kg. and I think 4 reels of wire.. About ten or twelve bottle of Argon 249cf size. for both the mig and tig machines.

I will Parrot what the Capt Said. Welcome glad to have you around as my project starts to wind down. Time to fish it is.

Tomorrow I will be mounting the Transom Hatch Covers that Mike at Miller Marine made for me a month ago (A Sponsor here). He sent me it unassembled. to save on shipping and assembly fees. It had a template to mount the Hinges, as well as Screws, Latches, holes drilled to mount it to the transom. Made out of white Starboard. I am almost ready to mount it. When I do I will post up pictures. His Cutting Board will find a new home on the Bait Tank as a lid/table during Salmon Fishing.

Thanks Mike! aka Gundog

Ok, so will stick with 12 deg transom.

12 bottles of Argon.....WOW.........really???

Hmmmmmm....long way from fishing in this thing yet....

Project on a short pause for a little bit. Got a contract CAD modeling job, so getting through that. Also need the money for the material and consumables so this work has come just in time.
Also eyeing out a Kemppi MLS 2300 AC/DC TIG unit, 230 AMP's single phase machine. I'm impressed.