Aluminum Boat Designs And Plans
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Aluminum Boats Can Save you Money in the Long Run
Author: Miguel Martin
In the past few years, more and more recreational boat owners have come to discover the joys and savings of owning aluminum boats. Commercial boat owners have been aware of these benefits for many years and, because of their outstanding qualities, aluminum boats make more sense for the private boat owner.To begin with, they are easy to build, last longer, and have good resale value. It is easy to construct down to approximately 22 feet, is very strong, and almost maintenance-free. The aluminum hull is lighter than steel by approximately 45%, which makes it very easy to trailer.
If you were to compare aluminum boats with either fiberglass or steel, you would find that they are superior in strength, weight, durability, maintenance, depreciation, and design flexibility. Depth finders are easily installed by simply drilling and tapping into the hull. Corrosion and electrolysis are no longer a major concern because of today's marine grade aluminum.
Aluminum boats can be as attractive as any other in the marina with the proper application of your primer and undercoating, finished with a corrosion resistant topcoat. Epoxy paints are considered the best protection wherever things are mounted to the aluminum surface, and for anything below the water line. For those who choose to leave their boats in the water year-round, an additional anti-fouling paint, such as, "No-Foul," would help eliminate any marine growth problems.
Noise levels and insulation in today's aluminum boats are comparable to vessels made of other materials, allowing normal conversation and listening to radios or personal stereos possible, even at cruising speed. By making sure that initial construction and the right protective coatings have been applied where needed, recreational boaters know they will have a family boat that will be with them forever.
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Anonymous
February 5th, 2012 at 7:55 pm #
If you can choose your pennies, choose all pennies with a mint date after 1982. Pennies made after 1982 are less dense (almost 20% less dense!) than pennies made before 1982 because the ones made after 1982 are made out of primarily zinc instead of copper so you’ll be able to float more pennies if they are all made after 1982. That’s gonna do more for you than a minor improvement in your boat design.
But in thinking about your design, consider this… the weight of the water displaced by your boat, will equal how much weight you can float in your tinfoil boat. So take the volume of your boat, figure out how much that same volume of water would weigh, and that’s the weight you can float. So you want to maximize the volume of your boat with the surface area of tinfoil you are allowed to use. A sphere has the largest volume for the smallest surface area, so you probably want to make your boat as much sphere like as possible.
Anonymous
February 5th, 2012 at 7:55 pm #
I would avoid this switch. depending on the ga. aluminum you can get, the spacing of ribs and stringers could change. Also key structural elements like the motor mounts and transom may have to be redesigned. If you are well versed in working and welding Aluminum, or have boat building experience, what I’d do is look for plans for a similar boat designed for aluminum. Many navel architects sell plans for a few hundred dollars, money well spent in this case. OR find a boat that you like and copy it, right down to the lase rivet. Good luck!.
Dr. Fly
January 30th, 2009 at 4:22 pm #
Aluminum Foil Boat Project?
In my engineering class, I was given a single 6″x9″ sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil. My assignment is to make a boat out of it that can hold as many pennies as possible before it starts to sink (defined as taking on water).
I can only fold the foil; no cutting is allowed. Other than the aluminum foil, the only other material allowed is scotch tape to seal the boat and help hold it together. At the minimum, the boat needs to be capable of holding at least 80 pennies to make me eligible for an A.
I’m assuming that the boat will hold the most pennies when it has the greatest possible volume. I’m planning on just making a box (the top has to be open so the pennies can be dropped in) by marking out squares on the sheet’s corners and folding them inward like triangles. I also plan on applying some math to figure out what size squares will lead to the box with the greatest volume.
If you have any ideas how I could improve my design, or if I’m going completely the wrong way, please let me know.
The pennies cannot be pre-loaded. The boat goes in the water first, then the pennies are added.
Michael Geurink
November 19th, 2009 at 4:40 am #
Can I use aluminum to build an 18′ speedboat designed in plywood?
I live in Brazil and want to use the boat on the Amazon river. Unfortunately, marine plywood is not available or extremely expensive as is also epoxy fiberglass resin. The last combination I want is inferior plywood with polyester resin especially as the boat will need to stay in the water the great majority of the time. So, I’d really like to build with aluminum–looks like it should be fairly intuitive to exchange building media, but I’m not a boat designer. I’m well aware of the tendency for people to make design propagation errors due to small deviation from plans and engineers’ aggravation with people who do so, so I’m reluctant to approach the designer with something as momentous as a materials switch. Does anyone have experience with this? I’m particularly interested in Bateau’s TX18 inverted V boat. http://www.bateau.com/boats/TX18/index.html
Or do you know of any similar designs already in aluminum?