Building your own boat?

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caver101

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Is there a good thread that has been posted following someone as they build their own hull from scratch on here? The search did not really turn anything up along the lines of what I am looking for.

I am looking at building a simple 1648 slick bottom hull out of 0.125" aluminum like the guys in the mud flats of Louisiana and duck hunters run. My limitations are access to a press 16' long to bend the chines on the hull and where to source one sheet of 0.125" thats 8' wide x 16' long. No local supplier can order anything that size, but there are boat builders getting it from somewhere. Any idea where to order a sheet that large?

I have seen photos of guys building hulls with rounded chines and they are bending their hulls with ratchet straps. I just can not find any info on that method. Any advise is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!
 
8 foot by 16 foot isn't going to fold up into the shape of a boat hull. Wouldn't you just need a sheet that is 4 feet wide to make the floor and then separate side pieces welded to the floor.

Have you measured out a 1648 at a dealer by welded piece? I would think you could measure each welded piece and then by the sizes to make them. No boat is one single sheet of aluminum and if you can break the project up into smaller sizes they may be easier to find.

Central steel and wire - sells up to a 72 x 144 piece of 5052-H32, and that is about 130 pounds of material.
 
Wrong.. 8 foot wide aluminum is used all the time.. Brake it for 4 foot bottom, 2 foot sides.. Eliminate the welds Down the chine... Just notch the sides at the bow to form the rake.. That's how most of the better builders in Louisiana form
The hulls.. Less welding..
 
Meyers makes a welded 3-piece V-hull (two halves + transom) . . . haven't seen one with fewer pieces.
 
I have a 42 inch bottom weld craft... It's a one piece hull minus the transom.. That gets welded on...

Not sure where y'all are from or what boats y'all have been looking at but most aluminum hulls are formed from 1 sheet if the bottom is 48 inches or less.. I'm taking about flag bottoms... Vee bottoms would be different I think...

Back the original question.. An 8 x 16 sheet of aluminum would be pretty tough to ship... They get The builders down here have it.. They get 8x20 sheets if in not mistaken... But getting it to you I think would be an expensive chore... I think if you were gonna go that route, there's a few shops in the Lafayette/new Iberia area of Louisiana that you might as well get them to go ahead and crimp/brake the chines to form the sides as well.. They do this every day many times a day...

On that note, I'd go ahead and get a quote from a good builder down here to go ahead and build the hull too just to compare... That piece of aluminum will be not far off from the price of the finished hull(factoring in your time and materials) .
 
A number of years ago I had a neighbor who built his own aluminum boat. He started with a drawing, then a table top model out of cardboard, then he made full scale patterns. The bottom was one piece, sort of V notched and turned up where it formed the V bow, then the sides were welded along an extruded piece which both formed a spray rail and added strength, along with hiding the welded seam pretty well. Each side was its own piece, and then the transom panel. The gunwales were formed with round tubing which formed the perimeter strength of the hull. There were several cross braces near the bottom and several lateral stringers for strength. I don't know what gauge aluminum but I'd guess somewhere around 1/6" or so. It was more than double the thickness of your common Starcraft.

Do a Google search for aluminum boat blue prints for some ideas
 
and not to be anal but not your average home piddler is equipped to weld aluminum... **** if I was, I'd just build boats at home and not go to work...
 

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