"Matt Colie" wrote in message
...
Bob,
First - Do you know how to weld (any type)right now? If you do not, go
find a community college or local technical school and get some
instruction. They may ever have an advanced class that will get you
closer.

I do a fair job with my little MIG welder on any kind of steel. I've got a
gas bottle and flow regulator for stainless. That takes a little more work
to get jsut right. I do heavy steel stock with my cracker box AC welder,
but the best welder I ever used for heavy stock was a Hobart DC stick
welder. Wow talk about smooth.

Second - You should reseach which alloys you will work. There are a
number of choices and some limit the effective welding process that can be
used. I have not worked in this field in years, so I do not choose to
suggest without knowing the actual application and doing some study on my
own.

I have been doing a little research on my own, but I was hoping to get a
nice definitive answer from some one who builds boats that would say, "This
alloy works very well in a wet environemtn."

Third - There are are multiple processes for welding aluminum available.
All are different and some are very different. Some alloys are best
welded with TIG (expensive) others can be handled with SMA (looks like
welding rod and the easiest is MIG (has a gun that lays weld).

Yep, I read about TIG & MIG already. Like I said I've got a MIG welder and
a flow regulator already. Figured I would get a U-groove push wheel for my
wire, and pick up a straight (not mixed) bottle for doing aluminum, and then
I'ld wander over to Mike's Metal works and buy some aluminum off his scrap
rack to practce with.

Most of your practice should be laying beads on flat stock so don't buy
new metal. After you learn to weld and pick up some good used gear, go
find a scrap metal dealer that get flat stock from some where and make a
deal to buy some from him with the understanding that you can sell it back
to him as larger pieces for not much less than you bought it for.

I figured to get a bunch of scrap to practice on froma local metal shop.

Build yourseld some forms and holders to let you weld uphill down hand and
overhead and try to assemble soem structures that are really difficult and
hard to manage and you may be close to boat building.

Part of practice.

Keep up posted.
Best of luck,

Matt Colie
(welded in big steel ships for a while and little stuff for ever)


--
Bob La Londe
Fishing Arizona & The Colorado River
Fishing Forums & Contests
http://www.YumaBassMan.com



Bob La Londe wrote:
I am seriously interested in learning to weld aluminum. In the interest
of future projects I fugured I would buy some scrap aluminum froma local
metal worker to practice on. So...which alloys should I get. These are
for freshwater projects, but a small bay boat or small skiff for bay
fishing may be in the works for the future so sal****er applications are
not totally out of the question.



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