"imagineero" wrote in message
ps.com...
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.

Hi there,
Ive been a full time welder for about 5 years now, and a tinkerer most
of my life before that. I spent a year doing contract work stick
welding trawlers but in the last year and a half most of my work has
been aluminum; big tip trailers, and aluminum plate boats.

Here's my 2 cents worth... I dont think it really makes too much of a
difference what alloy you go with, particularly for fresh water. Just
go with something that isnt too hard. We use 5083 marine alloy, but a
lot of the 5000 series alloys are suitable. You'd do well to decide
early on if you want to go for a 'plate' boat or a 'pressed' boat.

There was a lot of great stuff in your post. Thanks. I was thinking more
along the lines of pressed, although actual structural bending or forming
was not part of my plan for the main hull design. Wrapping and flexing
would be more accurate. Plate would be way to heavy for some of the smaller
designs I have in mind. I was thinking to basically light bend most of the
sheets using .125 for most things and creating structural ribs out of top
hat bent sheet. I figured to use some 1/4" plate for a slightly different
design than most modern production boats for increased ridgidity for
stringers and knee bracing as well as rear corner gunnel to transom bracing
so that the boat will actually standup to the horsepower that the CG formula
says is appropriate for the design. Most production boats flex to much and
begin to get stress fractures when run with their max rated HP even after
only a couple years.

Your comments on welding the thinner sheet have made me step back and
reconsider. I had hoped to avoid stitch and glue even though it is much
easier, because of the extreme heat and dry conditions where I live. I have
read all about encapsulation etc, and I have also seen real boats. Wood
just does not hold up in the desert no matter what you do to it. Now your
comments about the difficulties of welding sheet aluminum make me reconsider
that approach as well. I suppose the thing to do is get some sheet and a
gas bottle and see what I can do.

You are right in that I have a cheap MIG (with only 2 heat settings).
Usually I use flux core except for stainless because its just faster to do a
small repair weld. My business can justify the expense of a better MIG
welder, although an autodarkeneing shield is probably going to come first.
I know the duty cycle of the one I have is abysmal. This one mostly gets
used for minor fabrication for my business. I probably can't justify top of
the line. Anything over a couple thousand would be pretty hard to justify.

Anyway, thanks for your suggestions regarding a local boat builder. Its a
great idea, except as far as I know there aren't any. The nearest would be
about 180 miles in either direction. I probably need a better MIG anyway,
so I guess I'll go hunt up another gas bottle and pick up some scraps from
Mike and see what I can do.


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




--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com