In article 4c685479-5e3d-489a-87e5-
,
says...

On Nov 29, 6:28*pm, "Bob La Londe" wrote:
I find it interesting that a lot of the small boat aluminum designs seem to
say the main hull should be 3/16 and yet .100 is used in a heck of a lot of
commercially available small boats. *.125 is considered heavy duty. *Is it
just CYA?

Anyway, getting back to my original point. A lot of commercially
available boats seem to be made out of a lot light sheet than the
designers are reccomending in the boat plans they are selling.

http://www.seaarkboats.com/boat.php?...&boat=Big+Easy

For example: The link above is to a medium V design 24 footer. The
specs says .125 thick sheet. I can't buy a plan to build a boat that
size designed for .125 sheet. Most of the ones I have seen want to
spec .1875 which basically means .190. Now why is that? Is it just
the typical over building to cover your dearie aere, or are all those
commercial boat builders building inadequate boats and damn the
liability?

I think the latter is the answer. I have seen a lot of large
manufacturers with design and limit stickers that small home builders
would never get away with. Look at the HP ratings for inflatables for
starters. They can put a frekin' 40 horse on a boat and a wooden one the
same size and shape will only hold a 3-5??

Scotty from SmallBoats.com