Is it mainly the difficulty in forming compound curves that stops more
aluminum yachts/cats being made? I see lots of powerboats nowadays
going over to 'plate aluminum' construction with 1/4" aluminum being
used rather than the really thin gauge stuff used on small runabouts,
these boats looks strong with many of them having water ballasted
keels, and fully sealed compartemtns under the floor with fully welded
bulkheads giving many small water tight compartments and incredible
strength.

It seems to me that with this sort of approach you could build some
incredibly strong and lightweight cats... is this material just too
light? Is it the noise that turns people off more?

Just curious,
Shaun

I like cats an I like aluminum. I do think aluminum is difficult to
form that results in a fair shape, meaning it will probably require
extensive fairing compound after it's built. the noise is a factor,
the condensation is another, but the one that bugs me the most is the
corrosion/electrolitic galvanic, put your electrode in the electrolyte
issue. Basically, if you stick an aluminum boat in salt water, you've
created a battery, and if you are hanging out at a dock perhaps next to
a steel fishing boat, it could be pretty bad.

having said all that, Pen Duik IV (think that's the one, there were a
number of Pen Duicks) was an aluminum trimaran, faster than anything
else around in it's day, set a bunch of records. A Frog named Eric
Tabarly sailed her to many trophies, and records in (I think) the
seventies. Try finding it on google, it's a hell of a boat. It did
suffer from cracking at the AKA to AMA joints, but still, awesome!

Luc