I am starting a long (years long mind you) search for a boat. The
length of the search is mostly because my wife and I want to cruise in
about 10 years or so for a number of reason. It would of course be
cool to cruise now, but the long wait affords me the pleasure of taking
my time in finding a boat. One question I come upon and don't have a
great answer for is what are the difference between aluminium and
fiberglass.

I was hoping you all could help me out.

What experiences have you all had with aluminium hulls and decks?
Advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks.

have you already eliminated steel and wood? just curious.

"Meach" wrote in message
ups.com...

I am starting a long (years long mind you) search for a boat. The
length of the search is mostly because my wife and I want to cruise in
about 10 years or so for a number of reason. It would of course be
cool to cruise now, but the long wait affords me the pleasure of taking
my time in finding a boat. One question I come upon and don't have a
great answer for is what are the difference between aluminium and
fiberglass.

I was hoping you all could help me out.

What experiences have you all had with aluminium hulls and decks?
Advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks.

"vkehoe" wrote:
have you already eliminated steel and wood? just curious.

Aren't aluminium boats hard to find except in large sizes ?

Steel is good for grinding on a reef but why would anybody
want a wooden boat ?

There are some good old threads on this subject that can be
found at google.com.

What experiences have you all had with aluminium hulls and decks?
Advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks.

I owned a French built Al sloop and loved it. The first winter I kept it in
a boat yard with 3 others. One was 25 years old and the hull still looked
beautiful.

Al is held in high regard in Europe -especially in France where is it more
common to call the hull alloy, because it is really an Al alloy designed for
the environment. The French people are enamored with long distance sailing.
Most Mega yachts are Al.

Steel and wood are high maintenance materials. Fiberglass does not have the
strength, and particularly the impact resistance of Al.

With Al, you have to be careful about the electrical system and the hull.
Basically,the system is not to be grounded to the hull or you are asking for
trouble. In my 6 ears of ownership, I had absolutely no problems with
corrosion. Zero.

In this country, you can usually find a good deal on an Al boat because they
are not that popular here. However, it is a double edged sword when you go
to sell it.

Get a surveyor who understands Al boats.

Good Luck!

Bill

So about grounding, did you have a SSB on board? If so, how did you
ground it? Most installations I know attach a big metal plate to the
bottom of a fiberglass hull.

Meach wrote:
What experiences have you all had with aluminium hulls and decks?
Advantages and disadvantages?

For me there is no doubt that aluminium is a far superior material for
boat hulls. I've spent many cruises on french alu hulls and was always
very happy with their performance. Over here on the used boat market alu
boats keep theirs price much better than fiber hulls. Mostly because the
hull is more solid in the long run and less prone to aging.

Here a short summary of advantages and disadvantages

+ Solid hull and deck
Things like the raling bases, cleats etc. are more solid, because
mounted onto an metal hull.

+ Maintenance is easy and cheap. Regular antifouling and replacing the
anodes will do. The hull doesn't deteriorate on its own. There is no
blistering or similar effects.

+ The hull resists severe shocks well. I've seen alu sailboats after
an encounter with rocks. There were severe dents, but no leaks.
Fibre boats would not survive the same.

- The downside is the difficulty to work aluminium. It takes more
skill and better equipment to weld it than steel. You can not do
repairs or modifications yourself as easily.

Markus

Markus Baertschi wrote:
For me there is no doubt that aluminium is a far superior material for
boat hulls. I've spent many cruises on french alu hulls and was always
very happy with their performance. Over here on the used boat market alu
boats keep theirs price much better than fiber hulls. Mostly because the
hull is more solid in the long run and less prone to aging.

Here a short summary of advantages and disadvantages

+ Solid hull and deck
Things like the raling bases, cleats etc. are more solid, because
mounted onto an metal hull.

+ Maintenance is easy and cheap. Regular antifouling and replacing the
anodes will do. The hull doesn't deteriorate on its own. There is no
blistering or similar effects.

+ The hull resists severe shocks well. I've seen alu sailboats after
an encounter with rocks. There were severe dents, but no leaks.
Fibre boats would not survive the same.

- The downside is the difficulty to work aluminium. It takes more
skill and better equipment to weld it than steel. You can not do
repairs or modifications yourself as easily.

Are aluminium hulls generally more expensive than fiberglass ?

Any company in the U.S. building sailboats (40' +) with Aluminium hull ?

Here is a link to a Canadian aluminium boat which is basically what
sparked my interest in aluminium hulls. Note the price is high and out
of my range, but non the less I thought it was an interesting boat:

http://www.labradoryachts.com/a_presentation.htm

wrote in message
ink.net...

"Meach" wrote:

Here is a link to a Canadian aluminium boat which is basically what
sparked my interest in aluminium hulls. Note the price is high and out
of my range, but non the less I thought it was an interesting boat:

http://www.labradoryachts.com/a_presentation.htm


I just found a brand new 44' steel Van do Stadt cutter at

http://www.anchoryachts.com/preview.php?ID=67

with more pictures at

http://www.anchoryachts.com/printbrochure.php?ID=67

With a displacement of 31,500 lbs it's not much heavier than
the Labrador 44' (26,500 lbs). It doesn't have a pilothouse
but it has about the same amount of space on the inside.

I used the currency converter on the web site and it says
220,000 EUR = $265,397.58. This is less than half the price
of the Labrador ($580,000). I don't know much about boats
so maybe others can tell me if they think it's a good deal.

No way.

http://www.harbornorth.com/property_details.aspx?p_id=8

The Van de Stadt, according to the website, will need a minimum of 30k euro
just to get ready for sails. While the Brewer doesn't have an engine or
mast, note the price is considerably less than that of the Van de Stadt, for
a comparably sized boat. You could probably get this boat ready to sail away
for well under 200k USD, Van de Stadt would be north of 300k USD.

John Cairns

"John Cairns" wrote:

wrote in message

"Meach" wrote:

Here is a link to a Canadian aluminium boat which is
basically what sparked my interest in aluminium hulls.
Note the price is high and out of my range, but non
the less I thought it was an interesting boat:

http://www.labradoryachts.com/a_presentation.htm


I just found a brand new 44' steel Van do Stadt cutter at

http://www.anchoryachts.com/preview.php?ID=67

with more pictures at

http://www.anchoryachts.com/printbrochure.php?ID=67

With a displacement of 31,500 lbs it's not much heavier than
the Labrador 44' (26,500 lbs). It doesn't have a pilothouse
but it has about the same amount of space on the inside.

I used the currency converter on the web site and it says
220,000 EUR = $265,397.58. This is less than half the price
of the Labrador ($580,000). I don't know much about boats
so maybe others can tell me if they think it's a good deal.

No way.

http://www.harbornorth.com/property_details.aspx?p_id=8

The Van de Stadt, according to the website, will need a minimum
of 30k euro just to get ready for sails. While the Brewer doesn't
have an engine or mast, note the price is considerably less than
that of the Van de Stadt, for a comparably sized boat. You could
probably get this boat ready to sail away for well under 200k USD,
Van de Stadt would be north of 300k USD.

John Cairns

I followed your link and the boat looks like it's only about
half finished. It also looks like it's been left in somebody's
backyard for many years.

The Brewer (1984 38' Pan Oceanic cutter designed by Ted Brewer)
is mentioned in another thread so I'm not quite sure which boat
you're referring to.

I was just trying to compare prices of brand new basic steel
and aluminium boats of similar sizes.

Why does steel need a lot more maintenance than aluminium ?