Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:

Riveted aluminum boats tend to be sounder than welded boats and as a
general rule, easier to repair. The better aluminum boats, like Lund,
Starcraft, Princecraft, are riveted boats.

Um... Are you at all familiar with the type of heavy duty
welded aluminum boats the poster inquired about?

For example:

http://www.precisionweldboats.com/

http://www.weldcraftmarine.com/

http://www.duckworthboats.com/

http://www.roguejet.com/

http://www.customweld.com/

http://www.thunderjet.com/

http://www.motionmarine.com/

http://www.hewescraft.com/

http://www.fish-rite.com/boats.html

http://www.northriverboats.com/

etc.

As to the original question I'm no welding expert but I did
examine a lot of boats before buying one. I liked the neat
consistency and smoothness found in the North River and many
others with a few notable exceptions (this was 8 years ago).
I've had some major rock hits since then and only required
one repair for a crack at the jet-pump intake seam. The
..25" bottom thickness helps.

I do see a lot Hewescraft on the Columbia river lately for
what it's worth.