God Is Made Of Aluminum...

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

God is made from aluminum or if ‘it’ speaks British - aluminium...

Think of it from a cost recovery base - the material is easy to fabricate - easy to form - comes in so many variations of mill specification, and shapes, and extrusions - everything...

MIG it or TIG it and you are done - so many ways of preparing the surface for a final finish - or just leave it and let it oxidize...

Limited tooling - no sales commitment to a plug or mold that limits you to size, displacement and fit out...

Anything not included in the build can be cut to the largest rectangle - be deleted from a current build - and re used in another - or hell - sold to employees - the remaining flashings can be sold for scrap at a premium...

**** - it is the ultimate 'ECO GREEN' - broo haha - and it really is - aside from its own inherent energy and mining cost of production - and ECO is money - these days...

PLASTIC IS FOR SPASTICS - plus - it just sucks...:)

Labour costs may be a little higher - SKILLED people - but what other people would you want - really - if you are SERIOUS about making money – not to mention making REAL boats...:)

GOD is made of aluminum or aluminium…

Yup…

SH.

[lazeyjack]

well me bin preaching that Gospel for donkeys, same price tonne almost as it was 25 years ago, as Mark Knophler wrote"The Secrets in the trees" and you just need to know where to find those aluminium trees

[Chris Ostlind]

God is made from aluminum


Why yes, Sean, yes I am.

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

LAZY...

WOOD IS GOOD - STEEL IS REAL - PLASTIC IS FOR SPASTICS...

That is my own work...:)

I suppose the arguement of regeneration or reusability is the only strong point against FRP...

It does remain strong though - you have to agree - or not...:)

He was not only writing about their inherent dynamic but of why birds flock to a tree versus what we create - they choose - as do we - for personal reasons - he thus assigned them will - and nothing can survive without what we call will - which can be prefixed - human - crow - penguin...

Great reference...

Only my wife is allowed to treat me like a 4 year old retard in a chair - and she does a top notch job of it...:)

SH.

[the1much]

god is made from wood,,,,if done right,,he'll never run outta "self made",,,,how long till aluminum runs out?
hehe ;)

[Chris Ostlind]

Aluminum is infinite my son... just like the patience of God when mortals ask questions of this kind. ;-)

[lazeyjack]

Hello...

LAZY...

WOOD IS GOOD - STEEL IS REAL - PLASTIC IS FOR SPASTICS...

That is my own work...:)

I suppose the argument of regeneration or reusability is the only strong point against FRP...

It does remain strong though - you have to agree - or not...:)

He was not only writing about their inherent dynamic but of why birds flock to a tree versus what we create - they choose - as do we - for personal reasons - he thus assigned them will - and nothing can survive without what we call will - which can be prefixed - human - crow - penguin...

Great reference...

Only my wife is allowed to treat me like a 4 year old retard in a chair - and she does a top notch job of it...:)

SH.
i am beginning to develope great respect for your wife, once I left a deck cut out lying in the pine trees, over abt ten years it became covered in needles,, water, earth, , it was also near a pile of steel offcuts from my first build, cept the steel had surrendered, hors de combat, given up the good fight and totally disappeared back into the good earth, only flakes remaining, iron ships never did that
i hauled out the ally piece, good as the day it was rolled out of that mill
Now where was I , back in Port Vila, there is a Catalina, on the bottom, deep outta reach of tourists, but my mate, he got down there , it was totally pristine, cept for marine life
Privet to your wife, poka to you, , that;ll keep you mulling things over
Bauxite will never run out Mr I muchely much the stuff is piled up in mountains, here, Russia and lotsa places

[the1much]

i dont have no respect fer my "ole lady",,,,,she wont leave!! hehe ;) ,,and ya know i was jus playing right?,,,i think god is made from money ;)

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

Lazy - are you sitting on boxes of bauxite deposits in mountains in Russia - or army AK's and mafia LEVIS...

Regardless - how is that all going for you...

You sound like a very knowledgeable man...

I imagine you have been through all that Origami **** - so I will not even post a link...:)

Perhaps I could sell you a wife...:)

48 highway road years - kilometres even - retreaded every 3 weeks - Linda Carter exterior - little blue but no rust - good horn...

See http://youtube.com/watch?v=oAVoQfoU0dQ ...

Do you remember carving potatoes into letter shaped stamps - that was fun for me...

I made my name good - last count was 26 spuds - but I have Danish blood...:)

SH.

[lazeyjack]

What i like about Ru, is that i can go to a town in Siberia, and no bastard cares what i do, no mail comes through my letter box When i fall on my ass on the ice, a babushka rushes up and tries to lift me up
beautiful woman give me the time of day, cos unlike the woman here, they have no hangups, they don't think I'm a dirty ole man, still I found that all over Europe too, I once got into a first class carriage by mistake in Germany, there was a very pretty and so I found out as the journey progressed, super multilingual, intelligent, young lady in there, By and by(Mark Twain) the conductor comes along and tells me to go to my class:)), this young lady says"I'm going with you"
She was all of 26, and thats what i like abt travel, you meet people , you listen and learn,
men my age are invisable to woman here
Mind you, I found US Americans friendly if somewhat insular in outlook, , come to think of it, how can you be insular and outlook at same time? But you get my drift
I'd druther be sitting on a mountain of tungsten
Quite a few of us really Appreciate your posts,in fact bhnautika and I are sometimes in fits, you shudda been in satire or something like that, a comedian setting up our intrepid leaders
I am bored, starved of intelligent conversation All my friends are brilliant, and I feel a bit of a duffer, cos I can't get a handle on Russian
I jus sit here all day trying get the design along with bh, river, coastal and canal boat.
Whether I get back my mojo and hoe into the build or not, is yet to be seen
Bidding on mo home in De right now, if I win, it's auvoir, boatdeign.net andWhooshhhhhhhh down to Turkey

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

You may even be a born Lever Puller - I am happy that you are happy to speak for yourself and for your friends - and I am happy that you feel the need to dictate...

Best of luck luck with that - LAZY...

Show us some of your work - your thoughts remain very potatoe...

Damned puss lubber Russian lover - OK - just reviewed your 'gallery' assuming it is your work - damned Russian pusslubber - nice work - bah...

Got any photos of the mechs or hydraulics on that keel - or was it fixed...

Rua is a beatiful language and alphabet - but if you are pitching about for American dollars and ideals - then you are you...

In-tripped leaders - and F'cked if I am going to do this on stage - (but I may) - It is all F'cked - It is F'cked due to greed - not due to China or other - simple excuse for our own arrogance and laziness - they will make good on our industrial revolution - they are fighting our foreign policy that shadows them like blacks from Africa - except this time it is not so out right - it is trade ass political - because WE KNOW if we set them loose - they will wipe us out...

The old Japanese imports - they could only sell us their cheapest **** per the peace treaties of WWII - but what is a Datsun 510 worth these days...

I grow weary and tired - I mean no offense to you - I hope you offer same...

SH.

[lazeyjack]

Hello...

You may even be a born Lever Puller - I am happy that you are happy to speak for yourself and for your friends - and I am happy that you feel the need to dictate...

Best of luck luck with that - LAZY...

Show us some of your work - your thoughts remain very potatoe...

Damned puss lubber Russian lover - OK - just reviewed your 'gallery' assuming it is your work - damned Russian pusslubber - nice work - bah...

Got any photos of the mechs or hydraulics on that keel - or was it fixed...

SH.
that keel i did not build, If you read the script came with it, was built for Fitzroy yachts by a cuppla guys used to work for me, had a board inside it, 90 tonne
Yeah I know I have become boring, but starched never
All the rest is my work
Did I mention pussy, ?
That was your idea, but seein' as we are there now, Russian woman are totally sans inhabition, lovers
Why?
tell you
See, its like this
Stalin
he builds an apartment for all, but there are just one or maybe 2 rooms
So the kids , they get used to the sounds in the night, there is no privacy
Russians, they know abt love pain sufferin
Now you take the Chinese, read?
Get a book, Dragon and Bear, or send me your address I will post it
Did you take a tipple today? You don't make so many typos for a tippler
Oh and their spacecraft don't seem to blow up

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

I was still editing my last post - Christ - are you a 60 WPM whitie sent to Siberia to shovel Husky piss and snow...

Gah...

Get some shoes and slow down man...:)

I undertand and respect your MAC or GMC truck view of orbital exploration - I would rather have a few Roosies out there than other...

LUCY PINDER - peace...

SH.

[lazeyjack]

rode 50 km, on my bike today, gonna have swim now, drink a 6 pack, cook this which was sent out onna lear jet from Siberia Fish ah, so much waste, , guy skinnin the thing down on the beach was abt to throw awy the frame, so I scored, YUM
tomorrow!!

[Sean Herron]

Hello..

See http://images.google.ca/images?as_q=lucy+pinder&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgtype=&imgsz=&as_filetype=&imgc=&as_sitesearch=&safe=off&as_st=y ...

Also http://youtube.com/watch?v=CndInjuB8bA ...

I am so sorry for being me...

SH.

[ted655]

If we accept that it destroys whole islands & their culture, AND, it takes a whole friggen hydro-electric dam to MAKE God in the first place. BUT, green he isn't. But, then, what is?
.
Here is 1 of the many alums we build here for the oil industry. By the way, I'd never tell them otherwise, but they think their God. Shhhhh, we just won't burst their bubble! ;)

[the1much]

i tell the oil companies their not god every day,,,right after i do the days billings,,,,and every time they call me to come fix 1 of their problems,,and every time they beg me for a separator hehe ;)

[Tad]

But, then, what is?

20737

Jees you guys......have you no concept?

I just wrote a short piece about a boat still sailing and fishing (commercially) after 200 years. I would be interested in the service life of the Temptress....



RE; The 100 Year Boat.

Not to belabor the point, but I have news of another wooden boat that is fast approaching 200 years of age. There is an article in the January 2008 issue of Classic Boat describing the history of Boadicea, a 30’ transom-sterned oyster smack launched June 17th, 1808. She was built by James Williamson of Maldon, Esssex, UK, and registered that year by Edward Perry, also of Maldon. She fished for the next 130 years, until 1938 when she was purchased by Michael Frost, a dentist. Today his grandson Reuben is the third Frost to care for Boadicea. She was fortunate to have relatively few owners, each of them kept her a long time and all spent considerable effort in keeping her in better than average condition.

She is not the original boat, having been rebuilt extensively twice, but she does exist almost exactly in her original form and rig. “Bodie” is heavily built of 1 ¼” greenheart planking below WL with larch above on 4” by 4” grown oak frames spaced 10”. Though Michael Frost was not a fisherman he did continue to fish the boat year round for his 51 years of ownership, in winter this involved breaking ice to do so. His son and grandson also occasionally fish with the boat. The fishing is done under sail, bottom trawling using either a beam or small otter boards.

To quote Classic Boat, “ Perhaps the most important point is that she has survived not because she belongs to an historic body, but because she has always been in the hands of ordinary people who have loved using her for what she was built to do: to sail and to fish.”

Built of good quality materials, never “converted” for some other use, and receiving honest, caring maintenance, are key to having any vessel last 200 years, Boadicea is heading into her third century with no end in sight.

[ted655]

Trees? Only in color. Trees aren't "green", not these days. The original, old growth, "quality" trees are gone. At least anything of a caliber to build the kind of ships you are finding still around. Unless we are going to strip the last remnants of heritage forests, eco structure & people. Then we can build a few more.
.
Renewable "forests" are a misnomer. There is no such thing. Tree farms do not grow quality timber. They are more akin to farming. The planted species is selected for it's rate of growth and a dozen other management values.
.
Modern wood products rely SOLELY on modern petrol chemicals & technology.
Reforestation is a buzz word, used for raising funds & making the consumer feel good about buying a product they have not a clue as to the real process.
.
Green can start green & go terribly wrong in the ensuing process, or it can turn green, (like aluminum), by being durable and saving on repeat violations. No practical building material is green. They all have their own issues.
Whatever the life of these ships, rest assured, they will rise again & again from the melting pot.
Wooden ships are OK, but a new, useful fleet of them is impracticable for todays demands, unless we kill a few billion people to lessen the consumer load on the planet.

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

I must put forth my usual public apology just now before things get blurry...

Ah - I am so sorry - OK done - beats bar brawling though...

Tad - how are things - things here are much like a broken toilet...

I am thinking about buying a stand up camper van and going aluminum - what thoughts...

Hope you are well...

Today - I am going to warm up my favourite chair and flip through my new shiny book on British motor torpedo boats - lovely...

As for my original arguement - I still stand fast from a cost benefit limited tooling point of view regarding aluminum - not to mention being able to fabricate for other industries as well as refits - brackets - radar mounts or what have you...

God is made of aluminum - plus - I just like it and understand it - go with what you know....

That said - when walking the yard - I always stop and stare at a beautiful woodie - there are two schooners in just now that are breath taking - not to mention the timbers on some of those damned working tugs - just fantastic...

A co worker and I got in **** from the boss one day last year for just stopping and watching two Hitachi diggers tear up an old Elco in the middle of the yard - yes an old Elco - abandoned and with a broken back - no one really gave a **** - perhaps I am mad and just don't know it...

Ted says: If it has tits, tires, or a transom, there's gonna be issues! - RENT IT...:)


SH

[rambat]

Aluminum, In a rare conjunction of yachts and green energy, is a god for both. It has the remarkable ability to release much of the energy it takes to make it without degradation over time like a battery. The biggest effort to date to exploit this magic has been done in Iceland. The local "free" Geothermal energy is exploited (and exported) by creating Aluminum ingots, these can be chemically reduced to release the entrained energy. Its getting a little more technical over time but some good info is here:

http://www.batteriesdigest.com/batteries_aluminum.htm

I think aluminum would be the "custom" boat building material of choice if the welding skills and tools were more widely availed. Sean is certainly on something, I mean onto something....

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

I suppose that is a point - the damned hydro bill - thanks for pointing that out - I wonder how that weighs out with some local builders - over head can be controlled by renting or buying off the mainland here - but hydro remains a constant...

Thing is - here in BC - every teen ager seems to know how to bipass meters to grow 'flowers' - might be something in hiring one of these kids to cut flashings and sweep the floor and 'other'...:)

I like MTB's - who was that American designer who invented plywood - was it Charlie Eames - I cannot remember...

Anyway...

Troubling times just now...

As for 'service life' - I did a refit on a Romsdal 56 built of steel with an aluminum house - what a beautiful boat and yacht conversion - drawings of same are in my gallery still - I think - The Delfin - service life seems to fall into the quality of vision or character of the owner really - it did in this case - The Delfin will be a little ship on which this mans grandchildren will grow up and bend fond and life long memories around - hell - it might even get willed within the family and carry on - proper little ship - pain in the ass build though...:)

See http://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/7710/ppuser/3673 - damned nice 'boat'...

But that is another long story...

SH.

[ted655]

:) My son, the dolt, who failed to qualify in his pipe welding test, was too busy chasing pussy at the time, (which he later married), to review & retest. I & his mother were convinced he would NEVER be capable of supporting himself, (or his vices). After all , we already had 1 degree of his, (at our expense), hanging in our hallway, when he announced he was "burned out " in computers. It was at my "extreme" insistence he learn to weld pipe & pay us back at least part of the vast treasure we had, to date, squandered on his education.
As part of his welding instructions, he had received a smattering of aluminum practice. In a fit of anger, at my suggestion he was letting his little head make chaises for his bigger head, he screeched out of the driveway in the 3rd. sports car we had bought him.
Later, that day, he triumphantly returned from an interview at his present job. The company builds the ships I attached here. He SO impressed the foreman with his ability's to weld aluminum in all positions, that he was hired on the spot.
The damn stuff MUST be easier than I thought, to weld. My son, the dolt, does it! No paybacks to date, but he has quit depleting our bank account. That is why I think aluminum is God, it is a miracle.. :D :D

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

Any F'in Dolt can be taught to weld - I am only good for tuesday thru to thursday...:)

Sounds to me like you got played from an otherwise intelligent teenager...

Best to chalk up the loss and do not make another one...:)

Do us and your wife a favour and just get drunk and pass out...:)

My squirts get out and realize its a race and just give up - no kids to support - great on moorage...:)

SH.

[lazeyjack]

easier to pass an overhead butt test than a downhand maybe cos the shield is trapped
tests should include, the xray, the nick break, and the roll around mandrel type,
Funny stuff al al, you can have a v nice looking weld, but inside it has inclusions, porosity, and lack root fusion, not to mention cold lap
I found it took up to 5 years to produce a top welder, know how to prep plate, the land size all of it
Any dolt cant be taught to weld?, IMO, well maybe but to be a first class welder, is a bit different, and to know how to drive a straight unprogrammed mig, which can pour in more wire per hour than a pulse programmed machine, takes some expertise, its not only the welding its setting the volts and amps as you go, , you need remotes as you go from down to vert up, In a boat you need a feeder that can be 100 feet away from the power plant, long remotes and at least 25 foot of gun cable
people who ONLY weld, that is they don;t fabricate, or anything else, need a special mentality, God knows what they think of all day. I know in my days when I welded 7kg of al al wire a day, i was just exhausted, so tired from the arc and the fumes
Hobart made the only TRUE pulling gun, the rest are only assist,, but they stopped making it as the drive motors which spun the wire out is a coil /helix effect, were too expensive to manufacture,
Now all I can find is pretend push pull., like Hofftiger, binzel,
Is that your trawler type Sean

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

Lazy - some laid off carpenter once cracked a joke at work...

'What do you say to a high school drop out' - nice weld - I felt like laying him out with my pipe wrench - or giving him some 3/16 316L SS to a mild 1" plate on a diesel machine with 309 sitcks and seeing what he could lay down - all that around the CATS under preliminary line up...

Cheers...

Lets not argue - I am very tired at the moment - looks like I need to move on...

We have two HB's - guys do not take them because they look 70's - clunky but perfect and hot - that 'effect' lets you just 'draw' - light a smoke - unroll a candy - fantastic...

I hate change...

Oh well...

Romsdal was built in Norway- I think - shipped to USA for house fitting and other - Romsdal is a place name - and a family name...

SH.

[lazeyjack]

do not live here me boy, go take a walk, or hug a tree, or run, get away from this place, go chat up the swishest looking woman at your supermarket, do you good,

[Tad]

Sean you need to come visit and get your hands into some rotten wood....good clean fun.

Not here to argue....not at all.

But I urge folks to consider the real effect of your choices. I love aluminum and have designed a number of vessels in the material, from a 16' skiff to 137' ketch.

I have no way to truly judge the "greenness" of a stand of trees over a pile of aluminum ingots. But I can report my impressions. I will not save the world, but I can change my activities to try and lessen the harm (as I see it) my choices do.

Hydroelectric dams and Nuclear power plants (to create the energy required for smelting aluminum) do not seem very "green" to me. The energy required and the devastation seem immense. The propaganda disseminated by Alcoa concerning Iceland is an example, see http://www.savingiceland.org/
for the other side of the story.

Claiming that the trees are all gone or that wood requires petrochemicals to grow is perhaps partly true in the big box world of massive profit from mass production. But it sure is not true in my world of local production for local use. I live on a small island where we just leave a piece of land alone and trees grow. These can be selectively cut, milled and used, even to build boats. No this wood is not 600 year old first growth, but it is entirely useable. Especially when combined with small amounts of petrochemical epoxy (oh compromise).

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

I was not argueing 'Green' so much as reusabuility and recovery of cost and limited start up tooling costs - to that end wood is just as good...

I just like bashing metal - not to mention that I can get sheets to the expansions that I am considering...

SH.

[the1much]

Hello...



I just like bashing metal - not to mention that I can get sheets to the expansions that I am considering...



SH.

thats why i LOVE fiberglass,,,,i can grind da hell outta it,,and if i get carried away,,,in a few hours i can make it "new" again hehe ;)
and as for RE-usability,,,ya we'd have ta vote fer alum.,,,less of course its been "stressed" at anytime before.,,,then its bout as good as paper.,,,,,, do they have a "carfax" for boats?
hehe ;)

[FAST FRED]

Aluminum seems a great material , but the older cruisers we have seen get all the tin boat hassles.

Dents , the starved horse look , and gouges from pilings that are too deep to polish out.Sure a ton of filler and a few weeks of fairing might improve the look, but the Joy of aluminum for a cruiser is the LACK of care needed to maintain a finish.

I think the sheet GRP system that Kelsall uses would be as cheap and perhaps even lighter for a one off , and certanly GRP construction does not take 5 years to learn.

The Kelsall system is limited to simple curves , not compound , but thats usually the limit on most aluminum designs too.

FF

[Brent Swain]

Alumium and the equipment to weld it is just to damned expensive.
My alumium dinghy was getting a lot of holes corroded thru the bottom before it got stolen by a metal thief and turned into scrap. I now have a fibreglass one , to ugly to be sold as a dinghy , quickly recognizable if someone does, and scrap fibreglass is as worthless as a conservative election promise.
Now I get to use antifouling paint on her, something that's getting much harder to do with aluminium.
Brent

[Sean Herron]

Hello...

What a bunch of poo...

I have no idea what you are talking about - I thought this was the Lynda Carter and Lucy Pinder site...

Or shall I share my favourite sandwich recipe...

SH.

[Brent Swain]

With rising oil prices FG is probably even more expensive.
The steel for a 36 footer is around $9500, still a fraction the cost of aluminium or especially FG. Tougher too, and much simpler to build.
Great pictures.
Brent

[lazeyjack]

now you are really talking nonsense, will listen as long as you dont exaggerate, Al Al is 6000 a tonne, it goes three times as far as steel, it works out cheaper cos you dont paint, it works 3 times as fast, and the only expensive item to build is the power pac and true pulling gun I can rip a 6m plate with saw, so accurately that it is like laser cut, and so fast that laser cutting or plasma our whatever is a waqste of time and money however I will not argue with you, you are totally blinkered

[rwatson]

Lazeyjack - I have noticed you have had a lot of experience in aluminium, and the points you make make a lot of sense to me.

I have designs for a 28ft trailer sailer in progress, and I wondered if you have come across successfull aluminium versions of craft this size and purpose ?

From what I picked up off the grapevine, we are probably look at 6 mm plate do you think?

The final straw is whether I could teach myself enough Mig welding to build it myself. I have done a bit of ARC stuff, which got a lot better after I bought an 'instant' mask - but the science of Alu welding still seems a bit daunting.

Any thoughts welcome

[kach22i]

I have NOT read this whole thread.

I have found a site with some good comparision tables, slighted toward composite/fiberglass though they be (nothing about stress cracks in fiberglass skin).

Sample:
http://www.airlifthovercraft.com/HovercraftInformation/ComparisonsofCompositeandAluminiumHulls/tabid/75/Default.aspx
Corrosion

Even marine grade Aluminium is subject to corrosion and must be monitored carefully throughout it's lifetime for signs of corrosion. Aluminium hovercraft typically use very thin sheet and it does not take long for corrosion to have a debilitating effect on the whole hovercraft. Typical problems are:

* If moored alongside a steel vessel and inadvertently electrically connected (touching metal), the hovercraft will act as a sacrificial anode to the steel vessel and suffer accelerated electrolysis damage.
* Tools inadvertently left in the bilge's can corrode through the floor plate in very short time (weeks), a copper coin dropped in the bilge will corrode through the Aluminium plate very quickly.
* Interaction with dissimilar metals belonging to the hovercraft equipment. This is unavoidable and can only be kept under control by scrupulous maintenance procedures.

I've seen other such charts and claims, but I think this is a nice collection, click the link if you have some time to burn. Click Hovercraft Information at the top and explore.:)

[SheetWise]

"I have found a site with some good comparision tables, slighted toward composite/fiberglass ..."

Slighted? That's downright biased.

[lazeyjack]

Lazeyjack - I have noticed you have had a lot of experience in aluminium, and the points you make make a lot of sense to me.

I have designs for a 28ft trailer sailer in progress, and I wondered if you have come across successfull aluminium versions of craft this size and purpose ?

From what I picked up off the grapevine, we are probably look at 6 mm plate do you think?

The final straw is whether I could teach myself enough Mig welding to build it myself. I have done a bit of ARC stuff, which got a lot better after I bought an 'instant' mask - but the science of Alu welding still seems a bit daunting.

Any thoughts welcome
sorry mr Watson, I did not see this post
6mm is very very strong, typically we use on the bottom of fast powerboats at that length,
i have built 45 footers with 6mm, so depends, if round bilge 4 -5 five will do, if chines 6 will make it easier for bottom, 5 on topsides, 4 deck, do you have a plan?
mig? well its not hard, with a pile of scrap you can learn, and I can always help you here
You really need a good pulling gun, push/pull as they are commonly called, , but the only true pull gun was the hobart Linear, No longer made, all the others are assist guns, Hofftiger, Binzel Cobra,
, Binzel would be my pick
You can drive yourself completey nuts using just a push system, as soon as you try bending the gun cable, the wire slows and the volts stay up and you get burnback

Au is not the bestest place to buy good used power packs, but on ebay USA you can fing grunters, millers, hobarts and Lincolns
I have yet to see or find a single ph power pac(230 vac THAT WILL WELD 6 PLATE, You need reserve power, that means a 300 amp welder min
sorry for delay

[Boston]

funny
I thought God floated

[rwatson]

Thanks for the advice and encouragement lazeyjack. I have done enough building to know that the right tools are the main game. I imagine if I looked hard I could probably track down a good value secondhand unit, but I dont mind paying for the best.

Re the fibreglass V aluminium debate - the hovercraft info is spot on, but more applicable to the high velocity, high vibration noisy hovercraft world.
They do say about aluminium "Cost of materials is less than good quality composites. Also there is less need for stringent quality control in the construction process as the aluminium quality is controlled by the metal manufacturer."
Generally, mixing the goo, keeping it in the mould and curing it properly is a very laborious and unpleasant experience, that may go wrong in big lumps. Its easier to know what you are getting in an alloy boat because most of the damage is on the outside, where you dont know what is going on inside composites (especially balsa). Likewise, repairs in aluminium require proper tools, but have a read about the traps in repairing fibreglass, usually requiring a vacuum pump for infusion to get a really good repair.

For out of the water, tow it around the country, build it yourself jobs - I am heavily biased towards god of aluminium.

[kach22i]

I am heavily biased towards god of aluminium.
I like aluminum, it's all shiny.:D

The additions and alterations to my hovercraft involved aluminum from the local hardware store. I go with what works, and I'd rather work with aluminum 75% of the time.

http://s184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/?start=0
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/Imgp5401.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/Plow-Plane-2.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/T2J.jpg
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x295/kach22i/G10-INTERIOR.jpg

EDIT: With the price of fuel/oil/gas boat builders may soon be building to light-weight hovercraft standards.