stitch & glue plans conversion to aluminum

[jbelow]

Can stitch & glue plywood plans be converted to welded aluminun plans ? I like the hull and design of the Tolman skiff but my needs require an aluminum hull . What boat building books do you guys recomend ?

Thanks !

[Doug Carlson]

BOAT STRENGTH by Gerr and BOATBUILDING WITH ALUMINUM by Pollard would be a good start.

Doug Carlson

I got some values from gerrs book and some general bending strenght for plywood vs aluminum. Any comparisons that you got for your tolman?

[jawilco]

Originally Posted by jbelow

Can stitch & glue plywood plans be converted to welded aluminun plans ? I like the hull and design of the Tolman skiff but my needs require an aluminum hull . What boat building books do you guys recomend ?

Thanks !

I asked the same question of Renn Tolman and he said:

Jim

Are you kidding? There's never been a leak in a Tolman Skiff--unless you
count the one that hit the log at 25 knots--and I've built 103. That's
more than can be said of aluminum, which frequently cracks at the welds
or pops rivets. But if you've got to have an aluminum skiff, have at it.
However, you'll have a tough time building one from my plans because you
need the flat-panel shape for all the hull panels, and I only give you
the shape of some of them.

Renn


I'm still curious about building in aluminum, but I'm not sure about how much support would be required, and where. Any insight would be appreciated.
Jim