aluminum chesapeake bay work boats

[patriot9878]

I'm going to build a work boat and I'm looking at firberglass and aluminum. I'm leaning toward aluminum for longevity, weight and ease of care. Has anyone had any experience in an aluminum boat? I'd like to hear the pro and cons of an aluminum boat. This boat would be 45' with a cabin.

[Mr Efficiency]

In my experience corrosion is the thing to watch out for with aluminium, they all seem to get it sooner or later, somewhere or other. Funny too the way it is " Aluminum" in the U.S. but " Aluminium" elsewhere.

[michael pierzga]

A custom built fiberglass boat takes much work to build the hull and superstructure. . Aluminium is a sheet product much like plywood. Very fast to put a boat together with aluminium. If you have talent with metal..go for it. Great building material. Do be very careful designing you vessels "floating " isolated electric system and do use the best boat building installation and isolation technique with aluminum. Fiberglass is much more forgiving of poor craftsmanship and poor maintenance.

[RonL]

Originally Posted by patriot9878

I'm going to build a work boat and I'm looking at firberglass and aluminum. I'm leaning toward aluminum for longevity, weight and ease of care. Has anyone had any experience in an aluminum boat? I'd like to hear the pro and cons of an aluminum boat. This boat would be 45' with a cabin.

I'll be interested in what other people say, but I think of work boats kinda like junk yard dogs, they live in a pretty rough environment and with the best TLC still have some nasty surprises. Unless steel is more expensive than I think, the hard stuff is real important.

My thoughts are based on the little time in working and building 65' and 85' push boats in the mid 1960's to mid 70's in south La.

I have not kept up with the boat building, so maybe things are a little different now.

Ron