20 Aluminum Boat Build

Below are my tig welds lol .... prob going to just build the tank too, let me know what you think. Thanks

 

Hopefully it's up to par

Cost to build this boat is 5k for the hull another 5k for motor. 10k total and prob only put in 50 hours of work and plan to put in another 50 hours. Your estimates are way to high. Honestly this one of the easiest things I ever built.

I will keep posting updates

 

This is what my boat look like when completed

Wish me luck guys

 

Today's update ..... installed 3 more cross frames for the floor. Also 1/4 plate came in

 

Cut out the 1/4 plate for the hull and fitted to frames

 

Tonight's update, finished fitting the hull. Next step is to weld in place

 

GT- just one note about welding your own gas tank - others here would likely know off hand, or you can check with the guys on the Glen-L forum (as they are familiar with getting home-built boats registered or licensed in the US, etc). I may be wrong but I don't believe you can weld you own gasoline tanks and be able to register/license the boat without paying big dollar to actually test and certify the tank. If it were a diesel tank, the requirements are a lot less stringent, I believe and you could do/ try it. For a gasoline tank, I don't think you will find it worth the hassle, expense or liability if there were ever a fire/explosion near you boat, and you could not prove your tank had passed certification- it would not be good.
If it were me, I would pay the $200-400 for a roto-plastic approved below deck gas tank by Moeller marine, etc which come in a wide variety of shapes to fit bilges, odd spaces, etc. This also avoids major potential corrosion issues if your tank is not properly mounted (i.e. if stagent water comes into contact with the tank bottom (or top) and any aluminum mounts, braces, straps, etc)
Looking forward to seeing more pics and how it turns out.

 

Northeaster - you have a great point, it's prob not worth my time building a tank. I see Moeller marine has a good selection of tanks. Thanks for the support! I'll will be sure to post more pictures. Went through some old threads and see you didn't go with a keel plate. Was it hard to fit up the two hull plates without one ?

 

I deviated from my plans, which i felt were a bit outdated / older method (no disrespect to designer intended) , with the way some things were done (like short stringer between frames vs long stringers notched into frames) and the single plate keel. A very experienced builder, Kevin Morin, advised me on another website, to build a box keel instead- as the plate keel would have alot of force / lever effect on it if I dried the boat out on the keel, etc.
So, I really just mocked up a couple of pieces of thin ply and cut so it looked OK, gave me the height I needed for my inboard prop and skeg for the rudder. It did not fully come together on the sides, so I cut a bottom out for it and welded that on, between the two sides, with braces /frames inside every couple of feet.
I am happy with it and I feel that it is stronger / less susseptible to damage the way a single plate would be if it were stressed as it passes up through the hull in one point only. the sides go from a few inches apart at the bow to about a foot at it's widest and then back to about 5 inches near the prop strut.
Note - my (inboard version) plate keel was going to protrude a couple of feet down from the hull bottom, and that is why I felt it could put alot of stress on the few inches of keel to hull welds. Where your keel is very shallow, for an outboard version I don't think there would be any amount of undue stress on the joint. (but I am NOT a designer, NOT a pro builder...)

 

Wow. Nice guy.

 

Updates from tonight ------- it's been a long couple of week but pictures below is the hull being pulled towards the bow

 

nice pics. keep the updates coming please!

 

Hey guys - finally pulled the two halves of the hull together.

 

Now plan is too stitch weld the rest of the boat from the inside, then finish up with the rest of the welds from the outside.

 

good for you. that's a big step. pics please.