Buying an Aluminum Boat

"A boat is a wooden hole in the water into which you pour money." was the statment that was used to describe boat ownership many years ago. The reason for this pronouncement is that wood and water don't mix well without a lot of care and maintenance.

The advent of modern materials and construction techniques has changed that greatly. Boats are seldom made from wood anymore. Alternative materials are now fiberglass, steel and aluminum, though ferro-cement was considered at one time, but found to be too problematical.

Aluminum as a boat hull material has advantages over the others: Weight, strength and ease of maintenance. Aluminum is much lighter than either steel or fiberglass, plus it is stronger than the commonly used fibreglass. An account by a commercial fisherman in Oregon described how a storm beached his 36 foot boat. After the storm subsided, he hooked up a tractor and dragged the craft down the beach a mile or so to where he could launch it. The only result from the sandy drag was the cleaning of the bottom.

Aluminum is used in boats of all sizes, from small skiffs to large yachts. The lighter aluminum hull needs less power to operate than heavier material hulls. This means lower cost of fuel and less engine maintenance. Aluminum hulls are welded, providing a much stonger joint that mechanical joinery.

There are a wide variety of hull types that are made from aluminum. The range is from small, traditional skiffs, pontoon boats, small fishing boats, bass boats, catamarans, workboats, sailing boats of all sizes to mega-yachts. The many boat manufacturers using aluminum include: Alumacraft, Armstrong Marine, Munson Boats, Crestliner, Harbercraft, Hewes Marine, G3 Boats, Weldcraft Boats, Broadwater Boats, Coastal Craft, Grumman Boats, Lund Boats, Marathon Marine, Silver Streak Boats, XPress Boats and many others. Some of these manufacturers specialize in aluminum, but some also use other hull materials.