Another build thread - Silver Creek Marine 23' Hard top

[Corey_lax]

I was going to, I don't think it looks bad?

Is this the bender your talking about

https://www.princessauto.com/en/tubing-bender/product/PA0008536708

Have you used it on 1" aluminum pipe with success? There's certain things I will buy from process auto but I find usually most if it is junk and ends up being a waste of money. Better to save the money and buy a quality tool usually. Swag offroad has a nice looking unit I would like to get.

That’s the one. I’ve used it on 1.5” stainless steel handrail tubing. Over 1/8” thick. It worked good. Never tried aluminum but I could give it a test run with some tubing I have. Where are you located? My shops in Surrey if you want to give it a whirl and use your ones as a template.

Now that I think about it, I used it on 3/4” round aluminum tubing for my bow rails (not near as beefy as yours). It bent fine

 

[pescador]

I’m not an alloy guy but really nice work man. I mean really nice. Nice to see young people carry on this craft.

 

[BCROB]

I was going to, I don't think it looks bad?

Is this the bender your talking about

https://www.princessauto.com/en/tubing-bender/product/PA0008536708

Have you used it on 1" aluminum pipe with success? There's certain things I will buy from process auto but I find usually most if it is junk and ends up being a waste of money. Better to save the money and buy a quality tool usually. Swag offroad has a nice looking unit I would like to get.

be different !
Silvercreek Series
I like it ......

 

[Steplift]

Just a little tip your not bending the tubing on to much of an angle if you do and fear collapsing the wall fill it with dry sand first.

 

[Rayvon]

The transom looks very low in your picture,what shaft length did you build it to fit? Where will the waterline be ? Is this a kit from a supplier? Which one? Designer?

 

[Silvercreek]

That’s the one. I’ve used it on 1.5” stainless steel handrail tubing. Over 1/8” thick. It worked good. Never tried aluminum but I could give it a test run with some tubing I have. Where are you located? My shops in Surrey if you want to give it a whirl and use your ones as a template.

Now that I think about it, I used it on 3/4” round aluminum tubing for my bow rails (not near as beefy as yours). It bent fine

Stainless is going to be alot easier to bend and you don't have to worry about the dies digging in like you do with aluminum. I think I would want something with delrin dies. They are a must have when bending the tubing with my jd2 bender. I'm not sure if the pipe looks kinked in the picture but it's not. It just has about a 20 degree bend in it. The jd2 bender actually does a pretty nice job of not flattening the tube.

 

[Aquaholic]

Is it a self bailing deck? Option to do a forward raked windshield?

 

[Silvercreek]

The transom looks very low in your picture,what shaft length did you build it to fit? Where will the waterline be ? Is this a kit from a supplier? Which one? Designer?

25" shaft. Water line shouldn't be much higher then the chines. The rear deck is 6" above the chines so that it can be self bailing, I'm going to put scuppers in the sides.

 

[Silvercreek]

Is it a self bailing deck? Option to do a forward raked windshield?

Self bailing. Next time I'll put the floor a tad higher yet, but then it's a bigger step down into the cab. I suppose the cab floor could be raised a tad but that sets it above the chines which I don't see too often for some reason. Could easily make the windshield forward raked

 

[Corey_lax]

Stainless is going to be alot easier to bend and you don't have to worry about the dies digging in like you do with aluminum. I think I would want something with delrin dies. They are a must have when bending the tubing with my jd2 bender. I'm not sure if the pipe looks kinked in the picture but it's not. It just has about a 20 degree bend in it. The jd2 bender actually does a pretty nice job of not flattening the tube.

I didn’t mean that you kinked the tube. Just thought it would look better with a gradual curve. It looks fine the way you have it.

the tubing bender that I have wouldn’t dent the material. You gradually tight down and roll the material though and increase the pressure with each pass until you are at the right bend. Worked fine on my aluminum bow rails. And worked fine for handrail tubing.

 

[Aquaholic]

I didn’t mean that you kinked the tube. Just thought it would look better with a gradual curve. It looks fine the way you have it.

the tubing bender that I have wouldn’t dent the material. You gradually tight down and roll the material though and increase the pressure with each pass until you are at the right bend. Worked fine on my aluminum bow rails. And worked fine for handrail tubing.

You did that bent glass railing with that device? Looks great. Often those are stretch formed.

 

[Corey_lax]

You did that bent glass railing with that device? Looks great. Often those are stretch formed.

We stretch formed the flashings, top cap, and the original handrails. One of the handrails got messed up during install, so instead of paying another couple grand at the stretchforming company, I gave the princess auto bender a whirl and it worked great. You cant tell any difference compared to the stretchformed stuff.

 

[Silvercreek]

I didn’t mean that you kinked the tube. Just thought it would look better with a gradual curve. It looks fine the way you have it.

the tubing bender that I have wouldn’t dent the material. You gradually tight down and roll the material though and increase the pressure with each pass until you are at the right bend. Worked fine on my aluminum bow rails. And worked fine for handrail tubing.

Nice, that handrail looks great! I guess with princess auto if I don't like it I can always take it back. I once took back a 1 year old chain hoist just to try it because I've always heard they will take it back. The look on their face was pretty funny, but they did take it back! haha
I agree the sweeping bend to match the bow does probably look better, but being that I didn't have one of those style benders I thought I would try it this way and decided it didn't look too bad. Can that bender do 2" pipe (2.375 od) you think? For my next project I could use something that does that, that's why I'm thinking of the swag offroad one, but I'm already spending a ton of money on a cnc router this year.

 

[Corey_lax]

Nice, that handrail looks great! I guess with princess auto if I don't like it I can always take it back. I once took back a 1 year old chain hoist just to try it because I've always heard they will take it back. The look on their face was pretty funny, but they did take it back! haha
I agree the sweeping bend to match the bow does probably look better, but being that I didn't have one of those style benders I thought I would try it this way and decided it didn't look too bad. Can that bender do 2" pipe (2.375 od) you think? For my next project I could use something that does that, that's why I'm thinking of the swag offroad one, but I'm already spending a ton of money on a cnc router this year.

I’ll check the die tomorrow. It says it does 2” pipe but not sure if that’s ID or OD. The only problem with the princess auto version is that they don’t have different dies available. Nothing for square tubing either. Although it would be very easy to fab up the dies. I haven’t checked to see if the other brands that are similar would have dies that fit.

 

[Silvercreek]

The transom looks very low in your picture,what shaft length did you build it to fit? Where will the waterline be ? Is this a kit from a supplier? Which one? Designer?

CNC cut from CJM but he's so busy that I'm getting my own cnc router.
Before this boat I wanted to build something a bit smaller and I couldn't find any plans for a boat like that really.
So I decided to learn how to do it myself in CAD and I also spent probably 100s of hours reading as much as I could about boat design.
A few years ago I help my buddy put together a boat that Rick Welin (metalboatkits.com) designed and while everything fit pretty good overall, there were a few minor issues. There were a couple times we were scratching our heads and I kept thinking if only I had the cad drawings so I could reference it, lol. Its pretty nice to be able to open up my boats in CAD and see where things are supposed to go exactly, and when I want to make changes its pretty easy. Like if someone wanted a forward sloping windshield, I can make those changes fairly quickly

 

[BCI]

CNC cut from CJM but he's so busy that I'm getting my own cnc router.
Before this boat I wanted to build something a bit smaller and I couldn't find any plans for a boat like that really.
So I decided to learn how to do it myself in CAD and I also spent probably 100s of hours reading as much as I could about boat design.
A few years ago I help my buddy put together a boat that Rick Welin (metalboatkits.com) designed and while everything fit pretty good overall, there were a few minor issues. There were a couple times we were scratching our heads and I kept thinking if only I had the cad drawings so I could reference it, lol. Its pretty nice to be able to open up my boats in CAD and see where things are supposed to go exactly, and when I want to make changes its pretty easy. Like if someone wanted a forward sloping windshield, I can make those changes fairly quickly

You didn't find anything at COPE that you liked?

COPE Aluminum Boat Designs

COPE Aluminum Boat Designs

www.aluminumboatdesigns.com

 

[Fisher_dude]

I run a bender down in kelowna. We just got some 1.25 tooling. 4” mandrel, 8” mandrel and some variable rad dies. All Delrin coated. Our machine is a bit overkill for that as I’m normally bending 3.5” stainless pipe but it works great on the brushed 1.25 tubing.

 

[Fisher_dude]

She’s a big ol *****. 2nd pic is a stock run of some 15”rad bends so I didn’t have to do another die change over as the one die is just a measly 620lbs.

 

[Silvercreek]

You didn't find anything at COPE that you liked?

COPE Aluminum Boat Designs

COPE Aluminum Boat Designs

www.aluminumboatdesigns.com

maybe "like" wasn't the right word. Lots of boats on there that I like.
I meant what I was looking to build at the time.
I can build any boats up to about 30' in my shop from any of the designers.

 

[Last_Call]

Good question. I figure I list it for around 110k and see what happens. That's turn key with a new 200 HP mercury, hydraulic steering, seats, sliding side windows, electrical done, wash down pump, wipers, etc etc. and tandem axle aluminum trailer.

Similar size hewsecrafts going for 115k new with 200hp. They're only 3/16 bottom and 1/8 side I think (also probably only 5052). Also probably plywood floor. But the factory boats do look nice with the paint job and vinyl flooring. This is where I wonder do I spend more money (and a lot of time) to finish it nice, paint or vinyl, some sort of covering on the inside. Something nice over the aluminum floor (ultradeck, vinyl, non skid)? I'm worried I just put a more money into it and don't really get anything out of it for the time. I'd love to hear any input on this

I'd hold off on the fine finishing work and sell it pretty bare bones. Some people will want it bare bones and if someone wants to add ultradeck, paint, etc you can always negotiate at that time. Very tough to predict what an individual buyer will want so best to leave those final touches to them. Good lookin boat!