trophywife
Crew Member
lol, i saved for one and got a kingfisher.I have a 24' Northwest Aluminum Craft and absolutely love it. They are based out of Langford and Doug the owner is an awesome guy. Highly recommend them.
lol, i saved for one and got a kingfisher.I have a 24' Northwest Aluminum Craft and absolutely love it. They are based out of Langford and Doug the owner is an awesome guy. Highly recommend them.
I guess we should let coastal craft, NWC, SS etc know they are doing it all wrong...Huh? Tig welding is not rare for properly built custom aluminum boats. Ya cheaper cookie cutter production line aluminum's are mig'd but not well made custom aluminum's.
I guess we should let coastal craft, NWC, SS etc know they are doing it all wrong...
pulsed mig vs tig for production of a boat is a no brainer. Cosmetically you would have a tough time deciphering the two
tig just takes way too long for anything of significant size.
I think this thread went in the direction is was always meant to. Island built. There alot to be said about that. The poster asked if there was any in higher esteem as he put it.
Theres alot to be said about that. Not only for new boaters and buyers, but to educate anyone who reads this thread about the process and material that go into building an aluminum boat. It's all cool stuff. Everyone does it a little bit different. We all might learn something here
I dont think an 18ft boat can be considered an offshore boat for our weather conditions. It better be self bailing and have sealed bulkheads. My opinion is 26ft is a starting point for a boat to be considered offshore worthy nominally. I have buddy who runs a thunderjet alexa they claim is an offshore boat. Lol. It's a tub that has a plywood deck. Nice 140k boat with a plywood deck.
All true but I also know this,, a goof can wreck any machine built. I’m an equipment man, I have worked around some of the biggest machines made and I know this first hand there is nothing built that can’t be wrecked. Take care of your equipment and it will take care of you. That’s a motto to live by. You split that glass hull of yours open and that thing will sink like a rock, hit the waves to hard and break the transom off it and it goes down in seconds, We’ve all seen the pics on here too many times. For some reason you have an aluminum boat built without sealed bulkheads and it’s a piece of ****, show me a glass boat with a sealed bulkhead. What good is a sealed bulkhead when it’s ripped open anyways, it’s not sealed anymore is it. Treat any of them like a fool and with in a few years they are full of spider cracks and the fibres pull apart and get loose, then what, throw it away. Not knocking any boat really but taken care of just about any boat can last a life time. I’ve got a 16’ Lund at home that is pushing 40 years old and trust me that boat has been used beyond belief. Father bought it when he first retired out to the island and he lived in that boat for years. But it was treated well, never abused, never over powered to weaken the transom. That boat is as solid today and every rivet in it as solid as the day it was bought 40 years ago.Not a lot of boat builders do sealed aluminum bulkheads anymore. I personally hate foam. Especially when I have to cut it out to make a repair or a change. Nightmare.
I have an 18ft raider centre console that we converted into a multi purpose sport fisher work boat. older hull from the late 90s. Sealed bulkheads, one in frontand 2 in the rear. With stainless pipe plugs, into welded NPT bung fittings just incase you need to check the sealed bulkheads. Pretty slick I thought.
We did a refit repair on an Argo crew boat years back, that the captain had hit a can buoy at nighttime. Long story short the foam filling in the bow did not save this boat from taking on water. The can buoy completely can openered this hull. Guy died. Could not get to safety. Boat just filled right up with water. that was the day I learned from the old man what the real difference is between boats that are properly engineered and those what are not. We ended up cutting the entire bow off to repair the hull and created a sealed bulkhead.
Can you post some photos along the way? Two of the best are involved in your boat, that is pretty special.Walker boats is building my new boat. They work closely with Bruce Cope and I know they've built at least a few of his 18 foot centre console designs. I was most impressed by the quality of their welding when I was shopping around for a builder.