Aluminium SailBoats VS Fiberglass SailBoats

[Sailingwithgil]

Hey I was search for a Sailboat on-line and I come around on this brand Garcia made in Cherbourg Franch that makes all Aluminum sailboats.
Is it cheaper to maintained all Aluminum Sailboat our a Fiberglass Hull Sailboat. Over 50' range ?

[noelex 77]

There is no perfect boat building material, but aluminium is the best option for a long distance cruising boat in my opinion.

Bare aluminium requires significantly less maintenance than fibreglass, but painted aluminium requires much the same, or more maintenance than gelcoat.

[sailormed]

If your boat is thrown on the rocks an aluminium hull will be preferable

[Joh.Ghurt]

No idea how many aluminium multihulls are out there, most I know, including Garcia are monohulls. Perhaps they recently added a cat too.

Pro:

• Is more robust - I love it when I don't have to worry too much after intimate contact (at low speeds) with the pier.
• You can build in the tanks directly into the hull
• No problems with osmosis or rotten cores

Contra:

• You need to be extra careful with galvanic corrosion.
• As an extension of this, you have to be extra careful with wiring the ground. If some devices use accidentally the hull as ground, you might start electrolysing your boat away. Same you need to be careful with acids an dropping steel washers into the bilge.
• Oh yes, because of the galvanic corrosion, forget about any metal sea-cocks. Plastic is the way to go.
• It's a pain to paint, as most paints don't stick to aluminium. You'll need special aluminium primer or acid wash or other stuff like it. And forget about any paint containing copper, that's asking for having your boat eaten away.
• Heavy. Most aluminium yachts are heavier than a similar sized fibreglass boat
• Expensive

In general, when you're on a market for a new boat and don't need the advantages of aluminium, you get more boat for your money if you go with fibre-glass. But consider, Boréals are really, really nice yachts, nicer than those Garcias.

On the other hand, a 40 year old aluminium boat can be a lot less of a risk than a fibre-glass boat of the same age. Worst case, you'll end up hiring an aluminium welder for a week or two and most stuff is fixed.

[Sailingwithgil]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

No idea how many aluminium multihulls are out there, most I know, including Garcia are monohulls. Perhaps they recently added a cat too.

Pro:

• Is more robust - I love it when I don't have to worry too much after intimate contact (at low speeds) with the pier.
• You can build in the tanks directly into the hull
• No problems with osmosis or rotten cores

Contra:

• You need to be extra careful with galvanic corrosion.
• As an extension of this, you have to be extra careful with wiring the ground. If some devices use accidentally the hull as ground, you might start electrolysing your boat away. Same you need to be careful with acids an dropping steel washers into the bilge.
• Oh yes, because of the galvanic corrosion, forget about any metal sea-cocks. Plastic is the way to go.
• It's a pain to paint, as most paints don't stick to aluminium. You'll need special aluminium primer or acid wash or other stuff like it. And forget about any paint containing copper, that's asking for having your boat eaten away.
• Heavy. Most aluminium yachts are heavier than a similar sized fibreglass boat
• Expensive

In general, when you're on a market for a new boat and don't need the advantages of aluminium, you get more boat for your money if you go with fibre-glass. But consider, Boréals are really, really nice yachts, nicer than those Garcias.

On the other hand, a 40 year old aluminium boat can be a lot less of a risk than a fibre-glass boat of the same age. Worst case, you'll end up hiring an aluminium welder for a week or two and most stuff is fixed.

.Thanks for the info. I have notice when I am in northern pacific I see Aluminium work boats and they most hold up very good that area

[dannc]

Originally Posted by Joh.Ghurt

No idea how many aluminium multihulls are out there, most I know, including Garcia are monohulls. Perhaps they recently added a cat too.
...

Garcia has an aluminum catamaran, https://www.garciayachts.com/en/yach...an/explocat-52.

Later,
Dan

[goboatingnow]

Aluminium work boats and a finely finished aluminium yacht are chalk and cheese. Repairing a aluminium yacht to factory finish requires specialist aluminium fabricators. Whereas any half decent yacht yard can do grp.

[JPA Cate]

You should find out how the ballast is isolated from the aluminum hull. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a problem with newer boats, but some friends of ours with aluminum Via 36 boats had to remove their ballast, and then surround their lead "bricks" with epoxy, and pour epoxy in over the lot to isolate the dissimilar metals. They both caught the situation "in time," and both boats are still in use, but it is a heads up.

Also, one needs to pre-filter out the chlorine from the town water when filling the integrated water tanks. That said, having integrated, below the cabin sole, water tanks increases easily usable stowage quite a lot, and gets the weight of the water down low, as well.

I think it's a great material, but it will be easier for non-experienced boaties to use grp, which is basically pretty inert (though it burns well)...but aluminum can burn, too.

A friend's aluminum boat survived what would have been a disastrous grounding in a grp boat.



Ann

[goboatingnow]

By the way I don’t like integrated tanks. If they go wrong they are a nightmare to fix.

In my opinion plastic tanks that can go in and out through the companionway should be the only tanks onboard.

[hpeer]

Or you can do steel. More robust if done properly, cheap by comparison, in US anyway. Heavy.

I have had a couple of bad groundings, hitting objects that would have done in a lesser boat.


But we have beaten this to death before. But steel took a bigger beating.

[ChrisJHC]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Aluminium work boats and a finely finished aluminium yacht are chalk and cheese. Repairing a aluminium yacht to factory finish requires specialist aluminium fabricators. Whereas any half decent yacht yard can do grp.

And every where in the world can do ferro-cement!

Not that I’m seriously suggesting going back to ferro-cement.

[Sailingwithgil]

Originally Posted by dannc

Garcia has an aluminum catamaran, https://www.garciayachts.com/en/yach...an/explocat-52.

Later,
Dan

Hey Dan
I saw the video and video speaks for itself the boat speed at 10kt very good for the 18 ton boat weight.
Frank

[goboatingnow]

I had reason to be involved in the repair of a Berthanon custom aluminium yacht many years ago. The damage due to collision with a rock , required partial removal of the interior to avoid fire from welding , removal and Re fabrication of a number of stringers and longitudinals in a specialised off site fabricator , specialist certified welding , significant fairing and the whole boat had to be repainted.

On a grp boat this would have been far cheaper less intrusive and largely done by the yard. Can you imagine trying to do this repair in areas that had no specialised aluminium support !!

[mcarthur]

I can see your point gbn, but if the damage was that severe to the alu yacht it's likely you would be raising the grp boat from under the water and that requires a lot more repair than the aluminium boat!

Another unusual benefit to the aluminium is that the metal parts are 100% recyclable at the end of its life - noting that looked after electrically (as noted above), the lifetime is likely longer than the owners.

[Redreuben]

Aluminium also has no insulation whereas with a foam sandwich boat it’s built in.
In Fremantle aluminium yachts are called Aspirins.