Cost of Aluminum Hull and Deck ?

[SailorKeddy]

Hello forum,

I'm just kinda curious as to a ballpark price for an aluminum hull and deck in the 34' to 36' range, both for the raw materials as well as manufactured at a yard. I'm kinda leaning towards a yard building one for me since I know nothing about welding it, I hear the learning curve is steep and the equipment pretty pricey.

Your thoughts??m

[Cheechako]

Im thinking 5 dollars apound and three times that for labor. Real ballpark.

[DeepFrz]

I think it would depend a lot on the yard and the location. You would really have to select some builders and then do a price comparison.

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by SailorKeddy

Hello forum,

I'm just kinda curious as to a ballpark price for an aluminum hull and deck in the 34' to 36' range, both for the raw materials as well as manufactured at a yard. I'm kinda leaning towards a yard building one for me since I know nothing about welding it, I hear the learning curve is steep and the equipment pretty pricey.

Your thoughts??m

A Mig welder (Lincoln) with 12 metres of remote and hand peice, approx $3000-00 all inclusive,

Bottle of gas, $130-00, Yearly hire of said bottle of Argon gas, Approx $150-00

Roll of Aluminium Mig wire, Approx $40-00 per roll. You will need a few of them,

The steel for a 40 foot cat, $10,000-00 to $15,000-00 Approx, Total,

Aluminium and steel Sheets are approximately the same price,

Welding both is much of a muchness, Same process, different materials,

Getting a good ally welder, You need a Boilermaker with the skills Required,

Above costs were what I actually paid for mine,

And before you lot start, I am an Engineering Blacksmith, Boilermaker/ DLI Welder with 49 years experience in all facets of Engineering, Including ship building and repair,

Cheers,
Brian,

[goboatingnow]

Originally Posted by Mr B

A Mig welder (Lincoln) with 12 metres of remote and hand peice, approx $3000-00 all inclusive,

Bottle of gas, $130-00, Yearly hire of said bottle of Argon gas, Approx $150-00

Roll of Aluminium Mig wire, Approx $40-00 per roll. You will need a few of them,

The steel for a 40 foot cat, $10,000-00 to $15,000-00 Approx, Total,

Aluminium and steel Sheets are approximately the same price,

Welding both is much of a muchness, Same process, different materials,

Getting a good ally welder, You need a Boilermaker with the skills Required,

Above costs were what I actually paid for mine,

And before you lot start, I am an Engineering Blacksmith, Boilermaker/ DLI Welder with 49 years experience in all facets of Engineering, Including ship building and repair,

Cheers,
Brian,

The last line being why you could do it and the rest of us can't.

[DeepFrz]

Welding both is much of a muchness, Same process, different materials,

I thought that because of the gas used when welding aluminum that the welding had to be done inside a building whereas a steel hull could be welded out in the open or under a shed roof.

[David M]

I don't think the cost can accurately be estimated in a forum.

Call a few manufacturers that custom fabricate aluminum boats and show them the plans. The cost will vary with the complexity of the design and not just the length.

Aluminum can be welded outdoors, it's just easier if there is no wind. Some of the inert gas (argon or a mix) gets blown away in wind which can result in a poor weld. And of course any rain will prevent the welding from happening. Ideally aluminum boats are welded indoors. The big companies that make commercial aluminum workboats like Kvichak, Munson, Moose and All American have huge indoor facilities.

[MacG]

Generally a casco of a prime cascobuilder will set yo back 50.000 - 100.000 euros depending on length and design. I am talkin in Dutch figures. There are not that many good aluminium metal workers in the US or Canada. A handful, no more.
It is not the welding alone, it is the cold forming and the stretching afterwards.
The welding procedure is another point of importance.
Experience is quite necessary.

[David M]

I disagree that there are only a handfull of good aluminum welders in the US. Ask any Coast Guard certified welder (certified to weld commercial vessels) if they are good or not. Also look at all the welders that the commercial aluminum boat manufacturers employ. All of them have to be excellent welders in order to weld commercial boats. There are also quite a number of welders who build smaller aluminum boats for the military. They must meet the militaries standards for welds. This adds up to a lot of very qualified aluminum welders.

[MacG]

I am not talking about welders at all.

It' s the whole process and the expertise.

[David M]

All the commercial and military aluminum boats that are manufactured don't count for anything?

Look at the quality and sophistication of these boats, and this is just one manufacturer...

Kvichak Marine Industries

[MacG]

I talk about sailing yachts not military anything. Complete different scenario.

[msponer]

I think it is ridiculous to worry if there are "more than a handful" or "just a handful" of good yards in America. You only need one, and there are certainly more than one-- we stopped looking after we found the second excellent yard that fit our needs. Both had a proven track record and happy owners of boats they'd recently completed.

We came very close to committing to this path last year, but chose to buy instead of build when a used boat we had been watching dropped in price by almost half.

I think we also have to be honest that a CNC cut chined hull with good plans, say a Van De Stadt 'quick build' hull, does not require the level of yard that fully developed plates would.

[MacG]

Van de Stadt is quite a long time in business and certainly No 1 when it comes to amateur building.
And indeed, a multichine hull is somewhat easier to build than a fully roundbilged or even more difficult the S bilged hull.
However there are yards in the US be able to make a good alu hull. Kanter is - or was - one of them. It does not lack technics, just the fact that most boats are built in Taiwan - Hong Kong and the number of yards that go belly up annually are numerous - a well known disease in the yachting scene world wide.

[DeepFrz]

Kanter is in Canada.