I'm going to disagree with the numerous recommendations for a wire welder as your on board
repair welding system. A wire welder has significant drawbacks compared to a simple stick welder for
boat repair. Here's a few points:
1. Wire welders, by their nature, cannot reach into corners and around obstructions like a stick welder can. A welding rod can be bent to reach around obstacles, and it is long enough to reach into places you can't otherwise.
2. It is practical to carry a variety of different welding electrodes for a stick welder, and changing between electrodes takes seconds. Carrying rolls of wire is bulkier, more expensive, and takes a lot longer to change over.
3. A wire welder is more complicated, with feed
motor, jaws, controls, etc. Not sure how well all that might
work after a couple years stored in your
boat somewhere. Stick has a lot less to give trouble in the
marine environment.
4. To repeat my earlier post, an on the main
engine mounted
alternator based welder can be set up inexpensively. It does not require an additional
generator as a
power source, so there is almost no additional
storage space required. It will charge your
batteries when you're not welding.
5. 6010/6011 rods are really good for welding thru
paint, rust,etc. There are times doing repair when it is almost impossible to remove all of these contaminants before making a weld. I don't know if wire welders have an equivalent that will do this job as well. Perhaps it is available, I don't know. But for sure the ability to make a good weld thru contaminants is an important virtue for an onboard repair welding system.