OEM aluminium boat building since 2014 — 40+ designs from 3 to 26 m, shipped worldwide
The journal
Longer pieces about materials, hull design and maintenance, written by the people who weld the boats. Published roughly once a month, mostly because a customer asked a good question.
The aluminium hulls that fail early almost never fail because of the alloy. They fail because of a stainless bolt, a wet locker, or a bilge that nobody looked inside for two years.
Read the piecePower is the last decision, not the first. Start with weight, usage and the cost of running the engine for ten years — then decide how many cylinders you need.
Read the pieceThree numbers explain most of the difference between a boat that pounds in a chop and one that runs through it. None of them are horsepower.
Read the pieceA fibreglass hull can hide a bad lay-up under gelcoat. An aluminium hull cannot hide a bad weld — which is uncomfortable for builders and very good for buyers.
Read the piece5083 is not the strongest aluminium and it is not the cheapest. It is the one that survives salt water, welding and a decade of being beaten against a quay — which is why almost every workboat in the Gulf is built from it.
Read the pieceThe same ten questions asked of four hull materials. No material wins all ten, and the one that wins most of them depends on how you use the boat.
Read the pieceLighter, no osmosis, repairable with a plate and a welder, and worth more after ten years. Five differences that only show up once the boat is old — and the cases where fibreglass is still the right answer.
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