Boatyard
Did last month’s hymn to custom boatbuilding in metal inspire you? Read on. Thus far, we’ve only covered the basics.
In Part II of our Heavy Metal series, we look at builders from around the globe who work exclusively in metal.
Last month, we dealt with the basics of custom boatbuilding in metal, a sensible alternative to the industrialized creation of production-type boats which are, undeniably, getting more and more expensive these days. Modern techniques make metal boats simpler than ever to build, whether in aluminum or steel, and the completed vessels tend to be tough, abrasion-resistant and easily repaired. Moreover, both metals—whether we’re talking steel or aluminum—have their comparative advantages.
Steel, for example, is much cheaper to buy, but aluminum is easier to handle, easier to cut and faster to weld, so the added cost can be offset by labor savings. With either material there’s a lot of prep work necessary to create a yacht finish—grinding, filling and fairing before the topcoat’s laid on—which adds substantially to the cost of the completed vessel. The folks at Palmer Johnson once told me they figured on eight months to prepare a new 150-foot aluminum yacht for painting. Steel takes even more work and time, because the shell plates tend to distort more during welding and need more filling and fairing. And steel has to be sandblasted and coated inside and out; you can leave aluminum alone forever, if you don’t mind a dull grey boat. Just paint the bottom.
The Bi-Metal Boat
Ships, military vessels and larger yachts are often built with a steel hull and deck, but an aluminum superstructure to save weight and improve stability. In the old days, the steel-to-aluminum joint was fastened with rivets, with insulation between the metals to forestall galvanic corrosion. Today, bi-metallic transition joints
provide a bridge for welding the dissimilar metals together.
Transition joints are made by “explosion cladding.” Essentially, the steel and aluminum are stacked together, along with an explosive powder. When the powder is detonated, the force of the explosion bonds the metals together instantaneously and permanently. The shipbuilder then welds the steel to the steel side of the joint, the aluminum to the aluminum side; there’s no galvanic action between the dissimilar metals. In shipbuilding, steel and aluminum transition joints are most common, but many other metals can be joined this way. Nobelclad is a primary maker of bimetallic transition joints.
Plastic Not Spoken Here
There are still some companies building fine production boats exclusively in aluminum. Coastal Craft, in Gibsons, British Columbia, builds welded aluminum boats from 40 to 65 feet. Many aluminum boats are, shall we say, idiosyncratic in their appearance, but the Coastal Craft looks like metal boats ought to: a nice combination of rugged and yachty. The folks at Coastal Craft maintain they were the first builder to install Volvo Penta IPS drives in an aluminum hull.
Snake River Boat Builders, a consortium of companies in the Lewis-Clark Valley near Clarkson, Washington, call the area the “welded aluminum boat capital of the world.” Piloting the rivers in those parts is an obstacle course of snags, water-soaked logs, rocks and other hazards; there’s a reason these folks ride on aluminum hulls. Across the pond, Anytec builds some very cool-looking aluminum boats in Finland; only trouble is, the closest dealer to the U.S. is in Norway. Lund has been building aluminum fishing boats in America since 1948, although today they build some fiberglass models too.
And, of course, there are scads of pontoon boats racing around lakes and rivers on aluminum tubes. And what’s boating without the armada of welded- and riveted-aluminum Jon boats and other small craft, popular from the bayous to the rock-bound coast of Maine to ice-clogged Alaskan waters? My first boat was one of these, and maybe yours was, too. Lowe, Crestliner, Tracker, G3 and Alumacraft are just a few of the manufacturers.
An Aluminum Center Console?
There’s a brand-new company in the U.S. ready to start production on a high-end aluminum center-console, one with ac-
commodations for overnighting. Designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Lyman-Morse, the Rambler 38 will be composed using Rambler’s proprietary ExactForm process that, according to S&S Chief Designer and Rambler Yachts President Brendan Abbott, will create a yacht finish with minimal fairing. The bottom panels and hullsides are each made of one length of aluminum, welded in the traditional manner. Otherwise, the boat is fastened with adhesive, including the bottom-support, egg-crate grid. Gluing rather than welding eliminates distortion, and leaves fair surfaces for finishing. The topsides can be left bare aluminum, or vinyl wrapped, or painted with conventional linear polyurethane.
Abbott says the primary reason for building in aluminum is recyclability: The aluminum used to build the Rambler is 85 percent recycled metal; recycled aluminum is the same quality as aluminum coming straight from the mill, but recycling uses about 5 percent of the energy needed to produce aluminum from bauxite ore. At the end of the boat’s life, adds Abbott, 100 percent of it can be recycled and used again. And while there are ways to recycle fiberglass, most unwanted boats end up chopped up and in the dumpster.
The Rambler 38 is built in a jig, without expensive tooling, so changes can be made easily. Abbott says it isn’t a big deal to shorten the hull, change the decks, etc. He has already drawn the plans for a 40-foot cabin model with inboards (the 38 is multiple-outboard powered), and is working on the concepts for even bigger models. Hull No. 1 is set to launch later this spring.
If none of the above works for you, however, find someone with plans. Most yacht designers have a catalog of stock plans, and many sell them online; one I like is Michael Kasten of Kasten Marine, who has yachts designed for both steel and aluminum construction. Dix Design’s Dudley Dix is another good source. Both Kasten and Dix have scads of good stuff on their websites that will keep a boat nut reading for hours. Surfing around their websites is almost as much fun as owning a boat.
But not quite. So, next time you’re ready for something new, why not think about custom building? And while you’re at it, build a metal boat. Whether you pick steel or aluminum, once you skipper a deplasticized yacht, you’ll never go back.