Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldan Grumpi
I’ve had welded boats and I’ve had riveted boats - and I much prefer riveted.
Aluminum thickness isn’t the only criteria; welds can be brittle and crack, where rivets don’t change the composition of the metal at the seams and rarely crack. My last welded boat, built by a well known manufacturer, developed two pronounced cracked welds in the first 18 hours of use (whereupon I sold it).
Welded boats can be built by almost any shop with very minimal investment and modestly skilled labor. Riveted boats demand a high investment, highly skilled and expensive manufacturing process that few small manufacturers can afford.
There’s a reason aircraft floats are not welded, and that Lund’s stouter boats rarely leak after 40 years. Certainly there are some awful light ‘tinnies’ sold to very casual users, but it takes an awful lot of abuse to harm an Edo float on a Twin Otter, or a Lund Alaskan or Starcraft Islander on Great Slave Lake. Almost none are thicker than 0.10”, or in extreme cases .125 on the bottom.
I’m sure some welded boats are good, and if you need a big power, big weight, 100 mph inboard jet I don’t think you can get away from a welded boat. But if your needs are more modest, I seriously believe rivets are superior to welds.
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I think you had a bad experience with a welded hull so you think they are inferior to riveted ones. I hear your reasoning behind the use of rivets for something that also needs to be light and strong like a plane but a properly welded .250 thick hull is hands down stronger than any riveted boat made. I base my reasoning on over 40 years experience living and fishing on the West Coast and having seen 3 Lunds, including one 19’ Alaskan, that that were so badly cracked that the hulls were replaced under warranty. On top of that I’ve seen dozens of riveted boats that leaked so bad there was always water in the boat.
I’ve seen some welded boats that were of a poor design or welded by someone who would probably make a better carpenter but I’ve never seen one from a reputable builder that had an issue.
If I had a choice though between a riveted boat and a light weight welded like a Crestliner I’d choose the riveted one. It will leak given time but I’ve see too many Crestliners split the hull and start taking water to the point a bilge pump may not keep up.