Aluminum drift boat build.

[koditten]

I'm more know for working with iron building trailers like my avatar. It was time for a change with no chance to make money. Everyone has a hobby that cost them money. My hobby was to build the trailers and sell them.

This build is for me. Where I fish regularly, these boats are quite common. I've always admired the look. Something about the swooping, flowing line of the gunnel and the turned up ends would relax me.

It would see these boats drifting past me and would secretly wish they would anchor up so I could look at them more leisurely.

This is the start of a 16' drift boat.

I started out by making the forms for the boat, these are referred as strong backs. I'll shorten it to SD's.

 

[koditten]

I had to seam to 4 x 8 pieces to

gether. These will be the sides.

 

[koditten]

Close up of the seaming of the 2 panels. Not gonna win any beuty awards, but is a quality weld. It was a very awkward position and was hard to get decent support from the free hand. In addition, welding aluminum sheet together has to be the hardest joint to weld. Burn thru is highly likely.

The weld will get ground flat anyways once the oppose side is welded.

 

[koditten]

Side panels marked up and ripped. These will be bent to bcome the sides and bow.

 

[koditten]

Another pic of the sides just before I attach them to the SD's.

 

[koditten]

A few SD's attached. I drilled 1/8" holes in the top and bottom of the sides. Drywall screws hold the sides to the SD's.

 

[koditten]

A few C-clamps and a winch strap work great to pull the sides in to become the bow. I wish I owned the rights to cinch straps. I can never find the end to their uses.

Ran a quick weld bead to hold the bow together.

 

[koditten]

All SD's installed. Starting to look like a boat now.

 

[koditten]

Starting to seam panels for the bottom. More pain in the *** but joints.

 

[koditten]

All 4, pieces seamed. Getting ready to tack weld the bottom to the sides.

 

[RivennHewn]

Ambitious project!
Liking the looks of it already.
Can't wait to see it complete.

 

[koditten]

Bottom tacked welded to sides. I cheated. I had the wife walk on top of the panels to use her weight to close up the gaps between sides and bottom. Most places her 120 lbs was enough to draw in the gap. A few place need the use of the wonderful winch strap.

Sorry, no pics. She wouldn't even allow me to have a pic for myself.

 

[koditten]

Pic of the boat with excess bottom material trimmed off. I used a skill saw with a carbide tipped blade. This was most likely the worst job so far. The blade would heat up and bind. Major suckage! My hands still ache.

I cut the bottom 1/2" or so oversize. This allows me to put a high quality weld bead on the outside before the final trim. With the boat on the fab table and me standing at the most comfortable position, I can guarantee that the weld will be water tight. I can't make that statement about the inside weld. No one wants to be on their knees welding on the floor.

Ill trim off the excess with the plasma cutter and hit it with the flap wheel. The joint gets a trim of angle aluminum anyways, so the grinding job won't need to be pristine.

 

[koditten]

Flipping the boat.

Not much to explain here. The boat is very light. I think 2 guys could roll the boat with ease.

The white strip is just some aluminum flashing coil stock. Its attached to each SD with one side running next to a line that is in the middle of the SD. This insures that the boat sides are perfectly symmetrical. Anything straight could be use as long as its flexible.

 

[koditten]

Drift boat flipped right side up.

 

[koditten]

Another pic of the boat.

I place the boat on a pallet with wheels under it. This makes it easy to move around.

Unfortunately, this is about as far as I can go. That little thing called life, has gotten in the way of more progress. With holidays and overtime at work, this is about how it's gonna sit for the next month or so.

About all I can do is answer some question if asked.

Thanks

Kirk

 

[Bronson]

I love it, can't wait to see the finished boat!

 

[wyo george]

Looking good so far! I'm a boat building addict, built eight so far and have a couple under construction. About half of mine have been canoes though with a couple of skiffs thrown in. So far I've yet to build of aluminum, used composite, cedar strip, skin on frame, ply on frame and S&G methods. I've been meaning to try aluminum as I use it in my shop building motorcycle parts, but I work with metal all day long so the woodworking is a break and kinda therapeutic.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings...your build has some nice lines.

Questions:

How much rocker will she have? (looks like a lot, whitewater boat?)

Width at chine?

Plan source?

 

[koditten]

I Don't even know what "rocker" means. I picked the plans only on dimensions. I wanted a 56" x 16' boat. I also liked the looks as I mentioned earlier.

I could not find plans for that in aluminum. I emailed Sandy at Montana Drift Boats to see if his plans for wood boats could be used for alloy. He talked me into it. With a small amount of alterations, the plans have worked spectacular.

 

[jhn9840]

Can tell it's going to be a very nice boat. What machine are you doing the work with? How much time do you have invested in it to this point? Looking forward to seeing it done.

jhn9840
John

 

[AZ Pete]

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[bullnerd]

Ahhh...when you said drift boat , I thought meant these...

 

[koditten]

Miller MM250 with a Miller 30A spool gun.

Let me think on the time.

3-4 hrs Thursday morning, 3-4 hrs Thursday afternoon/evening.
3 hrs Friday morning, 3 hrs Friday afternoon/evening

That's about as close as I can estimate. I did have the sheet stock laying on the shop floor for half the week.

 

[koditten]

Ahhh...when you said drift boat , I thought meant these...

How did you make the analogy, they're not even close

 

[madoc1]

love boats, so will be following this. nice work so far. how did you weld the bottom? reach up from underneath while kneeling? i mean why did you not trim the bottom before welding? anyway, good luck, i like it.

jim

 

[koditten]

Just stuck the gun under and pulled the trigger. A bunch of tacks all around. I will weld it proper when its upright. **** that upside down welding. I'll trim excess with the plasma torch when I get a proper weld.

I could only do tacks, the wife was standing on the bottom to close up the gaps. She refused to stay out in the shop for me to do a complete weld.

 

[jayrush13]

Nice looking boat would fit in around here. I have relatives from back east that had never seen a drift boat before. But they are a mainstay of salmon and steelhead fishing here in the northwest

 

[wyo george]

I Don't even know what "rocker" means. I picked the plans only on dimensions. I wanted a 56" x 16' boat. I also liked the looks as I mentioned earlier.

I could not find plans for that in aluminum. I emailed Sandy at Montana Drift Boats to see if his plans for wood boats could be used for alloy. He talked me into it. With a small amount of alterations, the plans have worked spectacular.

"Rocker" is how much the center of the boat sits lower than the ends. Think of the shoes on a rocking horse, that should make the term easy to understand. It's used in displacement hull boats (boats that cannot plane, or in other words, boats the travel efficient at very slow speeds like a drift boat) A drift boat made for flatter water will usually have about 6-10" worth of rocker while a whitewater boat will have twice that or more. The heavier rocker will let the boat spin (turn) a little faster as well as go up the face of a standing wave instead of trying to punch through it. That's why you'll want more rocker on a whitewater boat. The shallower rocker boat will draft a little less (stick down in the water less, good for shallower water) and be a tad more stable, but will be a wetter ride if you hit some waves and it's a little slower to turn. Most of the waters here in Wyoming are pretty flat and my drifter I built has about 7" of rocker to it and works perfect. My friend's boat has about 18" of rocker and we take his when we fish rivers that are more aggressive. Our boats are similar in size and mine will float in 4" of water while his needs about 8" of water to float in.

For plans, there are a few companies that have aluminum plans and many others that have plans that can me made to work with a little extra thinking (like you are doing so excellently)

Glen-L has a whole section just for aluminum plans including a few driftboats:

http://www.boatdesigns.com/14-or-16-McDrift-McKenzie-drift-boat/products/127/

Keep up the good work, you certainly have my attention.

 

[koditten]

Glen-L didn't have the width I wanted, so they were out.

Thanks for the explanation.

I'll measure when I add my floor stringers. I kind of had an idea that his boat was going to be a fast spinner, which is what I wanted. I don't have white water, but I have lots of trees leaning into the river. I was hoping I would be able to spin and row away with ease when they are encountered.

I've never even rowed one of these things. I just want to build it and fish out of it. So far the project has been very relaxing.

Some guys go golfing, some guys go bowling, some guys go drinking. I build a trailer or I guess now, a boat.

 

[Engine]

This looks very nice. I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes along....

 

[theoldwizard1]

So next, you need to do a 20+ center console !

When you get good at this, there is LOT OF MONEY to be made. Building aluminum boats and boat interior carpentry, both very profitable ! Throw in bending/forming/welding/polishing stainless for things like railings and davits.

 

[joe--h]

I started out by making the forms for the boat, these are referred as strong backs. I'll shorten it to SD's.

Maybe you should call them SBs?

My little bro had a drift boat on the Yellowstone. Spent a lot of time in that, relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

Nice work.

Joe H

 

[bullnerd]

How did you make the analogy, they're not even close

LOL! Your right. I'm not a boat guy. I just knew about the others and when I saw drift, I thought of a car drifting and then that boat! LOL, makes no sense.

I'll take the other style though, I'm not into relaxing hobbies just yet.

 

[koditten]

Never even realized I did that.

 

[koditten]

So next, you need to do a 20+ center console !

When you get good at this, there is LOT OF MONEY to be made. Building aluminum boats and boat interior carpentry, both very profitable ! Throw in bending/forming/welding/polishing stainless for things like railings and davits.

Weeell, a 20' CC would be awesome, but its just easier to rent a boat when I go to the Keys for Tarpon.

 

[koditten]

Got the boat up on the table. Should be able to do the chine welds much easier now.

Got to thinking, am I supposed to name the boat? Any suggestions

 

[Duckworks]

I've been designing and building boats and pontoons professionally for 23 years. Have never dealt with a drift boat. I'll be following close. keep up the great work.

 

[NASTYZEN]

Cool project! Not at all what your title conjured up in my mind.

LoL

Looking good, never seen one of those. I'll be watching with interest.
Next thing you know, you'll be building a sail boat, gonna need a bigger trailer for that though.

 

[JC23]

"Got to thinking, am I supposed to name the boat? Any suggestions?"

Recycle Your Beer Cans!

 

[wyo george]

I've been designing and building boats and pontoons professionally for 23 years. Have never dealt with a drift boat. I'll be following close. keep up the great work.

Good to see you on the GJ, Duckworks. Welcome to the forum.