Aluminium Boats - What to look out for?

Tim Good

Tim Good

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I'm seeing a late 80s Aluminum centre-board boat tomorrow. Having only sailed GRP boats can anyone give me advice on what to look out for that might indicate bad news?

Hull is 5mm and superstructure 7mm with aluminium deck also.

Thanks!
 
northcave said:
I'm seeing a late 80s Aluminum centre-board boat tomorrow. Having only sailed GRP boats can anyone give me advice on what to look out for that might indicate bad news?

Hull is 5mm and superstructure 7mm with aluminium deck also.

Thanks!
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I seem to recall something about the electricity needing to be wired correctly to avoid "eating" the hull. Have a search of the forums for aluminium and anodes or give it 5 minutes and one of the clever ones will probably explain.
 
Check the bilge for evidence of internal corrosion. Check behind things using mirrors or better a remote camera.

Be very suspicious of any blistering of the paint below the waterline. You may have been following the story of this young girl who bought an ali. boat only to find it was a colander when she scraped the bottom paint off.

 
Don't worry about horror stories of people loosing their loose change, if aluminium boats were that bad they would be charging across the channel at 40 knots a couple of times a day with "Condor Ferries" written on the side. :)

Have a good look around, hopefully the interior hasn't been insulated with expanding foam. Check the bilges, check for distortion in the topsides, check the anodes - all of them :)
 
Ack, total nightmare! Should have hired a surveyor?

Nothing to add except I'd love a nice aluminium centreboard boat, a boreal for example.
 
TQA said:
Check the bilge for evidence of internal corrosion. Check behind things using mirrors or better a remote camera.

Be very suspicious of any blistering of the paint below the waterline. You may have been following the story of this young girl who bought an ali. boat only to find it was a colander when she scraped the bottom paint off.
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Nikes boat wasn't quite a "colander" lol. She did find a few holes that were successfully welded. Karl was very neglected when she got him. I urge everyone to follow her on FB and watch her videos on Youtube......she is great fun and has no hidden agenda. :encouragement:
 
MrB said:
Nikes boat wasn't quite a "colander" lol. She did find a few holes that were successfully welded. Karl was very neglected when she got him. I urge everyone to follow her on FB and watch her videos on Youtube......she is great fun and has no hidden agenda. :encouragement:
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Did she get it all sorted out? It did look as if she had bought a pup but, if she did manage to get it fixed, then good on her.
 
Rigger Mortice said:
Did she get it all sorted out? It did look as if she had bought a pup but, if she did manage to get it fixed, then good on her.
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Yes she did and she has indeed "untied the lines" Nike is now sailing Karl and loving life. If you are on FaceBook RM follow her, she's great fun and interacts with everyone that asks her questions. JE would learn a lot from her.
 
Hello Northcave
You did not say the size of vessel you are looking at,as said previously look for paint bubbling,look behind anything that can retain moisture(wood),and anodes .Is it on a trailer or left in the water all year round.Does it have electrics or a engine?
If it has a bilge area make sure it's clean and not full of rubbish also a good area to have painted
Good luck and enjoy Ali boats are strong and low maintenance
 
MrB said:
Nikes boat wasn't quite a "colander" lol. She did find a few holes that were successfully welded. Karl was very neglected when she got him. I urge everyone to follow her on FB and watch her videos on Youtube......she is great fun and has no hidden agenda. :encouragement:
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I absolutely agree that she is great fun and I am an avid follower and wish her the very best but I challenge you to watch the video of the welding that was done and ask yourself if that was a 'proper job'. Still the good news is that metal boats rarely fail catastrophically, the colander just developes a few more holes and providing you keep pumping you stay afloat long enough to find a haven.

 
Woodlouse said:
I'm in a vast minority on these forums but personally I would never consider buying a boat with out hiring a surveyor unless I was perfectly content with losing everything invested. I've seen too many people stung.
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+1

Consider only production line well respected boats such as an Ovni, not home built,

Get a good surveyor well familiar with aluminium and it's foibles.

Bi metallic corrosion can be a problem, stray currents and especially off cuts of copper wire, drying sea water in the bilge ie very strong salt solution) copper coins etc in the bilge they will go right through.

Otherwise a well founded aluminium boat is strong, light, easy to repair.

Why are they so popular in France, NZ,Oz, USA , Canada etc but not UK?
 
I don't see the attraction of a hull where any stray copper might eat a hole right through it. Lots of people swear by them but it always struck me as a strange thing to build a boat from especially if you look at what happens to any random bits of aluminium you have lying about your boat. They always seem to find a way to turn to powder.

I am biased, I like wood. It takes a long time for wood to degrade and it retains much of its structural properties right up to the end. It is easy to fix with tools from your own toolkit and there is no panic about current. If I wa going for aluminium I would want a surveyor that was used to that material as I would not be confident I could detect all the signs of problems. With wood a blunt screwdriver is your friend.
 
pmagowan said:
I am biased, I like wood. It takes a long time for wood to degrade and it retains much of its structural properties right up to the end. It is easy to fix with tools from your own toolkit and there is no panic about current. If I wa going for aluminium I would want a surveyor that was used to that material as I would not be confident I could detect all the signs of problems. With wood a blunt screwdriver is your friend.
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I'm a massive fan of wood too. But tell you something, you can do some pretty scary things to it with dissimilar metals and electricity.
 
TiggerToo said:
ohi, wait in the queue.... I am there first....then there is Camelia, I think.....
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Yip I am second in line, a 47 for me.

I had a good look over hull 10, now in the USA, and it had me totally rethinking my long term plans. The engineering on them is fantastic.
 
Camelia said:
Yip I am second in line, a 47 for me.

I had a good look over hull 10, now in the USA, and it had me totally rethinking my long term plans. The engineering on them is fantastic.
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Also have a look at the Garcia Exploration 45
 
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