Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Aluminum Boats- Riveted or Welded?

I currently have both, a welded Gregor and a riveted Lowe. The Gregor is my first welded boat but I don’t think I’ll be buying any more riveted stuff after this. I don’t ever want to worry about bucking rivers and resealing a leaky boat every spring anymore.

All welded al the way. A buddy and I were in the bay floundering in the early1990s and a storm came in that was not supose to.It went from flat calm to 4 to 5 ft waves in 20 min our 25 min run turned into 4 1/2 hrs back to the ramp.The bow was caved in almost 7 inches all the way across and I dont think a rivit boat would have stayed together much less afloat through the beating we took that night. I took it to the guy that built it and thanked him for the solid boat and 2 weeks later it was home with 3 extra braces in the bow from the floor to the deck and its still kicken.

I have a number of aluminum boats. All but one are riveted. Dating from the late 40's to 2017, I have had good service from all, but also take good care of them. For my applications, which is mostly east of the Mississippi and both fresh and salt water, riveted works fine. If I had my 'druthers, I suppose I'd take welded, but could happily survive with just the riveted.

That said, if you are dealing with big water and where hulls get pounded, the welded will hold together longer. That's not my situation though, for the most part.

That is a jet, it has a v8 under the rear deck. The rail is for safety running rapids

Had one of them too, 15 footer. Good boat, but not as heavy duty as most any welded job, pretty thin material. Mine was beat to piss as the first owner left it at the dock through storms not tied well and it showed. Didn't leak tho.

Oh balderdash!
Are these jerks picking on you? Send them a fart bomb in the mail. That’ll fix ‘em!

Any flat bottom boat is going to beat the hell out of you and out of the boat in chop. Even a 10 degree deadrise hull built for white water rivers will be harsh on a lake or salt hitting waves. That is what the deep V is for. It cuts through the wave instead of bouncing off the top.

All true, a deep vee will require more horsepower and be less stable at rest, but cuts the waves better. A 10degree v is a nice compromise for lakes. Offshore you want an 18 degree plus vee

A buddy in high-school had his grandfathers from the 1960's 13' Gregor we used to go everywhere in.

Thing was an indestructible aluminum beast.

This. The end.

My choice. Alumaweld was mentioned earlier. They are an OK boat but I am not a fan of their box beam hull construction.

http://wooldridgeboats.com/

A lot of people dismiss the welded jet boats out of hand. They think fuel consumption and price to be prohibitive. And they are pretty much correct on fuel consumption. The one I happened to pick for the pic has a Ford 351 under the hood. My Son in Law recently purchased a 24 foot Weldcraft with a 460 Ford in it. And yes, any time you run a big V-8 at 4000 RPM and at 3/4 WOT for a couple hours you are going to pay for it at the gas pump. That is why they usually come with 40 to 100 gallons of fuel capacity on board.

But like all boats, they depreciate pretty rapidly. There are bunch of 1980s built hulls out there with low hour power plants and new looking interiors for dirt cheap. The 20 ft NWjet pictured has 300 hours on the engine and is offered for $17K. The kids' 24 foot Weldcraft came in under $30K with two hours on a brand new engine. And they often have heat in the cab.

If you have a bunch of kids who want to ski or swim off the boat, a jet is the absolute safest boat in the water for that.

I did not realize riveted hulls were still being built. Everything around here is welded.

Welded boats can be far lighter and that can be important running real small water. Sticking a thick bottom welded boat can turn an easy job into a nightmare. I have both and have dealt with both a lot. The thin bottom riveted boats will do just fine for many years. Other than serious stuff in skinny water the welded boat is the better choice.

Currently on my 5th Lund over the last 35 years! Never have had one leak at the rivets, only with an old rubber hull plug. Plenty of rough water, never babied, never worn out... just ready for a change or bigger boat. If it aint broke, don't fix it!!!

BTW, how often do you guys have to anneal those welded boats? Will the "candle method" work and do you have to launch and immerse when done???

All kidding aside, I have seen plenty of custom welded boats pushed to the limits in arctic AK w/o failure. With that said, I prefer holes and rivets rather than joined "seams" w/ the potential for a change in metallurgy. Just me... to each his own.

I knew we could find something to agree on.

What about a flat like this with a 15 deg deadrise? G3 Bay Boat Or is this not really considered a flat bottom?

My G3 is the Bay 18 DLX. Of course it’s aluminum, but I wouldn’t call it a flat bottom and definitely not a deep V. My boat sees a lot of chop, and it certainly is rougher than a heavy fiberglass deep-v, but with the boat trimmed right and keeping the speed reasonable it does just fine. But I’m 33. I might think differently if I was a little older.

River boats have a 10 degree or less V...... 15 degree is relatively steep, definitely a lake boat, that would even function a medium to big lake

My boat is a 35x23x16 , the 16 is the final deadrise... it's considered an ocean boat