Welded Aluminum Boats

For those of you that own welded aluminum boats, I was wondering if anyone has a problem with the welds cracking. My son bought a 14ft Alumacraft Jon Boat this spring and the welds on the sides are breaking lose.

On the other hand I have a 3 year old Crestliner Fish Hawk which has been in some pretty rough water and it has never been a problem.

I was wondering what you all think of welded aluminum boats.

Thanks

I bought a Alumacraft Invader 185 in March of 2002. It’s a all weld boat. Boat had a bow in the bottom and would not quit porpoising. After fighting with the dealer and Alumacraft they agreed to send me a new boat. Four months later I recieved it, no better than the one before it. Over the winter the dealer go’s out of business, and after fighting with Alumacraft they agree to give me another new boat promising me that it would be correct. After getting it back still no change. After Alumacraft told me that is the way that boat was designed to perform more or less told me to take them to court. After deciding that I would be better spending the money on anything except lawyer fees I found a dealer in Missouri that would take it on trade.I traded it for a Charger and luckly I didn’t take to much of a beating. So I wouldn’t give you a nickle for any Alumacraft, but that is just my opinion.

Big weav,

I tend to agree. I have another 1997 Alumacraft with rivets and that thing also leaks. I have never owned a Lund, but at this point am a big Crestliner Fan.

Thanks for your response.

Going on the third season with my welded-hull Crestliner 14 foot jon boat. (Model 1448)

Zero problems and has never leaked a drop!

Jon J.

Hey guys, I do a lot of welding and used to build aluminum boats and yacts in lacrosse wi. One thing to remember is that aluminum loves to crack. There are a lot of prepwork to be done on aluminum before you weld but the most important is a good post purge. What this means is that when you are done welding you must keep purge gas on the weld while it cools, if you dont a small crack is created at the end of the weld from cooling to quickely. If the manufacturor uses a tig weld process that boat is more likely to have better welds, wire feed spool guns work great as long as the spool guns have post purge triggers. The quality of the boat is directely related to the directely related to skill level of workers. You get what you pay for guys.