My friend and I are building him a boat for fishing and hunting on the interior rivers of Alaska. It's 20' X 54" with an aluminum and lexan cabin. The hull is .125 and the cabin walls are .030. It will be powered by a 35 GoDevil Surface Drive. Our criterion was go shallow, good fuel economy, carry fuel and gear for a week, sleep two, be rainproof and bug tight.

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Mr Stu, I would like to give you credit where it's due. To be over 70, and still go out & do the things that most young men probly would be scared to (400 mile boat trips thru AK). I, sir, have nothing but the utmost respect for you. Thank you for your inspiration, I can only hope I am as active as you @ 70.

Wow.

Nice work

Thanks for the nice words, but it's no big deal. All you have to do is marry a good woman and schedule any surgery during the winter.

Stu. It looks great. You have done alot since I seen it last. Stilll want you and Ken to build me one. Duckdon

Wow....

Post some on the water pics....

Love that big ole front deck and walkin rails
all the way to the transom.....

That is a nice looking boat. I like the cabin. Similar boats are used on the atchafalya river to transport loads of hunters and deer dogs. I would have built that vessel out off wood. If you holed it up there in the wilderness, just bring a saw and and spare plank and fix it. Aluminum??? What do you do with a hole?

Looking at those pictures again, I'd like to make One suggestion. Those short supports under the inside gun'le might create a stress point to puncture the side, especially if you hit something. Don't think you need them if you have outside splash rail.

If you look at any of Hankos Boats (Berwick, La.) or Scully Alum. Boats (Stephensville, La.) you will find this same design. Actually, theirs are shorter; creating a bit of a pivet point, and they do not have trouble.

He should be alright...

Uncle-J, I agree with you, but these do seem a bit long and intersect the sides at the weakest point, the mid-line. On closer observation, from the positioning of the port side splash rail it appears that is where those gussets are secured, so it should not be a problem.

If I were building that boat, I would be concerned with the weight distribution and its effect on the efficiency of the surface drive they intend to put on it. They seem to be fairly familiar with boat construction and I'm sure have accounted for this, but one never knows with these surface drives how well they will work with any particular hull configuration, because the weight to power ratio is such a factor. These one-off construction hulls are notoriously unpredictable. I know for a fact. Of course the only way to find out is to slap one one and go fast. But they may be working from a proven design, so it might not be a problem at all.

I might would try to put some rails on the front of that boat just in case of an accident! Looks great!!

Here are some new pictures of the cabin with the bunks installed. They are Army litters that fold out in a couple of minutes. With an air mattress on them they are very comfortable,

Thats a SuperCool rig !!!

Reckon ya'lls gonna be able to see over the cab whiles't under-way ??

is that a one peice or three peice hull?

If i understand your question, then it's a 3-piece hull. The sides are mig welded to the bottom. The top of the cabin is 52 inches from the floor so a 6-footer can easily see over the top when he is standing. On longer trips on the big rivers like the Yukon the operator can sit and look through the cabin since the front is all Lexan and the rear, starboard panel of the cabin and the top of the door is also Lexan.

Does anyone else find it ironic that someone who says aluminum boats suck is trying to give advice on how to build an aluminum boat


I think your design looks great and will hold up just fine! Super nice build!

i would think dual 35's would be the ticket on that boat. for power and reliability. 400 miles is a long way from home.

I love advice on the internet. There is always a chance that I'll learn something and if I don't like it , it takes me 3.5 microseconds to forget it.

We discussed twin 35 GDSD's and since we are old "Hot Rodders" we agreed they would be fun. They were rejected due to fuel economy issues, (we carry all the fuel for our trips) and we have been running these rivers with GoDevils since 1988. A single GDSD on my 24 X 48 Alweld uses about 60 gallons in 400 miles running the river two ways. With twin GDSD's on that boat I have to carry 80 gallons on the same trip. We put 200 to 300 hours on our motors each summer and have never had an issue that took more than an hour to repair so reliability is a small worry.
Having said that, i'm now going to get paranoid about next summer.
I guess that is why I bring a SAT phone.....that's really not the reason. the real reason is my wife insists.
Here are some of our precautions:
!. Carry a SAT phone.
2. Bring a tool box.
3. Go with more than one boat if possible.
4. Start out upstream if possible so floating back is an option.
5. File a float plan with someone.
6. Take extra food and survival gear.
This is why I'm in Alaska... I can take my boat to a place where I won't see another boat on a seven day fishing trip and it doesn't get dark for the whole time.
No, you aren't invited up. We don't need any more people up here.
Here's a picture of my boat.

StuAlaska ~ Would you mind entertainin' us with some of yore photo's ??? I know you gots some .... from the old MMT boards.

Mr. Brooks,
Are you looking for more pictures of this boat or just general hunting and fishing, (bragging) pictures?
I'm going in for some surgery tomorrow morning so I might be out of touch for a few days. I gotta get this old body patched up before the ice goes out.

I and folks like me would like fo you to post up kind of like a Mr. StuAlaska Tour of some of yore adventures ..... it would be so much better than that Sarah Palin on the Discovery Channel !!

Ifin' you gots the time of course ...... I don't imagine alot of us will ever git to see the Last of the Frontier and I don't imagine hardly anybody will ever git to see it the way you have sir !!!

Thanks !!!

Oh Yeah ~ Good Luck on yore trip to the Doctor !!!!

I'll try to put something together that you can click on and go to. MMT is too important to fill up with "I love me" pictures.
Us Alaskans are almost as proud of our state as Texans are.