Well this will be my first attempt at building a boat, Still getting my equipment together ATM, ordering my miller252 and 30a and 50" brake tomorrow, got the tubing roller grinders ratchet straps come-alongs clamps ect ect everything I need to get started, big thanks to Dfou for helping me by pointing me in the right direction on a few things and allowing me to help him on a build of his. Much appreciated!

Boat specs 1pc 1/8 18x54 21" sides tapering to 19 at the transom. Performance crimps, 16" hunt deck with step side corners. Drivers box storage w/ small catch all box. Dual transom spud holes. 5' deck 2ft stow under w/ 4ft rod box extension which should be good for up to 8'6" rods. 4ft step up catch all box for extra storage.4" cat walks(including gunnel caps). 6 stringers 4cross braces flat bar bow w/ additional cross bracing. The three holes in the cat walks can be used for blind, tie downs or whatever, might be a little ambitious for a first build but go big or go home right... Tell me what y'all think!

I will have to watch this build, I am looking for a 18 or 19X54 boat and any designs that work well I will be incorporating into mine. Include lots of pics.

Thanks for sharing
Phil

Seems as if its our new years resolution! Ill be following your build as im about to statt an 1848. Good luck to ya bud!

looks good nasty and good luck

got the rig today

Now start puttin some weld down!!

I would but the spool gun has a problem right out the box, trouble shooting ATM, gas coming from the handle instead of out the nozzle...

Rubber valve wasn't even installed, supplier replaced gun good to go now...

Lets see some beads.

I'll post some tonight

Any reason you didn't go with a push pull alumapro nasty?


Sent from my beeper

Nasty, first thing you ought to do is lift the numbers off of a proven hull design. Don't try to reinvent the wheel, here. Then you insert those numbers into that hull design program I pm'd you, so you'll end up with a hull that looks and performs well. The technical term for the numbers is a "table of offsets". You can do this with a laser level and a ruler. It's hard to explain in words how to lift a table of offsets from a hull.

Alternatively, you can measure three or four cross member frames, the transom and stem from an existing hull and build on a strong-back upside down.

Otherwise, you'll have to rely on your eye for curving the gunnel, rake and bottom chine. That works fine for experienced boat builders, but there will be "oh shit" moments you will have to deal with if you are inexperienced.

Just noticed Dfou is helping you get started. Great idea!! He knows his stuff.

Mfer need some attention bad

ran quite a few beads to get it dialed in, it's coming along. Any critiques or complaints or tips? Looks pretty uniform to me, penetrated well for sure.

Looks good... maybe a lil hot??

Bead looks good. Preheat the area where you will start welding. That's why your bead looks a little off spec at the start. Make sure you don't use a wire wheel that has been used on any metal other than aluminum. If you cut with a circular saw, use plenty of WD-40. Wire wheel all your weld areas beforehand and wipe down with acetone if you really wanna stack some uniform beads.

That's a badass machine and plenty overkill for what you will be doing. I used to have the same one, but ran a profax spool gun off it.

Oh yeah, don't slam on the trigger of the gun when you start a pass.... make sure to purge gas for a second (longer if you just hooked up to the bottle) to make sure you have good shield gas before you strike an arc. (You probably already know this)

Any update? I keep junpin back to this to see if you started, i dont feel so bad

Not yet bruh! Metal won't be in for two weeks. Gotta get in bend, they're doing inventory, and also the holidays gottem all screwed up, all good though. Just been playing around with the machine trying preheating thick stuff to cut down on cold starting, working very well. Using a 1000* heat gun rather than oxy acetylene

Beads look great. The gas on the spoolgun sould come on before the wire is fed, at least thats how my spoolgun is. The only thing I would watch out for, and this is just food for thought. When welding thin aluminum, its heat transfer is twice as much as steel. Thus welding thin aluminum will warp quick. You will need to bounce around to keep from building up to much heat in one area. I would make about a 4-5" weld, jump ahead aboput 2', then do again. By the time I got all the way around to the 1st weld, it was cool enough to touch. Then repeat until you have closed it in completely. Also with what the others said, need to push, not pull. What wire are you using 5356 or 4043. Also the wire size will help you keep the heat input down. I used .035 and didn't have any issues.

Yea I always push my trigger and let argon flow for a second before I arc up. Thanks for the tips oh and 5356 .035 was suggested to me bc of the corrosion resistance and strength, so majority of what I'll be doing will be done with it.

You want really clean welds use 90/10 gas argon with helium.

I've only ever used 100% argon anytime aluminum welding. never had to weld on anything thicker than 1/4" so adding helium would be uncharted territory for me personally.

let the build begin! Had a little hiccup earlier but with a little chat with Daniel believe i got it straight. worm drive hopped out the cut on a restart ended up cutting a little much out the tail end of my cut but, all swell now, I'll get picks of it tomm I got it fitted and released it to start putting down long. braces.

How are you cuttin your material?