Boatbuilding with Aluminum

Includes what builders need to know to successfully build aluminum boats of almost any size or type. This book covers basic fabrication methods as well as more advanced aluminum-forming techniques and large-yacht construction.

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Aluminum may be the best possible boatbuilding material: it's economical, lightweight, maintenance-free, nearly impervious to corrosion, less easily damaged, and more easily repaired than any other material used for building boats. It can be cut and worked with conventional woodworking tools, and, using the author's special techniques, can be welded with readily available equipment using standard household current. Only a lack of information has kept aluminum from becoming the backyard boatbuilder's material of choice. In Boatbuilding with Aluminum, readers learn aluminum fabrication, welding, and lofting through the construction of a 20-foot McKenzie River drift boat. More advanced aluminum-forming techniques and large-yacht construction are covered in detail, using specific examples, to enable readers to build aluminum boats of any size. And they will learn from a master of the craft. Stephen Pollard has built hundreds of aluminum boats--from large ocean racers to water-jet river boats--and has pioneered many of the techniques used in modern welded aluminum boat manufacturing.