What is a plate aluminium boat?
toyota1515 > 09-29-2022, 06:56 AM
While tinnies are made from alloy with a softer temper that allows the aluminium to be easily pressed into shape, a plate boat (as the name suggests) is built from heavy-gauge, high-tensile 5083 aluminium cut from flat plate.
A true plate boat draws great strength from an engineered sub-floor frame that supports, braces and stiffens the hull. A plate boat also has a fully-welded and sealed aluminium floor, which essentially turns the entire hull into one very rigid structure.
Smooth sides don't turn a tinnie into a plate boat, so if you can see ribs or extrusion frames running down the inside of a boat's hull — with tabs and screws holding down a carpeted plywood floor — it's a dead giveaway the boat is built using the tinnie construction method (or a hybrid of it).
Plate boats are designed and built to last, so the console, cabin or hard top is welded to the floor to become one with the hull. If it's screwed down, it's another sign the boat you're looking at isn't a real plate boat.