ask aluminium Forum

So here is a boat we bought last year a great mod v hull now my question is the hull of this boat is made from 5052 .100" aluminum now if i was to get ideas from this boat but build it out of 44w(mild steel) how much thinner could i go? here are the specs of the aluminum boat..

Length 18' 4''
Bottom Width 60"
Max. Recommended HP 60 HP
Beam 84"
Max. Person Capacity 8 Persons
Hull Material 0.100 5052 Marine Alloy
Transom Height 20"
Max. Weight Capacity 1600 Lbs.
Max. Person Weight 1040 Lbs.
Hull Weight (approx.) 595 Lbs.

This boat is built like a brick shipyard!

Depending on the type of usage you expect from a size of boat like this, you could build it out of (maybe even less then ?!?) 1/16" aluminum.

Look at helicopters and airplanes, their clever use of stiffener angle braces or ribs.

Look at some 150 feet long (or longer) aluminum hulls.

They use ribs welded into place with roughly just twice the hull thickness (or a bit more) of your boat!

It is the way you design the structure that will basically determine the cladding thickness.

There are many computer aided softwares out there.

Once you finish the design, the software will do a finite element analysis on it and it will give you the stresses at any point on the boat.

I would never make a boat this small out of mild steel. (Too heavy!)

You could scratch the living daylight out of this aluminum boat and it will do fine!
However, make a microscopic scratch on the steel hull and it will start rusting under the paint!...