Re: building aluminum boats
I'd recommend you think twice about this before doing it. One of the aluminum boat manufacturers here in MN closed recently, the economy is hitting the boat builders hard.
Also, I'm curious about why you want to build Al boats when you don't seem to have experience with the tools or techniques or the boat designs?
Despite how simple your average small aluminum boat looks, it's not easy to make. Assuming you are going to go with the cheapest (and most labor intensive) route to build, you will need to get:
- Plasma cutter - $600
- Air compressor - $500
- 5' - 7' wide slip roll - $2500
- Crease/joint roller - $1000
- 5' - 7' wide brake (bending machine) - $2500
- misc hand tools - shears, grinders, scribes, drills, rivet guns - $3000
All the above assumes you're buying either very cheap or used tools.
You'll need to engage the services of a local sheet metal fabrication shop to produce parts you can't do yourself, like ribs formed from sheet metal or stringers out of heavier gauge material.
You will also need to buy aluminum in industrial quantities (it's too expensive to buy it any other way and still profit) and have a place to store it and cut off pieces as needed from a big roll or pile of sheets.
Most of the pro shops do cutting using a CNC plasma cutter or similar, which lets them cut out the flat parts from patterns as needed. Then they roll form or bend the parts on a mandrel or using a brake, rivet together, add stiffening ribs and seats, add floatation, and "dress" the final hull with things like cleats and lights, carpet, paint, etc.
Aside from the technical and build issues, you'll need a design for a boat which you'll probably purchase or license from a marine architect. A lot of architects will license their designs for sale as pre-built boats, so you would just need to find one you like. Unless you have a certificate as a marine architect, you can't draw up those plans yourself (read below for why). You can have a custom design made, but that's more money obviously.
You need to fill out paperwork and license forms with the state and national governments (at least in the US) to obtain a manufacturer's code and register yourself as a recreational (I presume) boat manufacturer. As part of this you will be required to furnish, at your own expense, a copy of each model of boat you produce for destructive testing of floatation.
This is where the marine architect comes in handy. If the government tests your boat and finds out that when filled with water it doesn't float the way they like, you get to re-design and re-build, or you're not allowed to sell that model of boat. So if you make a mistake in your design you get to recycle the first boat (if it's even worth it to ship it back from the government) and build another for them to destroy.
Last and certainly not least, you need good insurance. In the US, if one of your boats sinks or fails and someone dies, their estate or next of kin can sue you for a huge amount of money. You would be broke forever, essentially. No more business, no more boats, no fun. Even if you put a "use at your own risk" clause in the sales agreement, and even if you're sure it's not your fault. Just defending against that lawsuit could bankrupt you.
All the above said, if you really want to open a shop building custom or small quantity aluminum boats it IS possible, and I firmly believe everyone should follow their dreams as much as the world permits. There are ways to get started in this business that let you bootstrap up from nothing in your garage.
But it's much more straightforward to do what the legal structures in the US expect and get a loan to start a boat building business, then produce and sell enough boats to make it pay.
Good luck.
Erik
