aluminum or fiberglass?

Anyone have an opinion on fiberglass hull or aluminum hull boats as far as longevity, maintenance, weight, and ride? mostly for fishing.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

All I can say is I have 2 glassers.
Both kinds have a place, but thats a long story.
Glass is a little quieter, Alum is a little more forgiving in shallow water.

Find a "boat" that you like..

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

Mainly I think it is personal preference. Having a 20ft boat I went with Aluminum due to weight issues as I didn't want to have to change my towing rig (Tacoma v6). Also I didn't want to deal with gelcoat repairs or dents and scratches if I nudged up to the dock too hard. It doesn't show so much on an Aluminum

Just my 2 cents worth

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

Hey RSW..

Alum is by far the most maint free of the 2. Painting...just about anything is easier in tin.
A deck thats rotten in a alum boat can be a weekend project..

In glass..a month??

So much more involved with glass once you have any water intrusion.

What glass has is weight when it gets choppy and should ride better..
That is if you are comparing hull to hull..same types..not a tri-hull glass vs a deep V alum...

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

What kind of water? Is this for saltwater use? Will there be chop, large seas? If so, get a self bailing all glass boat. No question, hands down.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

high'n'dry said:

What kind of water? Is this for saltwater use? Will there be chop, large seas? If so, get a self bailing all glass boat. No question, hands down.

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I'll second that..........
Nothing beats a deep V glass in the chop...........

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

I've had both (and wooden, and fabric). If over 15', go with glass on choppy water and salt. Doesn't matter much <15', except don't get a freshwater boat like a bass boat for salt water use.

Also, among the glass boats, there can be a wide range of weight (which affects your trailering, towing and engine size needs) primarily a function of how extensive the inner hull is. Some boats hardly have one at all!

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

I like glass because it is stiff and quiet and warm, AL gets mighty cold in the fall around here.

There is no such thing as unrepairable on a glass boat and you never have to reseal a rivet to stop it from constantly leaking although with a new AL boat that won't be an issue.

All my buddies have AL boats because thats what everyone has around here, they are supposed to be lighter than glass but my Tuffy is 400 pds lighter than any of their boats in similar configuration...hence I have at least a 5 mph higher top speed on any of them.

I still drive mine onto the beach and hit the occasional rock, it scratches just like an AL boat. Personally I think a glass boat is easier to repair and I am a machinist, good luck welding an AL boat without the proper welding rod and the damage is visible forever. With glass you patch and repaint the spot, buff with polishing compount to blend and you can't see it...my boat has numerous spots were gouges were repaired in my driveway, I challenge anyone to find them.

Whenever I go to the dealer I look at the rows of AL boats, thats all anyone sells up here. When I look, it seems they try their best to make them look like glass boats with seamless interiors, striping over the rivets to hide them etc.

Nothing wrong with either construction method but I get a little irritated when people say glass boats are fragile and hard to repair when the truth is its the other way around...at least in my books.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

Ya know what?
Ol 4Jawchuck (hence a machinist huh?) got me thinking with his "Alum is COLD up here" comment..

well...try touching alum that has been baking in 90 plus direct sunlight for 5 or 6 hours! Sizzling...ya cant lay out on the bow to get tan...fried maybe but no tanning! lol

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

Depends on where you live and the waters you'll be fishing. I will say Aluminum is the best "Allaround" I would hate to take a glass boat in some of our rivers in Oregon, they wouldn't make it through the day.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

rsw21282 said:

Anyone have an opinion on fiberglass hull or aluminum hull boats as far as longevity, maintenance, weight, and ride? mostly for fishing.

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First let me say I have owned both aluminum and fiberglass boats. I currently have a fiberglass boat and previously had a 35+ year old Starcraft Supersport. As far as your specific questions:

Longevity - Any boat that is taken care of will outlast the owner. My riveted starcraft was a 1972 and had scrapes and scars, but didn't leak one bit. On vacations with the boat docked for days in the water the bilge would not collect water unless we were tubing, skiing, etc. The 1988 Sea Ray I have now doesn't leak either. If taken care of either glass or aluminum will last

Maintenance - I replaced the deck in the Starcraft and also in the Sea Ray. In the Starcraft it took a long weekend and it was done. On the Sea Ray it took months of spare time work to complete the deck replacement. Other than that, Neither the fiberglass or the aluminum will require any more maintenance than the other (Both are outboards)

Weight - Comparing same size boats, the aluminum boat will generally be lighter in weight than the fiberglass boat. There are exceptions, but in general the aluminum weighs less.

Ride - Ride is dependent on hull design and weight. Two similar hull designs, one in glass and the other in aluminum would ride the same at the same weight. Since the aluminum boats are usually lighter in weight, they will ride rougher in rough water. However, as I said, hull design is a big player. A tri-hull will ride rougher than a vee. Also a mod-vee of jon will ride rougher than a vee.

You mentioned fishing as the main purpose. It depends what kind of fishing too. If casting, you may want casting decks which leads to bass boats or fish and ski boats. Other considerations are how freely you want to move around the boat while fishing. Single console or dual. Are you going to troll, etc. A lighter boat with less draft can get into skinnier water. Kind of depends on what you really want to do with it.

Hope this helps

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

The aluminum is lighter needs less engine and more fuel efficient. I was trolling " downriggers" last weekend in 3-4 foot chop for 8 hours and ran at cruise for about 45min and burned 8.3 gallons, with 4cyl 120 mercruiser.

Glass like Kev said is heavier and will ride better in choppy water, but needs a bigger engine and sucks more fuel.

As far as colder I would not agree unless you have no floor in the aluminum boat. I have owned wood , glass and aluminum and the wood rides the best but the most up keep.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

CheapboatKev said:

Ya know what?
Ol 4Jawchuck (hence a machinist huh?) got me thinking with his "Alum is COLD up here" comment..

well...try touching alum that has been baking in 90 plus direct sunlight for 5 or 6 hours! Sizzling...ya cant lay out on the bow to get tan...fried maybe but no tanning! lol

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Ha-ha just realized I hadn't filled out my location in my profile, we certainly don't have the same issues here that you would have in Florida...although I got seriously burnt on the rub rails climbing in from going for a ride in the tube. Man AL does get hot in the sun, and it was only a 29 C day when I got the burn.

The other issue that no one has mentioned is that there are some shapes that you just can't produce in AL, tapering strakes, multiple sponsons. Producing those shapes in AL is cost prohibitive hence why most of the the AL boats I see are simple vee hulls or tubes on deck boats.

Again RSW you have asked a question that has no answer, it depends.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

I live in BC and have spent most of the last 12 years teaching commercial operators aboard aluminum crew boats 24' - 32', both on the ocean and on freshwater. Power has ranged from single, twins, triples and drives have been straight shafts, outboards, inboard/outboard and jets.

They are used by water taxis, logging companies, government departments and many other commercial operators. I have been out in some real nasty weather, (waves over the cabin) and the boats have never let me down.

Mind you, I do love a nice wooden boat.

Re: aluminum or fiberglass?

The weight advantage tinnys have over glass was what swayed me into one. Easier to tow (so better mpg), easier to move around in the garage, easier to get on plane, and easy on gas when on the water. When shopping, we noticed the tinnys also seemed to have a higher freeboard than the glass models. This was in the 17-19 foot range. -Ken