What makes aluminum so good for boat construction?

If aluminum is so great, why are so many boats at my dealer made of fiberglass?

What has changed to make them more affordable to the average consumer?

Aluminum has long been recognized as the premier boat building material. From America's Cup yachts to US Coast Guard patrol boats to mega and super yachts, aluminum has been the material of choice for decades.

Fiberglass is inexpensive and construction of fiberglass boats does not necessarily require highly trained craftsmen to build with it. Fiberglass boats are built from molds. Fiberglass material is simply saturatged with epoxies either sprayed or laid within the mold and left to dry. A "high quality" fiberlgass boat simply uses more fiberglass to make a stronger boat.
Thick, marine-grade aluminum alloy boats have traditionally been too expensive to build and too expensive to buy for the average consumer. Each quality aluminum boat (and we are not talking about the cheap, thin-skinned riveted boats) had to be hand cut, staged and welded by experienced craftsmen. In a real sense, each aluminum boat was a custom boat with a hefty price tag. For example, a 20-foot aluminum boat with a center console could easily run upwards of $50,000

In a word, the difference is computers. Computer controlled numerical metal cutting and advanced naval architecture have drastically reduced the most time consuming part of building quality boats. Pacific Boats orders many precision pre-cut boat parts that meet tight specifications. The boats parts are individually welded by out experts in our factory meeting our quality controls. There is no wasted material, nor time-consuming hand cutting. We concentrate simply on assembling the finest 19 to 29-foot aluminum center console boats in the market.

What makes aluminum the ideal boat building material?

As a boat material, aluminum excels in every important category...

WEIGHT: An all-welded aluminum boat weights from 1/2 to 2/3 the weight of a well "laid-up" fiberglass boat

PERFORMANCE: Less weight means greater performance, better fuel efficiency and easier trailering.

DURABILITY: You can do things with a quality aluminum boat that you would never dream of doing with a fiberglass boat: dock it against your favorite ledge, repeatedly beach it hard on shore, plunk your anchor onto the deck. Unlike brittle fiberglass, aluminum can take repeated abuse given the forgiving and yielding nature of this metal. Bang it, smack it, bounce, bonk and bump it into rocks, docks, beaches and even other boats and your aluminum boat will last and last!

SAFETY: The two most dangerous hazards in boating are sinking and fire. Our boats are virtually unsinkable and fireproof. If you have ever seen a fiberglass hull burn to the waterline, you already know the safety advantages of an aluminum boat.

COMFORT: A naval architect once said the hardest thing to design into a boat is usable deck space. Our hulls are 1/4" bottom plate and 3/16" sides and deck allowing us to easily exceed fiberglass boats when it comes to usable space inside the boat. Fiberglass boats commonly lose up to 6" of deck space over the entire length of the boat due to the thick sides and coaming.

REPAIRABILITY: In the unlikely event you have found a way to pierce or tear the hull of an aluminum boat, it is easily repaired by welding.

To have an electrolysis problem certain conditions must be present. You must have two different metals in contact with the water. All of our boats are made out of a single metal, so they don't have this problem. The only metals in contact in the water are the aluminums of the engine and the boat. Since the aluminum of the engine is "softer" this is the metal that would be consumed by electrolysis. The sacrificial zincs supplied with your engine will protect it, but should be checked and replaced as needed. Additionally, we place a very large sacrificial zinc designed specifically for aluminum boats on each boat's transom as a secondary protection.

What about electrolysis?

How are Pacific Boats different from the many other aluminum boats on the market?

The riveted boats are made from thin .080 aluminum. Rivets work loose as the thin metal flexes and leaks. Pacific Boats are completely welded out of marine-grade aluminum alloy. They have no rivets to pop, no wood to rot and no plastic or fiberglass to break. Our boats have a unique one-piece bottom plate. We are the only manufacturer of heavy plate aluminum boats to form in the planing strakes, eliminating all exterior welds.

How do I know that what you're saying is true?

Don't take our word for it - ask those who truly depend on their boats. Some of our favorite customers include the US Navy, the US Coast Guard, various law enforcement agencies, harbormasters, fisheries departments and commercial divers and fishermen. These professionals trust their lives to the performance of Pacific Boats. Our customers know these boats are the safetst and sturdiest you can own.