Alum boat for Saltwater
 

What are your thoughts of aluminum boats for use in saltwater?

I'm goin to put my aluminum boat in the salt water tomorrow. It's been there a number of times and have never had any corosion issues, if that's what you are inquiring about.

FIL has a 46 breauxcraft sportfisher that sits in the water it's whole life and has been for the past 12 years. Has a little pitting around some welds but nothing major.

You will be fine. My uncle has a Tim's custom flat that he has had in Delacroix for over 20 years. It is always raised when not in use but it just gets a hose down after use and that's it. Still have the salt air as well. You will be fine with it in saltwater. Hose it down with fresh after being used. He has only had to change the wood floor.

Just don't drop a penny on the floor and leave it there!!!

Aluminum boats
 

Alum boats are fine in saltwater but one big problem is electrolysis. Make sure you have enough sacrificial anodes attatched to your boat. Had a friend that had a heavy guage custom welded boat and after 15 or so years of use exclusively in saltwater, he had small pinholes develop at the bottom of the boat. Diagnosis was electrolysis. He did have some sacrificial anodes but maybe not enough??/and/or possible grounding issues with electrical portion of boat??

After my escapade on Big Lake a few years ago. I will never trout fish out an aluminum boat again. One of my welds cracked and my boat sunk in West Cove. Luckily I got it to the east bank of WC before it completely went down. Cost $1500 to get a float crane to come get it out.

I hunted and fished in the marshes South of Lamberts Bayou for 21 years in the same boat. I left it in the water for all of duck season, took it out after. No issues.

Aluminum boats will have issues if you set them in water with other more durable metals. The least durable metal will start to corrode first.
If you have annodes on the motor, but lift the motor, you have no less durable metals in the water than the aluminum boat.
When you put 2 metals in saltwater, the salt water acts like the liquid in a battery. It produces small amounts of electricity which will eat away at the aluminum.
Put annodes on the boat, or you can buy one at boat stores that have a clip on it to clip it to the aluminum.
If you are fishing out of it, them pulling her out every day, just rinse with fresh water every time and you shouldn't have any issues.

I think it just depends on what you are looking for. Like these guys said the boat can do fine in saltwater.

I had an Express HD 20 at one time and hated it in saltwater but I was trying to fish the open lake. If the water is choppy you will really wish you had a nice glass boat. If you will be spending your time in the marsh or ship channel then an aluminum boat is probably fine.

A 10 knot plus wind in the open lake and you will quickly wish you were at the dock. Just my experience, others may disagree.

THanks for the information. I am looking at an alum xpress bay boat. I dont plan on keeping it in the water and plan on pulling it out and washing it down after every use. Are cracks on the welds common?

Cracks
 

Welding joint failure happens fairly frequently I would imagine. I've owned 7-8 boats. One was a Bass Tracker and the weld cracked on the starboard side of the boat where the gunnel meets the bottom of the boat, almost sank but I was not too far from the landing. Another was a 24' Gravois CC. Gas tank weld failed and ended up with about 200 gals of gas in my bilge. Had to get another gas tank built on top of the deck of the Gravois after that fiasco. That's my personnal experience but anything made by humans has the potential for some sort of error. That being said, I would still buy an aluminum boat because they are a lot less maintenance than a glass boat but just wanted you to know nothing is foolproof.

I have owned aluminum forever. Usually been a 14 to 16 footer for marsh fishing. Several of them have been Xpress. Stay away from the HD series, they will beat you up. The ones with the deeper V, can't remember model, are good riding boats for an aluminum. May have issues with welds or may not. The vast majority don't. That being said, common sense comes into play. If it is rough, don't go or take your time. If it is beating you up, it is doing the same to the hull.

I owned an Xpress with the HD hull for right at 2 years without any issues. Great boat for calm water; however, just like most jon boat type alum hulls it is very rough in anything over a 1 foot seas. Last May, I got rid of it and got the Xpress X22 series Bay Boat with the Hyperlift hull. Trust me, if it is too rough to fish in this boat then you do not need to be fishing. I did end up getting a hair line crack in a side weld at right at one year. I had it welded on twice and it cracked both time. However, once I sent it back to Xpress and we did some coon-*** engineering I believe the problem is a mute point now. I have only used the boat twice since this and it is fine so far. However, if you will fish a lot and money is not an issue I would get a fiberglass boat. This has nothing to do with my issue I had with my Xpress boat. There are 2-3 guys on here that has the same Xpress X bay boat as I without problems from what I have heard. One last thing, the good thing about going with Xpress is that they use nothing but YAMAHA outboards.......Good Luck.....

i have a hd20 w a 115 4 stroke, powerpole, 36v trolling motor ill sell you as soon as my divorce is final in a few months if you are still looking it only a few years old

I guess the thousands of aluminum crew boats, supply boats and yachts aren't a good indicator of how well aluminum withstands saltwater. :rolleyes:

They are thicker and every 5 years, they are UT'ed to make sure there isn't catastrophic metal loss below the waterline. They have to make sure they float long enough to pay themselves off.