I would like to hear people’s experiences where they have chosen to make the switch from plate to fiberglass hull and or vice versa. Particularly when the changeover was the same hull length.
Most people are familiar with the pros and cons of both however just after some real life opinions on if it was worth it, regrets, or best decision ever etc
Cheers,
Last edited by Paul071978; 19-03-2019 at 10:13 PM. Reason: Spelling
Wasn't plate but I did go from aluminium to glass. Both have good and bad points and a lot will depend on what type of boating you do, what hull you pick and how it's looked after. Biggest thing for me with alloy was that I was sick and tired of chasing corrosion issues. I had owned the boat 20 years and am now of the opinion (wait for the howls of disapproval to this statement) that alloy hulls have a shelf life. This is based on working in the marine industry and long time alloy ownership. Not an issue if you buy new or newish, keep it ten years and move it on. Keep it 20 years though and unless you have been meticulous with your cleaning and upkeep, corrosion starts popping up. We are currently refitting an aluminium workboat at work that is at around the 20 year old mark. The level of corrosion in some areas is astounding. In some areas it's expected but in some areas you look at it, scratch your head and ask why? I look at it and think to myself just how good some of the sealed bilge plate boats going to be in the same time frame if they have had a bit of salt get into the bilges through a bung seal that then couldn't be washed away. In some areas of the raw water system on this boat the corrosion has eaten through 10mm plate. The biggest hassle with old alloy is welding it. None of the guys that I know love welding old aluminium and they tell me repair is never as strong as the original hull.
Glass obviously requires care and attention as well but there are plenty of old glass hulls that have been successfully rebuilt and are going strong 50 or more years on. You do tend to need to be a bit more careful around ramps and pebbly type beaches.
Ride is generally regarded as better with glass but that is purely a function of hull design and weight. Build a tin rig with the same deadrise and weight as a glass rig and the ride will be similar. Some alloy hulls are significantly noisier than glass too.
most of my boats have been 17 ft, started with a few glass ones and then went alloy and found the noise and banging too much , as well as corrosion issues plus stability plus just not as a solid feel in some conditions where as a fibreglass can punch thru some crap. it was an easy decision for me to go back to glass. perhaps if my budget could allow for a super dooper plate boat from the big end of town , then my opinion could be different again. but the alloy i had was a pressed alloy and wont go back to that again.
"Ride is generally regarded as better with glass but that is purely a function of hull design and weight. Build a tin rig with the same deadrise and weight as a glass rig and the ride will be similar", you dont say? hahahaha
Only one problem with this, they dont make tin tops with the same hull design. Cant think of one tin top with a variable deadrise, aka Signature. Just saying i aint seen it.
They are out there Andy - maybe not to many in 20 footers but they are out there. Take a look at some of the Legend Boat Builders cray boats. Quintrex's flared bow also produces a variable deadrise but they are light - it isn't impossible - just the gear to do it is expensive. There are tinnies that do ride well - regularly using deadrises that actually exceed what is traditionally seen in glass and using water ballast or a wide chine/pontoon when they settle. Getting complex curves in alloy isn't as easy as glass though. Regardless - the statement still stands - build the same hull shape at the same weight and the ride will be similar.Originally Posted by Andy56
My experience was my first “big boat” was a 560 barcrusher. Then after a couple of years and 200 hours later went to fibreglass 632f signature and now a Tournament 1900 Bluewater centre console. I would never go back to ally. Not bashing just my experience.
It is very difficult, in fact cost-prohibitive, to build any subleties of design into a smaller plate hull. It means lots of cutting of small bits and welding together, which has issues of it's own. You would actually have more chance of doing it with pressed, but, as they are really built down to a price, they won't either. The Barcrusher approach is just to have a fairly deep vee which is constant for its length. Which sort of works up to a point, then brings in other problems. Anyone who thinks a BC rides really well hasn't been on a good glass design of equivilant size for a while, and forgotten, or never knew. Once platey's get to a certain size,they can get a better underwater design, and the weight helps. Horses for courses--if your fishing involves a lot of possibly bumping into hard bottom, or being grounded on a shingly beach, plate boats are really the only option.
As to corrosion,I'd concur with scott, as I have extensive experience in ali fishing boats. I've seen a 45 footer corrode clean through in a few years from new from the owner neglecting to check under the spare survey anchor rope he was carrying below--small amounts of salt water were getting in, drying out, and building big salty deposits. It went clean through in a number of places. Salt water washing around is fine, but salt that just sits and dries out is the killer. Happens in small boats as well, and can be irrepairable without cutting out big swathes, basically rebuilding the bottom. You can't weld it out, the weld just runs off. Lots of fresh water through on a regular basis is the only answer, so it at least won't happen along the keel.
As for ride on these bigger ali fishing boats, they were simply the best out there. Some innovative designs over here saw them run ahead of glass. It was doable when you had length to work with, to form plate, which you can't do over a short distance. GBB's Southerly design, Images' S-Chine, and the later iterations of Fitzhardings designs just had no glass competitors. You had to be a tupperware fan to buy one.
Had quite a few boats, tin, plate, glass.
General rule:
Glass - smoother, quieter, faster, easier to repair, just sexier.
Plate - lighter, less HP, more knock around.
I dont think many go from glass to plate and stay there unless they need it for a particular reason. Tinnies have a place but if youre like me and prefer a decent ride/look/quietness in open waters, glass is the wtg.
I started with a 5.5m 5mm plate boat and was extremely unhappy with the ride, it started to corrosion issues within the first year and it got transom cracks within this year as well. The manufacturer was a dick and wouldn't fix anything. Well he did fix the transom cracks in the end but it took a lot of being angry to get them to do it. I sold that boat and brought a brand new 6.5m Cruisecraft and have been happy ever since. That's not to say that the Cruisecraft is perfect as they too are quite hard riding when travelling straight into short swell and I have to use the trim tabs to push the nose right down which mostly solves the problem. A slight angle across the swell is comfortable and a following sea is a dream. The plate boat didn't like a following sea if it still had some size in it, couldn't trim it up enough and just pounded. One thing to note though we are talking about two totally difference levels of class the plate boat was $40k brand new and the Cruisecraft was over twice nearly 3 times that, so it should be better.
I have been on some large dive boats around the 9m that are plate and the ride issue goes away but we are talking about a boat that has about 12 people on board and 20 dive tanks to weigh it all down.
So in my opinion it must be glass up to 7.5m, go beyond that and plate can be acceptable depending on manufacturer.
Sorry for off-topic, but since you had both, how would you compare 632f Signature and 1900 Bluewater for offshore capabilities? Thanks
Seems to be a consensus.....All great information thanks. I’m guessing a plate boat would be great for the river being more stable and roomy however offshore I take it glass is the way to go unless over say 7m. Would you say comparing like for like both materials would be a similar price?
Islander77,
The 632f sig was a wonderful boat and was bought for family and fishing. With the kids all grown up and moved out, I wanted a Fishing only boat so the sig was moved on.
I don’t want to bash the sig but the tournament in my opinion, is a better ride with the 21 degree dead rise and at rest is as good as the sig. Just my experience.
I've never owned a glass boat but have been around a few ……. each & every I've owned has been pressed or plate . As someone who fishes solo more often than not & loves doing the long haul road trips (5000kms) / island camping A glass boat is not a viable option. Bumps , scrapes & scratches are part & parcel of how I use a boat …… sometimes you just don't have the option of sitting the boat on soft sand
I have to agree with the comment that an alloy boat probably has a shelf life but as long as the boat is washed out thoroughly / maintained - it can be decades.
Chris
Give a man a fish & he will eat for a day !
Teach him how to fish
& he will sit in a boat - & drink beer all day!
TEAM MOJIKO
I guess i better qualify that remark. I aint seen it implemented in any boat short of 6m and under $60g. As i have never been interested in plate boats due to costs, I figured that most boat buyers would fall under the same compromises. To me a plate boat conjures images of displacement rather than planing. The image i have is a boat that is fat and heavy requiring massive amounts of power. Built for pro fishers.
Please correct the image if you can, but thats what i see.
The big cray boats are most definitely planing hulls. The last bit fit up I worked on was 65 feet long and had a cruising speed of 24 knots - in a genuine couple of metres or west coast swell. Top speed was 32 knots. I have also run a 7 metre Stabi to Peel from Cleveland on a big day - kept waiting for the bang that never seemed to come - was thoroughly impressed. As Ranmar posted, in a smaller boat, it isn't because it cant be done - it's just cost prohibitive. My remark was more along the lines that ride quality is a function of design and displacement (weight) - not the material the hull is constructed of. There are hulls that ride well and hulls that ride like crap on both sides of the fence - simply saying that glass rides better than alloy isn't accurate.
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