Any tig welders/aluminum craftsman out there?......

Ed L.

Ed L.

Well-known member
Supporter
I looking for a little advice. I want to add a mud motor but the boat I have is to small for the added weight. It's a Lowe 1440M. I'm considering purchasing pods from Beavertail but I'm concerned about the weldablity of two thicknesses of material. The pods are .100 thick and the hull is .064. Is this a good idea or is there to much risk of burn thru of the thinner hull material in getting a good weld? Also I'm thinking of eliminating the front seat and adding an extention of the front deck for the dog. Any thoughts about welding in this area? I'm leaning towards using .080 or .090 material so I don't get a lot of deflection in the material. Would riveting be a better solution for the added deck area? The front deck will be one piece having a 90 degree bend with a access hole in the front as you would be looking at the deck from the motor.

Thanks,

Ed L.

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I guess that there are welders and then there are welders. In my market area there are probably several hundred people who can do a fair job of welding steel. I know only a handful who can weld aluminum in the circumstances that you describe. My welder could in a heart beat. The hardest part would be to get the boat to him in his shop. I would think that you could hang a motor of 100 lbs or so on the transom with out worrying about pods. You're going to have way over 100 lbs to distribute over the rest of the boat to regulate the trim with. A full 6 gallon tank of fuel will weigh 50 lbs, a dog forward - 60 to 90 lbs, etc. etc.. Pods costing what they do, I would experiment with simple trim issues before I purchased them. Good Luck and have fun.

Mark
 
Ed, nothing mentioned will be an issue for a skilled TIG welder. One of the largest benefits to TIG is the heat control. This will allow the joining of the two different schedules of metal without comprimise. I would always choose weld over rivets, but then again that is what I do. If your not sure about the deck lasting forever you can stitch weld. This will not be so permenant. Some places to look for in your area with the skills would be fire aparatus repair shops and food service repair. Kevin
 
First thing you need to do is weld the front half of the hull back to stern. Most boats come in one piece.
 
OH.....THAT'S JUST GREAT!!! The sales guy told me I could cut this boat in half without worrys of sinking since it has floatation in the front and rear....;-)
 
Mark,

Thanks for the input. The problem I'm finding is that most motors are over 100lbs. I've been told I should NOT do this but rather I'd be better off using the money I'd spend for the pods and welding work and get a bigger boat. That sounds good and would be a better option but then it would be another year asking the wife for yet another boat! This I fear is NOT an option if I want to go hunting this coming season or possibly breath!

As a manufacturer what size motor would you suggest would work in my situation say pushing a 200lb boat with a full load weight of say 390lbs for me, gear and dog? I don't need to ski but I'd like the boat to go faster than I can walk.

Kevin,

Thanks for the info. We have a number of marine welders as well as fab shops that work in the food industry in the area. I should be able to get some competitive quotes. I've heard conflicting reports on just how well these pods work so I still have a lot of concerns. Hate to spend the money if the improvement is marginal.

Ed L.
 
Several concerns and suggestions. I would consider having an entire back end lap welded to the exisiting hull. even though you can weld plate of different thicknesses, the added stress of the pods may be of concern on the existing hull. By adding an additional plate of the same thickness as the pods, you shouldn't have to worry about failure or kinking adjacent to the heat affected zones of the welds. Find a good marine repair that does aluminum work and ask them. Good Luck
 
I agree with Ron on the lap plate. Basically add a new thicker .090/.125 transom skin over the existing transom skin, weld all around so it becomes part of the hull. Also drill and spot weld with the TIG so the new skin cannot peel. The pods would then be welded to the new skin. Welding different thicknesses of aluminum is no big deal. I do it often and it's a POC, with TIG. Alternatively, you could weld the pods directly to the hull first, then skin the rest of the exposed original transom with the stiffenning sheet skin. Again weld all around. This may be a better way of doing and with less welding. I would also add a stiffening skin to the top of the transom and possibly to the inside of the transom where the motor mount bolts tighten up. That way you'll have a super stiff transom with a super stiff mounting plate all welded into a homogenous transom that will handle whatever loads there are from the new mud motor.

Also check and make sure the transom does not have wood in it. Many hulls were made with wood in the aluminum transoms... sounds stupid but it's true. Some still do it.

Hitch
 
Hitch,

That was one of the issues I had when I purchased this boat. There is wood in the transom. But hell it was a cheap boat and it does what I intended it to do. Everybody tells me not to put a mud motor on a riveted boat too. I just have to push the envelope...hehe. It'll probably last longer than me anyway.

Ed L.
 
Ron,

Added stress was something that came to mind. I was hoping that any added stress would be compensated by the fact that the internal flotation pods are attached horizontally as well as vetically to the transom. I hadn't thought of the lap though.

Thanks,

Ed L.
 
Ed,
As you know, we have the same boat. I run a Nissan 18 hp on mine, which is 87 pounds. I too would like to run a mud motor but am worried about the weight. I've looked around and decided that if & when I get one, it's gonna be a Scavenger Tecumseh 13 hp, which weighs only 107 pounds. This is only 20 more pounds than my current engine and I can trim the boat out by moving the gastank forward (as others suggested). Also, a new 4 stroke 15hp weighs over a 100 pounds, so I don't think 107 would be too much weight. Take a look at the Scaveners & see what you think. The guys at MLB sell them & use them, you may want to look over at their site.

As far as mud motors on riveted boats, the boys in Louisiana were driving them on riveted boats long before we all heard of go-devil and welded hulls. Just make sure your transom is in good shape (my boat is a '97 & the transom is in great shape) and don't over-power. I ran into a guy here at the ramp back ~1999 that was running an old 9.9 go-devil on an ancient jon boat about the size of ours. He never had a problem with the hull handling it.

As far as taking the seat out, I've wanted to do just what you are proposing. I just haven't had the guts to do it or $$ to have the front deck welded in. I think it would work great.

Let me know what you decide and how it works!
 
Ed, I agree with Hitch and Ron on the transom.

The front seat could be removed and a deck put in. I would at the time you have the welding done on the transom have the welder weld about three 1 1/2 alum angles across the bow and bolt the deck to these.
 
Happy new year!

The old gentleman who taught me to weld said a person who welds is a "weldor" and a "welder" is the equipment he uses in his trade.

As said by others, any good weldor could do what you need.

TIG works great, but MIG does a good job too. If you can find someone still practiced in it (experimental aircraft guy) oxy-acetylene is possible too.

My understanding is that a lot of the production shops use pulse MIG for the production values (fast, good weld penetration, little finish work and fast, did I mention fast).

I agree with whomever told you to buy a new boat... Unless you love the hull you will most likely spend more to modify rather than buy what you need to begin with. Mod-v boats are a dime a dozen.

Cheers.

Charlie
 
Ed L.

Enjoy your new Lowe boat. For a production boat it has earned a reputation as being one of the best commercially available hulls. As far as it being riveted, it is mostly a non issue. I have 4 boats. one of them is a riveted 14x 36 jon with wood in the transom. it has been around for a while and it is getting time to change the wood in the transom. It is not a big deal. I push it with my 6 HP longshaft that weighs 69 lbs including the attached battery. That motor will push your boat faster than you can walk. You can easily run a 12 HP class motor. They weigh 70 LBS. A motor frame wighs in at about 30 lbs in aluminum. A bigger HP will obviously push more weight. You don't sound like you're planning on excessive weight. A Lowe transom will carry that with no problem.

My main boat is a 15' x 48 welded semi V nose. I push it with a 20 HP kohler. We weigh between 1100 and 1400 lbs when we go out. That is three fat guys at 200 apeice and piles of stuff. We get on plane and go faster than you can ride a bicycle on flat ground. Boats are for haulling stuff and getting around. A longshaft does that so well. I have more fun in my rigs, all out of proportion to the money invested. Enjoy your new boat. Take it out before you chop on it. Just kind of absorb it a little and think about it in the night to crystalize your thoughts a bit. You may find the layout to be perfectfully acceptable as it is.

Mark
 
Mark,

This was the first year for hunting out of the Lowe. As far as I'm concerned it's the perfect size for 1 guy and a dog. Easy to handle and easy to hide. For me at least the second seat is an obstruction. Also a bigger deck will be better for the dog. I have a 15 hp Johnson on it and it runs as fast as I want with a blind and full load of gear as long as I stay in the river but the marsh it's just no good. We all know the routine...50yds forward then put it in reverse to shuck the weeds until they really get wrapped up in the prop then out of the boat you go!

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Happy New Year!

Ed L.
 
Ed, that's a nice rig. I had a Lowe 12 footer that was similar and had to remove the center seat for more room. I also stiffened the transom with some angle iron. I made a deck frame for a friend out of aluminum angle on a boat like yours and he covered it with wood. I say make the modifications. The aluminum can be MIG welded but I would not recomend it as MIG is more likely to remain on the surface while TIG will penetrate properly. Your hull is more than thick enough to weld on without comprimise. Good Luck, Kevin
 
Ed,

One last thought, if you don't go the welding route, be a little cautious of the type of fasteners you use. Some can cause corrosion on your hull. I don't know exactly which ones off the top of my head (but I do recall copper is bad news). Stainless or aluminum are good.

Charlie
 
Thanks Kevin. It's pretty typical of a river rig. The rig you have is what I dreamed of hunting from when I was a kid. When I was growing up I would read my dads books on waterfowl hunting in places such as the Chesapeake Bay or the Outer Banks where your rig or similiar boats were king and Canvasbacks and Redheads ruled the day. The writers of the time wrote in such a way there was a romance in the stories of waterfowling and the nautical terms they would use. All the stories would talk of tremendous Nor'easter's and the capable seamanship of the boatman of the Barnegate Bay Sneak boat and the Melon Seeds or the Delaware Duckers. Ever though the midwest has a deep history of waterfowling on the Mississippi River or the Illinois River or the Missouri River it's funny how we forget or ignore what's close to home and dream of places out of our reach.

Ed L.
 
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