Plate Alloy Australia kits

[Ian_Reeders]

I am thinking of building my own plate alloy centre console. Has anyone had any experience with Plate Alloy Australia boats from melbourne. I like their 5.8 centre console and am after some opinions on the 5.8 or any of their products in general to help me make a dicision. Good or bad.

Thanks

[young_mind]

Hey have look next page on this section see "build your own alloy" it is nice and kits from perth called www.normadmarinekits.com ;) enjoy :)

[Ian_Reeders]

Yeh. Have been following Stu with his project. Nomad Kits have a nice looking 5.8 but the max transom weight is to low. I would like to fit a 135 Honda four which is a bit over the 200kg limit.

Thanks

Ian

[stuart]

Ian,

Speak with Adam, he can modify the boat to suite what ever motor you want. That is what I did mate. ;)

Stu

[Ian_Reeders]

Thanks Stu

I take it the boat you're building is from nomad marine?

Ian

[stuart]

Sure is mate.I had a look at them all and found Adam to be the best.

Stu

[suzygs1000]

Hi Ian,

I am about 80% thru the kit you mention - ie 5.8 PlateAlloy centre console. Pic attached. Don't know how they go tho, should be ok - very nice looking bow on it, and it is a really big boat for a 5.8. Nice kit to build, and John Pontifex is a big help via phone if you need advice. (He is the PlateAlloy principal). Look at freight costs tho if your not in Melbourne, and this kit is contained on 9 metre long plates so as to avoid having to join the topsides, and freight can be exorbitant for a skid of these dimensions.
This particular boat has beautiful lines, and a fully developed chine. Most of the kits under 6 metres use 50mm angle for the chine.


Dave Morgan.

[Ian_Reeders]

Dave

Thanks heaps for the reply. Looks great.
Would love to see some more pics of the boat.
Had you had much experience with welding alloy before you started and have you had any problems with the welding. I am an aircraft sheet metal worker so I have that side covered but I am not sure about the welding side. We don't weld much on aircraft.
I am worrried about distortion when welding and ending up with a boat that looks like a bent mirror. What sort of outboard are you planning on using. Am thinking of using the honda 135 or 150. They both weigh about 230 kg which may be a bit on the heavy side. Do you know what the max transom weight is?
Like I said, looks awsome. Would love to hear more about it.

Cheers

Ian

[evo_wagon]

hey dave how much did the kit cost yer if you dont mind me asking

[suzygs1000]

The kit price is $8400 plus gst, but that doesnt include centreconsole or seat box if you want them. This also included 5mm bottom plates, which I thought may be a bit to hard for me to bring up at the bow, so I changed this to 4mm bottom plates, which are plenty for a boat of this length and the number of longitudinal frames.
My price was $9600 landed in Townsville, they arranged freight. This was with a 1 metre wide centre console, and seat box.
I got short changed a bit tho, was given 30mm pipe for the pockets and forward part of the inner coaming. I thought this would look a bit shithouse, so I ended up purchasing another three lengths of the inner coaming molding, which is $72 per 6 metre length in Townsville.
Still great value for the kit tho. (pic from front attached).
regards Dave Morgan.

[suzygs1000]

Hi Ian,

I am not sure what weight the transom will accommodate. I am going to fit a 140hp Suzuki, and PlateAlloy have assured me that this is well within the boats limits.

I like Suzuki as they are the only four stroke not having any belts to replace or break.

You won't have much trouble welding 4mm and 5mm plate. 3mm is a little more difficult, as it tends to distort more, however, if you just keep feeling the plate with your bare hand, and stop welding and let it cool down if it starts to feel warm, you won't have too many problems.

You do need a good welder, one with at least 16 voltage settings, I reckon, and a remote feeder.

regards Dave Morgan.

[Ian_Reeders]

Hi Dave

How do you find the CIG welder?
I have been looking at a WIA welder but it is quite a bit more expensive then a comparable CIG. It has a few more features then the CIG but I'm not sure I really nead them.

Cheers

Ian

[suzygs1000]

Hi Ian,

I've really only got the old Unimig to compare, as these are the only two I've ever had. The Cigweld unit is much better than the Unimig, mainly due to robustness of gun, wire feeder, clutch and voltage steps.
However, the CIG certainly is capable of handling the alloy welding ok. If possible, try and get one with a swivel gooseneck on the gun, makes life much easier. I saw one in BOC yesterday with remote and swivel gooseneck. I think it was $2400.

Dave Morgan.

[suzygs1000]

Hi,

Finally finished my PlateAlloy 5.8cc, 140 Suzy fitted and launched at Dungeness 4pm Wednesday arvo. It was blowing about 20 knots, so we didn't get much of a run, just across to Hinchinbrook, and up the channel for couple of miles. Mechanic reckoned it was overpropped with a 19" (ran to 6400 revs, and 74 kmh). I have since swapped this for a 21", but have not tested it as yet. Seemed to handle ruff ok, and much drier than my last one.

Didn't sink, nor take one drop of water into bilge.

Only problem is with fuel guage, and I have started another forum for some help with this.

Couple of pics attached.

For anyone interested, the trailer frame is made from box section aluminium, with galvanised steel winch post and multiroller brackets. (Made this too.)

The whole outfit fully fitted out owes me nearly $35,000 - Trailer about $3000, boat (fully fitted out with hydraulic steering and all the bells and whistles) about $16k, and new Suzy $15,500. Probably saved $15k's if you don't count my labour.

Dave Morgan.

[suzygs1000]

another pic

[MattyDucati]

Well done good effort :o

Keep us updated on how she go's

[gunnabuild1]

Great looking boat mate nice tidy bracket set up for the lightbar too.Got REAL bragging rights with that rig.Congrats.
Built not bought!

[dogsbody]

She looks pretty sweet Dave congrats.


Dave.

[REEDA]

Lovely looking rig Dave, and great price.

[FNQCairns]

Dave had a baby ;D Big credit to you, looks fantastic, you must be proud!
Can only imagine what the first trip must feel like I have only owned 1 new boat and a few second hand setups, I am sure they wouldn't compare.

cheers fnq

PS hope it was a pointy end first birth :D

[Wayne_Red]

Hi Dave, thats a nice job, looks great. Interesting that you put a single axle trailer under it, it obviously does a good job of it. Have you weighed it? it would be nice to now what the rig weighs, my brother is looking into building a 5.8 and we are considering towing, weights etc.
Looks great with the suzuki, could you please keep us posted on fuel consumption, motor and boat performance. I am sure there are a lot of other people interested in a project like yours.
Well done you should be proud.
Regards Wayne

[castlemaine]

Very talented and beautiful boat to be proud of. 8-) 8-) 8-) Have you guys done Al welding before or learn't on the run? Hope it catches fish now ;).

[suzygs1000]

Hi

With regards to weight, the trailer weighs 290 kgs, and the total weight of boat motor trailer as in pic is 1290 kg''s ( this courtesy of Readymix quarry at Cordelia.)

This was the second boat I had built. Prior to the first, I had never welded aluminium.

To me, it is no harder to weld than steel, but I am an amateur at that too.

It is easy enough to weld aluminium for amateurs so long as the plate is at least 3mm thick. Anything thinner than this is virtually impossible to mig weld.

4 and 5 mm plate are reasonably easy to weld. The most difficult thing I found was trying to find the mean between strength and looks. If you dont use enough amperage, you end up with a neat looking weld with little penetration ie strength. Too much amperage gives a strong weld, but even on 4mm plate, you will be able to see the weld on the reverse side.

The above refers to mig welding only. If you can afford a three phase pulse welder with a push pull gun, it should be a piece of cake. Hope this helps.

regards
Dave Morgan.

[saurian]

Great job dave. Something to be proud of.
Now go get some blood on her .
Ta.

[luckyone]

That is one nice looking boat.All the best with it and alot of happy times :) :)

[pegasus]

Dave,

great looking rig- must be a great sense of satisfaction there- congratulations

[suzygs1000]

Just a bit re fuel consumption in the new boat.

With the new 21" prop, I ran from Dungeness to Deluge inlet and back as a run-in excercise. Never exceeded the 3000 revs. Trip meter on the gps said 49.1 km's. My previous boat was a narrow light 6m plate with a 115hp carburetted Johnson on it. This rig did 1.6klm to the litre religously, which means it would have used near enough to 31 litres. I filled the new boat up on the way home, and it took 18 litres!

Unbelievable , I figured.

Did the same run a week later. This time, as it had1.75 hours on it, I was able to run it at 4000 rpm. It was a pretty ruff day, blowing around the 20 knots. I also had two passengers this trip, where on the first trip I was on my own. We dropped a couple of pots off on the way up, fished for an hour then headed home. The trip this time was 50.7 kms, as a result of putting in and retrieving the pots.

Filled it up again on the way home. It took 15 litres! I still can't believe the difference between this and my previous 2 stroke Johnno, which was a 2000 model.

This means I should use about 35/40 litres on a trip to Britomart!

Anyone else out there with a 140hp Suzy getting mileage like this?

This is the 2007 model, which now uses a larger gear box ratio, as we all know from other posts, which is why the dealer propped it incorrectly in the first place.

Would be interested to hear, even on a new post re 140 Suzuki fuel consumption.

Most articles I have read indicate around 17 lph at 4000 revs. Altho I didn't keep a close check on the hours I ran, it still looks like the motor used around 10 litres per hour at a mix of 3000 and 4000 rpm!

[mark221263]

Great info and top boat. Well done.

Zuki seems almost unbelievable for ecconomy, would love the upgrade my 1996 2sk carb 150 Mariner for a new 175 zuki! Maybe next christmas