Plate v Pressed aluminium boats

[Paikea]

Reading the fishing and boating mags you could be forgiven for thinking that if you haven't got a plate boat with a massively thick plate bottom/hull you are just not up there.

So are plate boats so much better than pressed aluminium or is it just that plate facilitates the building of slab sided boats whereas clinker pressed sheet can be formed as part of a semi automatic process?

If a boat has full flotation under the floor what is the advantage of plate? Pressed is lighter, clinker sides generally do look better than slab sides, pressed is cheaper, easier to customise a plate boat, but are they worth the added price?

I have had both but it will be interesting to see what Raiders think of this one.

Cheers

Paikea

[a boat]

Unfortunately it is not just that easy. There are some so called plate boats that I do not rate at all and I would have a some brands of so called pressed alloy boat every day of the week. The simple facts are a top shelf plate alloy boat will always be better than any pressed boat due to the construction methods and the fact that the good one use 5083 grade alloy of thicker material like 5mm in the good ones. A pressed boat will use the lesser grades of alloy and 3mm so the ride and build standards are not as good. You hit the nail on the head, it all comes down to pricing, like anything in life. Take the two brands I choose to stock, a Stacer 509 Searunner-a sweet riding cabin boat that punches above it weight, costs around the low $30K to buy, whereas a similar size Extreme, same engine and trailer is around $20K more. Is the Extreme a better boat-yes without a doubt, is it a roughly $20K better boat?-that is what the buyer will need to decide.

Cheers,

Huey.

[Paikea]

Huey, I had a look at a report on the 509 Searunner, sure is a nice looking little boat. How does it stack up against say a Quintrex of the same size. That is, type of ally, bottom and hull thickness and performance say 3 to 5 K's out.

[a boat]

Hi Paikea, the Stacer with the hull shape called the EVO is proven marine design with a deep vee and reverse chines at the rear, which is always in the water doing the hard work. All glass boats and nowdays many alloy boats have this hull shape because it works and the Q offers just a moderate vee at the stern so in all waters the Stacer offers a superior ride and stability. Plus lower price and thicker materials in most models. That is why I choose to buy and stock that brand over other brands that I could easily purchase.

The 509 Searunner is a great boat that will not break the bank to buy and offers the user a good all round boat that on the right days can go wide.

Cheers,

Huey.

[Paikea]

Thanks Huey.

Paikea

[Juggs]

i am moving to the country so sold my cruise craft explorer and decided to downgrade

i ordered yesterday, a quintrex 420 renegade which is basically the same boat as the stacer 429 outlaw

same as in whats above the water but below they both have different bottom shapes

in a boat with such a wide beam stability isnt a issue so i went the quintrex with its finer entry point to handle the short chop you get on dams and bays

coming from the same factory its bizarre they cant combine the evo rear with the quintrex front and have the best of both worlds.

also bizarre the stacer is cheaper and the trailers are cheaper then going to a quintrex dealer even though its just different stickers on the trailer

[a boat]

Why combine, when it is the stern of any boat that determines the ride and why the Stacer hull shape has been around since the 1960's in glass and all glass boats use this hull shape at the rear and so do a fair few alloy boats nowdays. If something good works in any industry it tends to be copied and Glastron back in the day developed this hull shape and yes we used to sell those back in the day too. The price is determined by the selling dealer, dealer buy price is very similar across the board and some models the Stacer is dearer for a dealer to buy. If a Q dealer chooses to mark the boat and trailer up more and can get away with it, good on him.

Enjoy your Quinny and the move Juggs.

Cheers,

Huey.

Edited September 26, 2014 by Huey @ Huett Marine

[Juggs]

the bow also contributes to how spray is deflected especially in conditions you cant get speed up to use the benefits of that stern shape

id rather a drier then more comfortable ride

thanks huey

[a boat]

OK Juggs, but if the flared bow is getting in contact with the water then the bow is very buried and with the Q shape there is not as much lift to raise the bow. As I said enjoy the Q but if you have not driven an EVO hull Stacer not sure how you can say one is better than the other. I have driven many, many, many of both brands. I wonder why no other pressed or plate boat (which is pretty much what the OP was asking about) has that concave shape that Q has at the bow?

I would not say an open Q is any drier than any open S, in water rough enough you are going to get wet in both.

As I said enjoy it and they are fine boats, I just prefer something else.

[Juggs]

i dont know how you can assume i havnt been in one i have been in many boats in our local bass clubs

I was talking about sub to just planning speeds in sloppy water/weather, this is the point of use i was focused on.
id rather have a fine entry point that pushes the water down, the stern of the boat does not matter in this instance

15-20knots knots in the bay in the afternoon when you should be home already, i have been in a 440 renegade in these conditions and it would be detrimental to any boat to try and get it up to 20 odd knots and try to skim over it

its not a criticism of stacer , just they are two differing hull shapes

to the op
the main reason of a boutique plate boat is you can get what ever feature you want built into it and watch and control the process somewhat during the build

the resale is generally higher then a mass produced boat, have a look at joshua boats as an example

[a boat]

OK, if you have been in a new Stacer 429 Outlaw with the EVO advance hull with its pressing in the side sheets to make it a dry ride then my mistake. You like the Q and that is great and if you do not think the transom deadrise does not affect the ride of a boat at any speed then that is fine with me. Is that brand (JSB) you mention still even made and yes I have been in these too and were OK boats back in the day.

[Juggs]

not sure but they hold their value even still despite the time

ive been in 4 of these 3 owned by the one fella as he kept going up in size as he found them.

the mas produced plate boats just dont compare in quality of build and you have the ability to option the boat in anyway you want, this does come at a cost though

they mass produced ones do look pretty though

[a boat]

Yes I agree, a good plate boat will hold its value but a sign of the times and alot of these smaller "custom" builders have gone to the wall, which is a shame. Also I know of horror stories where an owner has commissioned a "custom" builder to build a boat for him, paid a big deposit and then that boat never happens due to them going belly up. It is tough in the marine industry to survive and the big player does a good job of building boats, even plate ones, but if you want the best, and are prepared to pay for it, the Extreme we stock are very hard to beat-they are top shelf plate boats and Telwater built boats are very good pressed and now getting into proper plate boats too-that are up there too in my opinion and very good value for what you get.

[valkie]

I dont know, but my new 5m Stabicraft plate boat outperforms my old 5.3m Savage pressed boat by so much its just not worth mentioning.

The plate boat seems to ride over chop in a way that the old Savage could never ride.

But the most noticable thing is in the way it handles those big greenies.

The Savage dived and bogged down with an almighty bang

The Stabi hits them but rides up and over.

Coming down the other side the Savage again tried to dive through the next wave sometimes almost broaching.

The Stabi runs down and then starts up the other side.

To date I have never had a wave over the front of the Stabi, whereas this was a regular occurance in the Savage.

Stability at rest...............no contest. Stabi easily out performes most boats in this, it feel like a much bigger boat.

However;

In flat water, full tilt on the throttle.

The Savage was much faster and quieter.

Where as the Stabi sort of bogs down a bit and has noise from where the wash hits the pontoons.

Horses for courses I guess

[Farvos]

mate look at formosa. They leave alot of boats for dead. I have the tomahawk model personally and its amazing

[NaClH2OK9]

Think you should check the dates on the threads Farvos.

This is over a year old.