What I like best about Al David is he takes the time to talk to you and explain things to you. He’ll explain to you why he builds his boats the way he builds them. A lot of other builders act like they are doing you a favor by letting you buy one of their boats. Al is not like that at all when I tal...

Gary for an illustration, here are two almost identical hulls built by the same builder. Both are 14x7. The first boat was built with 8” of taper (10” at the rear, 18” at the 12’ mark). The second boat was built with 9” of taper (10” at the rear, 19” at the 12’ mark). The hull with more taper (botto...

The TTY bolts were a major problem, but if you’re gonna throw a lot of boost and power at a 6.0, just going to studs won’t necessarily solve the problem 100%. They can still blow the head gaskets. The best way is to get a set of heads that have been O-ringed and had bronze valve guides installed. Ot...

You might be better off looking at some of the powerstroke forums. But the short answer is this, the 6.0 can be made into a pretty damn reliable engine in a truck...with extensive and costly modifications. But in stock form, the design of that engine has flaws. Sure there are some bone stock 6.0’s o...

All of the riveted hull builders just use a generous amount of silicone adhesive between the tank and the angle. I can’t remember the exact brand/type. It acts as a cushion between the metals, and holds the tank very securely. I have rebuilt several riveted boats and I have had to remove several of ...

I haven’t met Rich yet, but we’ve talked a few times and he seems like a good guy. I don’t think that was his intention with this thread at all. All great innovations start somewhere.

Very interesting Rich. Certainly appears stronger than any poly or slick bottom. I have only owned two boats with poly, but I did make an observation on one of those poly boats that I completely stripped down and rebuilt. It was a 12’ riveted hull, most people believed it to be a Cloninger. It was a...

Very interesting Rich.

Just mounted a Garmin 64sx handheld on my console. I really like it. Initially I wanted a big hard-wired unit, but I’m glad I went this route instead.

Every riveted hull I have ever owned has lost some steelflex at the seams. And all of my boats have been built by the best of the best. Perfectly normal.

I’m not a fabricator, but I have owned boats with aluminum and EMT riggings. I did not feel the aluminum rigging was any lighter. In fact, several areas of the aluminum had to be strengthened over the years with additional support as they fatigued and bent. And I’m talking about standard round alumi...

I’ve always wondered do you need to strengthen the bulkhead on a boat when you switch to air ride? Seems like that would create an awful lot of leverage pulling up on that section of a hull.

Front view

Seating for 5 on a 14x7 Thurman. Single rear driver, double in the center, and an interchangeable front seat that switches between a single (pictured) and a double. Love it.

Diggin you have a set of those boxes in yours...better make sure there’s no residue left in them LOL. My new one has a set as well.

Just curious about the science behind figuring what taper to bend the sheets of a riveted hull at (stern to bow taper). You look at some of the old Thurmans and they have a lot of taper making the bow deeper. But the later Thurmans, and the newer Benny Webb’s have less taper. The Don Davis’ and Ward...

I agree Rich. But if you talk to some guys, they make it sound like a .125 hull weighs exponentially more. I analyze and research before I do almost anything. I figured the difference to be around 40 pounds. Unless you’re building a pure race boat, .125 is the way to go IMO. I know it says “hull wei...

No brainer on going 7075. I’m no hull builder, but I’ve wondered why more people aren’t building their 7075 hulls out of .125. I did some research two years ago before I ordered my new hull, compared weight figures from multiple suppliers, and figured that a 13x7’2 hull made of .125 only weighs abou...

delete

I can tell you why that happens initially Seven3, we can call that Phase#1 and nearly every time it is because of the persons budget! Almost every time boaters take the cheaper route to "just get started" You are totally on point that many people don't really know what they want or more importantly...

I know nothing about the Caddy engines, so I’ll stay out of that part of the conversation. But I feel the need to offer some advice with regards to the overall direction you want to go with the boat. IMO, think about what boat you ultimately want to end up with...whether it is DD, gearbox, Water Thu...

Don’t make us wait...who’s building the hull lol.

Man, I’m glad I sold my Thurman to someone else, I would’ve hated to see you remove the 540 and put an LS on it lol. Just kidding, who’s building your hull?

Although I haven’t ridden on one yet, I’ve seen them run. I think they are a comparable alternative to the 540. I don’t think they’re going to outperform a strong 540 (at this point), and I don’t foresee them taking a big chunk of the market away from the 540, but for the guy who hates going to the ...

Those welded boats look like that very quickly if you run any dry. I’ve seen a welded aluminum boat that was only 6 months old that looked just like your buddies hull. You get what you pay for.