Buying my first welder

[RichWentFishing504]

I'm in need of some welding done to my boat. For the price of what I need to redo I'm honestly thinking about buying my own welding machine and learning how to weld.

Problem: I don't know a thing about welding. Can anyone point me I the right direction? Tug vs mig? What tools I need? Etc?

[haoward]

Tig will require much cleaner material to weld on and will need to be done inside or well cover area. Mig is more forgiving. Is this for mild steal or aluminum?

[haoward]

Need machine,gas bottle, and wire plus welding hood and gloves

[smooth move]

if you've never welded, you'll be dollars ahead paying to have it done. X2 if it's aluminum.

[Matt G]

Just pay someone with experience to do it. Especially if its aluminum. It'll save you the headache. What all needs to be done?

[LPfishnTIM]

a mig spool gun for aluminum is at least $1200 and a good machine is another $2k plus gas and all the other tools you need like a helmet. you better off paying someone to fix your boat.

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by LPfishnTIM

a mig spool gun for aluminum is at least $1200 and a good machine is another $2k plus gas and all the other tools you need like a helmet. you better off paying someone to fix your boat.

^


Sent

[Elbert Chamblee]

If you have never welded try a friends machine first.
Bottle of argon around $300. I have the Lincoln Pro 180 around $800 and the spool gun is around $210 to 225.... I have a friend that rebuilt a boat that had been rear ended and it was a lot of work. He knew how to weld but not aluminum or a wire feed.
Ever time I go fishing in this boat and we hit anything I think about the whole *** end coming off. When you buy all the gear to do this then you realize why the aluminum welders/fabricators charge what they do. You can spend all this money and still have to take it to a shop.....Think about it.....If you don't know how to weld I would say bring it to a welder.

[swamp snorkler]

Originally Posted by RichWentFishing504

I'm in need of some welding done to my boat. For the price of what I need to redo I'm honestly thinking about buying my own welding machine and learning how to weld.

Problem: I don't know a thing about welding. Can anyone point me I the right direction? Tug vs mig? What tools I need? Etc?

You won't be able to TIG worth a **** and its really not good for structural reapairs on an aluminmum boat anyway, MIG is that way to go.

If you thinking about doing this on a weld craft, G3, express....... don't, hulls are to thin and being inexperieced you will blow right through.

Equipment for something decent will be no less than a grand.

[keakar]

as others have said, if you want a repair you can rely on, pay to have it done.

that said, after paying to have your boat fixed right, I would still buy the welder and learn how to weld because its nice to do your own repairs and make any brackets or gadgets you need to make your life easier. there are many night courses at trade schools where you can learn to weld under supervision and sometimes they have good instructors. I suggest you learn to weld first before buying a machine and then buy one that fits your skill and the things you intend to do with it.

aluminum welding is tricky and boat hulls are thin and very easy to blow through and doing so can do more damage making a needed minor repair even worse and turn into a worse repair then it was before.

get yourself a good tig welder setup and learn to make your own BBQ grills, smokers and stuff until you get good at it before you attempt to weld a boat hull.

[shellman]

Milermatic 211 comes with aluminum gun is all you need for a shop welder which is a mig gun so you may rent gas bottles for whatever's you welding runs off 210 or 110 plug.

[RichWentFishing504]

Well it looks like I'm gonna have to shop around more for someone to do this work. I'm in a time crunch to get back at the trout.

[swamp snorkler]

What repair needs to be made?

[RichWentFishing504]

For now I removed some foam and I've noticed pitting in the hull that needs to be taken care of. I also want to cut out the rest of the floor and remove the rest of the foam. Everything is welded together.

[RichWentFishing504]

Btw, everything in my boat is 1/8" or 3/16" 5202 aluminum.

[jldsc]

I do a lot of welding and have been for a lot of years now...thats not a project you want to learn on I promise you...old boat aluminum is the worst also....for all the stuff your gonna need to get started and materials just roughly looking 3500-4500$ right off the top...your going to waste a lot of consumables learning how to do it. If your still interested afterwards just start slow and work your way into it.


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[ThePinkBanana]

This is a terrible idea.. Learning how to weld is a lot harder than you think. Especially with aluminum. You'll get off much cheaper paying someone to make your repairs for you. Good luck

[keakar]

Originally Posted by RichWentFishing504

Well it looks like I'm gonna have to shop around more for someone to do this work. I'm in a time crunch to get back at the trout.

would recommend this guy to anyone:

David Terribonne - owner
Wego Aluminum & Steel Fabrication, Inc
73 LOUISIANA ST
WESTWEGO, LA 70094-4161
(504) 340-9349

he did a nice job putting a floor and front deck on my flat boat, did in relatively quickly and in the time he quoted and the price was very fair.

he has a large crew and builds large crew boats, oyster boats, and large trawlers as well as small jobs like boat accessories, consoles, fantails, or even smokers, and BBQ pits so you don't have to wait long and while I am not qualified to inspect welding, the work was very strong and solid and I was very satisfied