The best aluminum alloys for boats
In the boat construction process, not every extruded aluminum type can be ideal. The main two alloys are the 5083 and 5086, which are specific for naval use:
Aluminum 5083 offers resistance to corrosion, shock absorbing capacity, and lightness, in fact it’s used mainly in sailboats and motorboats that need to be fast and maneuverable
Aluminum 5086, instead, offers higher resistance, both to corrosion, shocks, and thermal stress, which makes it ideal to build boats that need to face aggressive marine environments and high-power motorboats
Other extruded aluminum alloys employed to build boats are:
the 6061 and 6082, which are high-resistance alloys
the A356 and the A357, which come from die-cast aluminum
the 6061-T6 and the 7075-T6, which are heat-treatable aluminum alloys