Alumacraft owners will often tell you their boat just feels so solid and confident on the water, and they are not imagining that sensation. The exclusive Alumacraft 2XB™ hull design is the reason an Alumacraft V-hull boat offers a ride that’s unmatched in the aluminum segment, a ride that feels solid and sounds quiet across surface ripples or a stiff lake chop.
The result is a boat that offers the ride quality similar to a fiberglass hull yet retains all the advantages of riveted aluminum construction. Alumacraft 2XB stands for “twice the boat.” Let’s take a look at the engineering behind the label.
Alumacraft introduced the 2XB hull design in 1996 and has been refining it ever since. Its key element is a double layer (twice the boat) of aluminum sheet on the running surface. Today the doubled bottom covers the entire running surface on Alumacraft Trophy, Tournament Pro, Edge, Competitor and Competitor FXS models.
These are typically the largest Alumacraft models designed for anglers likely to also carry the heaviest load of gear, and more frequently apt to venture out on rough water. Alumacraft Escape, Competitor 165, Voyageur and Classic models have 2XB double plating from the bow to midship. These models are typically the smaller and lighter boats in the Alumacraft V-hull line.
The 2XB running surface is constructed in one piece from chine to chine with no center seam at the keel. The second sheet of aluminum fits inside the outer layer. The thickness of the aluminum sheet is optimized for boat size.
Boats with full bow-to-stern double plating have either two .080" sheets (.160" combined thickness) or two .100" sheets (.200" combined thickness). For smaller boat models the sheets are typically .080" and .065" (.125" combined thickness). Competing aluminum boats typically have a bottom thickness of no more than .125", even on the largest models. An Alumacraft 2XB bottom is up to 60 percent thicker than those competing models.
The double-sheet 2XB design does add some weight to Alumacraft boats, but that weight does not affect hole shot or top-speed performance. Alumacraft boats are designed with a gull-wing-shaped Aquadynamic hull to provide added lift that compensates for this weight.
There’s more to the Alumacraft 2XB hull than double plating. Before making aluminum boats, Alumacraft was engaged in fabricating aluminum aircraft components during World War II. To this day every Alumacraft model is assembled with aircraft-grade rivets that meet a premium military specification. These rivets have a larger head and shank than the smaller rivets used to build other aluminum boat brands. Fewer larger rivets are required to create a strong clamping force. Fewer rivets in the boat bottom create less drag in the water and present fewer potential failure points. There’s also added strength in the Alumacraft keel.
Its single-piece design is stronger than the typical two-piece keel, and the keel is formed of very durable heat-treated aluminum that’s a full quarter-inch thick at the wear points. The keel has a deeper profile to improve boat tracking, and the one-piece hull design allows Alumacraft to align the keel with precision to avoid creating turbulence to the motor propeller that could compromise performance.
The Alumacraft 2XB hull combines double-plating, premium rivets and a stiff keel to create a durable running surface that simply feels more solid in the water. To see Alumacraft designs come to life, check out the 2XB and Aquadynamic videos. Learn more about the Alumacraft Advantage.
