Kask,

Is there anyway you can make it to the Shelbyville shoot on May 20-21st?
You'll get to see several boat setups there.

What kind of generators are they? Newer 'honda clone' generators are fairly cheap and not too loud. (about 74dB at 10 ft). You can quiet a generator down by putting a better muffler on it and/or putting it in a box. (you still need good ventilation for the genny or it will fry in the box)

Several people use aluminum for platforms. The trick is welding it. You could probably drill it and bolt it together too. Might be a bit noisy but should hold up.

To run the lights off two generators, just run four of them on one. Don't run four 500watt bulbs on a 2000 watt genny though. You only want to use about 80% of your genny's output on a steady basis. Too hard on the generator otherwise. If you put the 350 or 225 watt 'ultra' bulbs in you'll be fine.