Old Molds...

I see Molds advertised for sale various places. My question is regarding usability of old molds. Can old molds, about 15-20 years old, be used in a production model boat? Does it SOLELY depend on the condition of the mold, does it somewhat depend on the condition of the mold, is it just plain bad idea to buy a mold that old or what.

What are some things to look for in an older mold in terms of usability? I am not at all sure what makes a mold useful or garbage..???

[cla17]

It just depends. A 20 year old mold that has only 5 boats pulled from it can be in horrible shape if it is neglected, left uncovered, un waxed, ect... But a 2 year old mold that has had 200 boats pulled from it can be in worse shape if it has thick lay-ups and hot spots from production. Both age and use play a role in how the mold is condition wise. I would say if you are buying a used mold you have to reverse engineer it from the specs and common sense. Take a few hour(well depending on the price of the molds I guess) to get out the measuring tape, the level and the laser. Make sure every thing lines up, is square, and doesn't have any waviness to it. And of course make sure your molds match, ie. deck and hull. Then you have to see what kind of repairs have to be made to put it into production again. In general, old baots come back to life by taking a part out of a beat up mold. Then tooling the part back to perfect condition and taking an new mold off that new boat. I hope that helps

[RealityBoatCo]

First mold that I bought had blisters on the sides. Just small little ones, but lots of them. Ran a sander over the blisters then polished it back up. Made a part out of it and then made a new mold off the part.