Which gelcoat to make a mould?

With a mold this size, water makes sense to float the part that was molded in. If you use air, you will need a lot of volume of compressed air to crack the part, otherwise, the air just seeps into the crevices and makes the compressed air useless. I use water on 70 to 80 footer molds that I have built.

 

It makes sense because of contrast. Gray for the tool, black or red for the mold (that is assuming you will use a light color for the part). The contrasting color will tell easily if the coating is thin or uneven.

The mold will flex by 1/8" to 1/4" even with a steel frame. I usually use a laser light to realign the mold using reference lines I used when building the plug. It is a good idea to anchor the mold to the concrete floor and use shims to bring it back to level. Watch out also for lateral misalignment. The mold can bow. Better get reference measurement from the plug before you destroy it. Spreader bar or turnbuckles attached to the flange will cure the pinching or bowing out. It takes about two days to get the mold perfectly aligned.

 

When I first read your answer to my post, I thought: WTF???

Now I get to understand it.

First of all, get in contact with these people:

• NORD COMPOSITES UK - Anne Sophie Renotte
Unit 1 / G-Moor Lane Industrial Estate • Perrylwell Road, Witton • B6 7AT Birmingham • UK
tel : + (44) 121 35 69 144 • fax : + (44) 121 345 11 02
email : nord-compositesuk@btconnect.com

and ask them for info on their tooling materials. I have used their materials on moulds ranging from 1 meter to 25 meter.

Your moulds are your major asset. Your company is worth the price of your moulds. Everything else is replacable. People, buildings, tools, everything. Your moulds are not. I guess you already discovered that with your 28ft moulds. Hard to replace them now, are they?

Parking moulds outside? No matter what colour, but always apply gelcoat and a layer of mat before parking it outside. Perferably under a roof, and preferably with a drain hole at the lowest point. You can throw a tarp over it, but you know just as me that in 2 weeks the tarp tore to pieces, flew away, or is just a big bag of water.
The gelcoat and skincoat can be used for the next boat, or can be discarded. Even when discarded, it is cheaper than refinishing a mould. And definately cheaper than refinishing the rest of the series of boats to be built from the mould.

About your people walking in the mould, and making a pile of mess:

education and control. Did you ever tell them not to walk in the mould, or tape things up? If not, go tell them. I know all people you hired told you they were professionals, but what would you say when you needed a job? YOU are the manager, YOU have control. YOU need to tell them what to do and how to do it. THEY need to listen, THEY need to do what you tell them to do, or not to do. If they don't, throw one or 2 out. (after 2 warnings on paper).

This may sound harsh to you, and to your workers, but really, to survive, you need to be.

I can imagine you saying "but I cannot fire someone, I cannot get a professional compositologist anywhere.". You probably can. Care for your people, train them, and hire young people. Most suppliers are more than willing to do a 2 or 4 hour training session for your people. Even for free. This way you show your respect to your people, and below-par laminators can become above-par laminators.

Also remember when showing your people how to perform tasks: You do not need to be able to perform better than your people, but at least you get some communication going, which shows them HOW you want it.

Good luck!

 

Quite agree. In our shop, the mold is sacred. Nobody steps on it. If they need to, we provide them with cotton socks to be worn over bare foot.

One guy was trying to be smart. He wore the socks over his working shoes. He was fired on the spot.

 

Herman & Rx - I have spent the last few years with a steady turn over of laminators . I have not been lucky enough to have both a hard working laminator and a tidy one. I have had a few hard working ones, but never both. My team however has been changed recently and my new guys have been better and as yet not got in to any sloppy practises apart from untidyness. I have never been able to cure this. I have fired people, dropped their salary a few pounds per hour, done everything but it seems that I will never be able to get a really tidy place unless I nag them day in and day out.

In contrast to that I also work offshore on a subsea diving vessel as a manager. (this funds my growing business!) out here where I am at present, if I say jump they jump. I could get these guys to lick my *** if I wanted. What I cant understand is that in my own business I just get messed about !

Is it laminators in general?

 

I guess this is an industry wide problem. The stuff we are working with, is becoming a mess quickly. However, I can take you to places where things look neat and tidy, but also to places where polyester is dripping from the ceilings...

It seems you have come a long way already. However, you might have reached a point where you might need to take some hurdles to overcome the problems as you see them. Your moulds, for as far as I understand, are not top of the bill anymore. This does not encourage your people to be careful with them. With your new mould it can go either direction: Or they become more careful, of your new mould will be just as sloppy within the next few releases. Do everything you can to steer in the right direction. You will need to make your people proud of the mould, which means they all need to have done a considerable amount of work on it.

I feel it is extremely difficult to help you over the Internet, without seeing anything of your facilities. Still I keep on trying.

Can you tell more about your products (boats, size, construction method, can you smash a couple of polyester pieces together, or is there a lot of work in terms of woodwork, interior, etc. How many units per year?
Your facilities, buildings, have they been split up for the different purposes (storage, pre-cutting, gelcoating, laminating, trimming, assembly.
What machines do you have? gelcoater? chopper guns? dust extractors? diamond tools?

Your workers? How many, are there some that have more brains/potential? Do they all have dedicated tasks?

I am sorry, more questions for now than answers....

 

nevilleh,

I usually hire different skill sets. Carpenters/moldmakers, sprayers, fitters, laminators.

It is usually the laminators who are sloppy. Sometimes it is not only the mold, it is the boat nearing completion that gets trashed about.

Funny but I also have the same experience. When I own the business, I don't get good guys or at least get the results i wanted. When I work for somebody else as a project manager, I get good results from people I work with. I don't know. Maybe they are averse to the owner working with them. They like the boss to stay in the office.

I would say about 10 to 15% of the guys make it and become boatbuilders. The others just plod along.