Non skid for deck mold

[Sam III]

I am working on a plug for a production sail boat mold.

The plug is a 'sold' boat and was thinking of putting the non skid pattern on the plug.

This pattern will be on the flat deck area's and on the 'cabin top side'. The cabin top looks like the wind screen on a jet fighter. Curved in all directions.....

Will non skid on the sides keep the plug / parts to be impossible to pull from the plug?

Thanks in advance.

Sam

[ondarvr]

Any non skid can make it a little more difficult to de-mold, but unless it creates a negative draft it'll still come off fine.

[wet feet]

You may have a challenge facing you if you try to apply a sheet of material with a non skid pattern in a compound curved surface.The other potential problem to bear in mind is that if the area with the pattern ever becomes damaged,a repair is very difficult.

[the1much]

they do it every day at Hinckley's ,,they got that "cheapo" non-skid ,,the hard part is wanting to spend the 300 man hours on the mold for JUST them spots,,and they seem to wear out fast,, and GREAT places for gel coat "air pockets". and you really cant make deep "grooves,diamond shape,i think hinckleys gone through like 3 different styles",,and to be able to ask your customer how THEY would like their non-skid,( how many inches for borders,,what color,,what grit) and them not having complaints a year down the road (saves on warranty costs) can bring ya great "futures" hehe

[Herman]

OMG. Did you ever work with anti-skid material?

Anti skid patterns can be applied to the plug. Nicely bevel the edges, by sanding them, using modelling clay (plasticine) or sand the ridge in the mould.

About the cockpit. It can be done, but be carefull. Use a pattern which has not too steep a slope. Defenately not steeper than the side of the cockpit is. alternatively, one could leave the side of the cockpit without antiskid.

About the compound curvature: I am not aware of anti-skid material that can follow that curve. This could be cured by using strips of antiskid.

The most used antiskid material for plugs is made by Gibco Flexmold in Texas. (gibco at swbell dot net)
In Europe, it is marketed by the company Brands Structural Products (www.brandscomposiet.nl)
Here is a direct link to their product page: http://www.brandscomposiet.nl/products.php?group=51.01

[the1much]

ummm,,,,Hermon,,,OMG yes,,,,and a VERY huge amount in fact

[Sam III]

Thanks for the input.

I am talking to Gibco and they to are concerned with the release of the non skid pattern on the side of the cabin top.

This is for a production 6.5 M Mini Transat Boat.

I know it is done, but not sure yet how to do it. Don't want to have to apply non-skid to each deck as it comes out of the mold.....

Is anyone 'painting' the non-skid on the plug and then taking a mold from that?

Sam

[Herman]

By painting non-skid on the side of the cabin, it will be very hard to guarantee that there are no spots exceeding the angle of release. I will make a small sketch to explain.

[the1much]

you'd have to go with the "pattern" non-skid,,i've sprayed it a couple of times on verticals,,each time warning the customer,,and they ended up paying for that job,,plus the job for sanding off what did stick,, and painting it.,,the non-skid is just to heavy,,even using fine grit.

[Herman]

What is the incline of the side of the cabin anyhow? In other words, if the sides are near to vertical, non skid can only be applied to the plug if the angle for demoulding is changed. This means you will have to make split moulds. (doable, but more work. Expect to buff out the mould seams from every product, and if you are into resin infusion, try to avoid split moulds.)

Edit:

Other option is to apply a panel later. I have no idea of the deck design, but it could very well be a panel to hide some lines running fore and aft.

[Sam III]

This is a shot of the plug. Would like to do non-skid up the sides of the cabin top except for 12" up the center and area around the cabin / deck transition.

Sam

[Herman]

I should check with the sample packs I have, but some patterns actually might do the job. Carefull measuring should be done, however, to make sure the mold can be released in one piece.

Show Gibco the mould, and ask them for advice. They know the slope angles of the patters they have.

[richard165]

That thing will release wiyh nonskid pattern on it.
But i dont see the reason for making a mould with a tread in it as when you make a gelcoat boat from that mould and get it wet it is still very slippery as it is a glossy gelcoat finnish.

[Sam III]

Richard165,

I was under the impression that the pattern was to break up water into small surface area's thus not large area's of smooth-slick gelcoat planes.

Still searching for a solution.

Sam

[Herman]

My experience is that gelcoat with a pattern is quite reasonable as anti-skid. Teak is just a bit better, and in my racing boats I used EVA foam. (also common on surfboards). Worked great, but wears out over the years, and not really suitable for continuous life unsheltered.