Starting a Skiff Company...

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by trekker, Apr 18, 2019.

  1. KD8NPB
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: South Carolina

    KD8NPB Senior Member

    11 gallons is quite low.


    10 lb per gallon , 70/30 fiber ratio, you’d be at about ;
    48 lb glass
    110 lb resin

    If you give me your laminate schedule, I can run a few numbers for you to calculate stiffness, tensile strength, and shear. I can also approximate sq ft cost for you.
     
  2. redreuben
    Joined: Jan 2009
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    Location: South Lake Western Australia

    redreuben redreuben

    Agree with others, epoxy is massive over capitalisation.
    Apart from the gelcoat issue you will find all sorts of production bottlenecks using epoxy, especially gel and cure times.
    If you want a production resin that can be marketed as top shelf use Vinyl Ester, best of both systems and infinitely more repairable.
     
  3. KD8NPB
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: South Carolina

    KD8NPB Senior Member

    https://www.scottbader.com/wp-content/uploads/Crestapol_1260_TDS_Feb_2019.pdf

    This is my current favorite.

    https://www.ashland.com/file_source/Ashland/Product/Documents/Composites/PC_13331_AME_6441.pdf

    2nd favorite
     
  4. DCockey
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Location: Midcoast Maine

    DCockey Senior Member

    Don't "production bottlenecks" depend on production rate. There is a big difference between several boats a day and several boats a month.
     
  5. KD8NPB
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: South Carolina

    KD8NPB Senior Member

    True, but epoxy is a setup for failure in a production environment with a boat this small. He’d have to charge Hells Bay prices in order to recoup the investment.

    And guess what Hells Bay uses now? The Crestapol 1260 UA resin I posted. In a production environment, it is amazing stuff.
    Hell’s Bay Boat Manufactured Using Crestapol® 1260 & Crestomer® 1152 Wins Skiff Challenge – Scott Bader https://www.scottbader.com/blog/hells-bay-boat-manufactured-using-crestapol-1260-and-crestomer-1152/
     
  6. Dejay
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: Europe

    Dejay Senior Newbie

    Interesting. What is the price of that urethane acrylate resin compared to epoxy?

    Sorry if I'm missing something, just a curious amateur. But in this shop it doesn't seem to be cheaper than epoxy (about 16€/kg for urethane acrylate).
     
    Last edited: Apr 28, 2019
  7. KD8NPB
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: South Carolina

    KD8NPB Senior Member

    You’ll need to contact your Scott Bader distributor for pricing.

    Comparing to a foreign small quantity decanter is poor practice. Going off the insanely expensive foreign price though is $8.16/lb. for the 200 kg drum quantity, $6.40/lb.

    Total boat 1gal 5:1 kit is about $11.18/lb.
    5gal kit, it’s still $8.53/lb.

    Base version is sold unaccelerated, unpromoted, so you would need to blend with DMA and 6% Cobalt Napthenate to achieve your desired gel time.

    My regions warehouse for Composites One stocks in 55gal, 1260PA60, so a 60 min gel time with Trigonox 239 CHP initiator.
     
    Dejay likes this.
  8. KD8NPB
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: South Carolina

    KD8NPB Senior Member

    OP, I'm still willing to run the calculations for your laminate schedule if you would like to share them.
     
  9. trekker
    Joined: Jan 2016
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    Location: Ohio

    trekker Junior Member

    My goal is to build a very stiff, but lightweight hull. I want to avoid having to use CSM. Does Vinyl ester shrinkage allow one to not use mat?

    Thanks.
     
  10. KD8NPB
    Joined: Mar 2018
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    Location: South Carolina

    KD8NPB Senior Member

    I would recommend at least a thin hand laid skin coat. You could use 300g CSM, or veil like Lantor D7760 in order to keep the resin content (weight) down.

    From there, it’s a matter of choosing a low density foam core and adding suitable reinforcement on both sides.
     
  11. BlueBell
    Joined: May 2017
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    Location: Victoria BC Canada

    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    It's funny Trekker, I was thinking about your project yesterday and poof, here you are.

    How was your summer? Any interesting mishaps or adventures on your boat?

    I look forward to watching your advancement on this vessel.
     
  12. trekker
    Joined: Jan 2016
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    Location: Ohio

    trekker Junior Member


    That is funny. I have fished the heck out of it since last spring. Musky on the fly rod has become my vice. I have ran it hard. More than a few times I've tried to run it thru rapids that were way to shallow. Plenty of collisions with decent size rocks with just some nicks in the bottom paint. The only real mishap came in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I hit a monster hole on a backwoods road at 45 ish MPH. The boat/trailer bounced high enough that watching in the rear view, I thought the boat came off the trailer. It resulted in some minor cracks/seperation where the cap and transom meet right at the top of the transom. Quite minor. Filled with thickened epoxy, it has held up fine since.

    Thanks for asking.
     
  13. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
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    Location: usa

    fallguy Senior Member

    The government is just like the military and the upper management can stay on top with simple, mosty useless directives. My brother tells me all about it. Just like the bomber jacket with a pen holder where no pens are allowed. Then why the pocket!
     
  14. BlueBell
    Joined: May 2017
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    Location: Victoria BC Canada

    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    Trekker,

    Look what I found!
    Have you seen this?

    6HP
     
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  15. trekker
    Joined: Jan 2016
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    Location: Ohio

    trekker Junior Member

    Yea. Looks sweet. There's a similar design called Solo Skiff that is pretty sweet.
     
    BlueBell likes this.
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