How are Skaters made?

[David]

Do they pull the hull and deck from molds like other boats? How can they vary the width and make custom decks?

[Lake rat Skater]

From the start in the 80s to the early 2000s most models had standard hull and deck molds. They did a few race boats where the hull was used but then the deck was made from a relatively flat sheet of composite material and then fitted with a canopy. With quarter canopies and now windshields available customers liked and were willing to pay for the flat deck look. This has evolved to where most boats made today go the flat deck route. They still have standard hull molds but in some cases they will cut them down the tunnel and add width.

I dont want to promote another website but if you look on riverdaves place under the from the mold section there is a very well detailed (2 plus years) build of a 368 skater that shows the process.

[David]

I read the entire thread at River Dave’s. It answers my questions and shows why Skaters are crazy expensive. Thanks

[Lake rat Skater]

Lol I bet that took a minute to read all that, they are certainly more of a custom boat building than others but in general I love the fact that so many boat are still hand made in the US.

[David]

There are some big time cost drivers going on. (1) Mold the hull, put the bulkheads in, then cut everything down in height for a low profile boat. (2) Fabricate the bustle instead of it being a molded part (3) Fabricate the deck instead of it being a molded one piece part. (4) Very complex paint (5) Bling, but I bet that's a small part of the total.

Are the other 30 ish twin outboard tunnels as fast as Skaters? Doug Wright for example? I'm not buying any more boats, but I am curious.

[FUJIMO]

Do they pull the hull and deck from molds like other boats? How can they vary the width and make custom decks?

...they've always layed up large cored flat panels on an equally large flat formica table & simply cut the bulkheads and/or flat decks to the size/shape they needed...like in this photo. been do'n it this way forever...

[FUJIMO]

...wanna add a bustle? this is how its done...piece by piece...then just a lot of finish work...

[CUDA]

Do they still use Balsa core?

[David]

Looks like a mix of foam and balsa

[noli]

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when there is a one-off widebody build, the hull would be cut in half , widened to needed width and then the reinforcement layers are applied to build the hull strong


http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...ml#post4226132


many other builders have done this till the correct width is decided and the mold is made







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[noli]

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[powerabout]

looks like lots of slow hand work, some cnc milling for molding would help I would of thought?

[TooStroked]

looks like lots of slow hand work, some cnc milling for molding would help I would of thought?

CNC milling removes material. That's probably not what you want to do when laying up something critical like a hull where strength - gained from long lengths of fibers held together with resin - is critical.

On the flip side, CNC milling works great for building plugs for molds.

[powerabout]

CNC milling removes material. That's probably not what you want to do when laying up something critical like a hull where strength - gained from long lengths of fibers held together with resin - is critical.

On the flip side, CNC milling works great for building plugs for molds.

I was thinking about all the extra parts not the basic layup in the mold.
Unless every boat goes out custom which creates lots of hand fabricating and finishing

[noli]

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After the flat deck is added ( pic by FUJIMO; see above ) a windshield receiver is glassed in for the specific windshield and dash layout that the owner wants

you can see the glass-lines here ..







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