Friday, February 19, 2021

EVER WONDER HOW A BOAT IS CREATED FROM AN IDEA TO REALITY?

J/45 cockpit

Here are some progress photos of the new J/9 daysailer and the evolution of the process.

The quick lesson is that once the designer has created the hull and deck lines for the boat, it's sent to our Symmetrix tool maker in Bristol, RI to make the male "plugs". 

J/9 deck rough cut
Step 1- make the frames and spray coat with what looks like wedding cake white icing (a foam). 

J/9 deck mold CNC milling
Step 2- the 5-axis CNC milling machine "carves" out the shape of the plug.  


Step 3- coat the mold with an epoxy/ fiber mix (the gray stuff).  

Step 4- the 5-axis milling process carves the mold to within 1mm of the designed shape. 

J/9 hull longboarding
Step 5- mold is "long-boarded" manually for smoothness. 

Step 6- final thin coating (black) of mold release epoxy is sprayed and hand-sanded and buffed to a brilliant, smooth shine! 

J/9 hull plug finish
Step 7- apply mold release, then cover the plug in multiple layers of glass to create the female "mold". Add several cross frames and longitudinal supports (mostly steel tubing). Flip it all over, pull the plug out of the mold! Now, we're ready to make boats!

J/9 master hull plug
Sounds easy, right? Not! But, it's much faster and more accurate today than it was back in "the old days" of wooden frames and strip-planking and hand-sanding everything!  

https://jboatnews.blogspot.com/2021/02/how-is-j9-daysailer-created-from-idea.html Add to Flipboard Magazine.