I know most of the boats back in the day were wood, aluminum, and fiberglass. But how are today’s boat built? (MTI, Fountains, Mystics, Cigarettes, Skaters, Outerlimits, Platinum, etc)

Do they all use the same basic materials, what material do they use carbon fiber? I see that Platinum uses an Autoclave, how does this help?

Platinum has not built a new boat in many years......the couple of cats that were built were laid up by Skater or KR Racing (Jim Dyke) The V-Bottom was laid up overseas.

Al ot of Kevlar & Carbon Fiber is used today in the high end stuff.

Most of the regular performance boats are vinlyester resin with S and E glass, and some kevlar, and carbon fibers.

The higher performance and racing boats are usually epoxy resin with S-glass and a lot more kevlar and carbon. Each type of fiber has specific structural properties, ie. stiffness and low weight, impact resistance, etc.

Ensuring a correct ratio of resin to fiber is extremely important, both from a strength and weight standpoint. High end builders impregnate the fibers before placing in the mold. Many builders also use a vacuum bagging technique to suck/squeeze all of the excess resin out of the lay-up.

Post-curing is completed in an autoclave at elevated temperatures depending on the resin used, usually for epoxy. It allows individually laid-up components to chemically fuse together as a single unit and completes the curing process.

Carbon in the right places allows riggers to do some pretty cool stuff.

Brad.