Swim Platform Progress

[MakinMemories]

Doug of "Doug Bruce Custom Boat Work", is making great progress on our custom swim platform. The past couple of days saw Doug lay in the initial matting preparing for several layers of 1708 fiberglass. The fiberglass is a 45 degree cross-hatched type and provides more strength than the old over-under style of the past.

 

[ben2go]

More of this if you can please. I'm debating on how I will build my swim platform when I build my boat. It looks like he will be building you a foam cored fiberglass SP. Is that right? The last time I saw a swim platform laid out like that, it was filled with two-part expanding polystyrene foam and capped with a reinforced fiberglass cover. Then the entire SP was fiberglassed and epoxied to make it one solid unit.

 

[MakinMemories]

A little on the materials used

Makin Memories new swim platform is nearing completion. We are on the schedule to haul-out later this month to attach our custom swim platform and perform other work in preparation for the Great Loop beginning in January. I thought I would write about the materials being used by Doug at Custom Boat Work co-located with Pitman’s Yacht Service in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

I thought I would write a little about the materials being used by Doug at Custom Boat Work which is co-located with Pitman’s Yacht Service in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Doug recommended using 1708 bi-axle glass as the multiple laying fabric on top of and on the bottom of the Kay-Cel core (more on Kay-cel Swim Platform Materials used 2017IMG_2805in a moment). 1708 bi-axle glass is a heavy duty glass reinforcement common in marine construction. Used where high strength and fast build-up are necessary. It contains double bias(17oz) stitched at +/- 45 degrees to provide this superior strength. The mat in this fabric is stitched and fully compatible with polyester, vinyl ester, and epoxy resins.

The core of this swim platform is made by Kayco and is called Kay-cel. The Kay-cel core makes use of polyurethane rigid foam has been growing rapidly in Swim Platform Materials used 2017IMG_2806many industries due to its excellent combination of energy conservation, good mechanical strength with lighter weight than other traditional materials. It is a rigid, closed-cell, high-density polyurethane foam core panel. Its advantages are:

Excellent Strength-to-Weight ratio

Foam Reinforced with fiberglass increases mechanical properties

Lightweight – 30% Lighter Than Marine Plywood

Closed Cell Cross-Linked Polymer Foam will not absorb water

Will Not Rot…Excellent Replacement for Wood

You may note a white bar in the pictures provided also. That is the material of the blow-out sections (four of them) in the event of taking swells from the stern that would otherwise exert excessive force on the transom. They will be held in place with #8 screws.

 

[ben2go]

Oh yeah. That SP is going to feel like it was made as part of the hull. It should be solid as a rock. Excellent choice in companies to execute the SP fab.

 

[Comodave]

Is the platform going to be bonded to the hull or bolted on? What was wrong with the old one?

 

[MakinMemories]

Almost There!!

I went by Doug’s custom Boat Work today (co-located with Pitman’s Yacht Service in Tarpon Springs, Fl.) to check on the progress of Makin Memories swim platform. Doug let me know that he believes he will be ready to pop the platform out of the mold tomorrow, maybe Friday depending on the weather tomorrow, and make sure that I am there to watch it. The four sections as seen in the photos are where the blow-out panels will be located and screwed in with #8’s. The blow-out panels are in case Makin Memories takes a gigantic swell from the stern and instead of the full impact of the wave exerting its force against the transom and trying to lift 24 tons of vessel, the blow-out panels will be pushed out and the excessive force will be dissipated thus saving the possibility of transom failure. Sounds good to me!

 

[MakinMemories]

The new platform will be bolted to the hull. The old one was double bolted and rotten through and through.

 

[kapnd]

I would make some gratings for the blow out openings, would save having 4 giant holes in your swim step if it ever does come into play.