290EC Deck Mold Complete

We finished building our 290EC deck mold last Friday while I was at the Miami Boat Show. The flange has been trimmed and the mold (sitting atop of the plug) has been sent over to maintenance to add the steel framework. The steel framework will give the mold rigidity to ensure that each part comes out per our design specification and also that the mold is structurally sound enough to last many years.

This mold looks great! At World Cat, we have a dedicated in-house team that builds our molds and takes their job very seriously as leaders in charge of our future. Many manufacturers outsource the mold making process, we believe that we're best suited to build our most valuable assets!

When building our molds we use a 100% vinyl-ester tooling resin that is specifically designed to build tooling and to withstand heat and shrinkage. After the plug is completed, we wax and prep the mold and spray one layer of black tooling gelcoat (the outside layer), and one layer of green tooling gelcoat (the inner layer). We do this so that we can see problem areas that need fixed on the mold before they become real problems in production. On hulls and decks, once the gelcoat has become tacky, we buildup the mold by hand-laying 12 layers of chopped strand mat which results in a 21-ounce buildup. This is allowed to cure completely, and that's where we are at now... time to add metal!

Hope you found this interesting, stay tuned for future updates to the 290EC and our other projects, we'll finish building the metal framework this week and pull the mold next week to begin prepping it for the first deck!