New swim platform

[Brian_289]

I’m taking my background in composites (We built carbon fiber jet ski hulls for a few years and ended up selling it all) and making a new platform for my boat. I recently had mine removed by waves while docked. So what better time than now to make one.

I went after the design of the newer style boats and ran with it. I also added in 1.5” riser blocks to the lower half. I made my prototype out of MDF board, this will later be coated with duratec ez sand. It’s a polyester primer that can be sanded and buffed to a shine. Once that is done I will be taking a fiberglass mold from the top half. After that I will be removing 1/4” all the way around and then coating and polishing the lower half to take the second half of the mold. When the two parts are cured and trimmed they will fit snugly into each other and be bonded permanently. Where the riser blocks are molded in there will be 1” thick HDPE embedded in the fiberglass for the bracket screws to bite into. I may end up making a few of these as some have already asked. Stay tuned for more later in the week when my materials show up. Don’t mind the dirty shop:


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[Brian_289]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200908/4d9401a413b6d8bf9d66686618339c54.jpg


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[Brian_289]

Top side of the platform is ready to take a mold.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200918/888759f0d1815ef8322150c60b67a115.jpg


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[Brian_289]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200919/d4c31cd2538ee2357cb474cc3eb23935.jpg
Got the gelcoat down and a few layers of glass down on the top half mold this evening. Tomorrow I start working on the bottom half.


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[Brian_289]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200919/74fbfbf5ff61c1e1262d0baef532b87f.jpg
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Upper mold is complete. Need to trim the edges. Later I’ll be making the bottom half to hopefully lift a mold from before the weekend is over.

[Turbinesurgeon]

Your making some pretty good progress, can’t wait to see the finished product. What boat is this going on?


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[Brian_289]

Your making some pretty good progress, can’t wait to see the finished product. What boat is this going on?


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06 21v. But it should fit others. The raised areas on the bottom for the brackets to attach are a larger footprint than they need to be (width wise at least) so it will handle some variance in width of the brackets from model to model. The only part that’s going to matter is the curve of the transom. When I’m all done with this one I’ll be updating my website with dimensions. Once the site is built that is! I have been out of the composites game for about 4 years. I swore I wouldn’t get back into it, but this is a different story compared to what I was doing.


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[Brian_289]

Sprayed some white gelcoat tonight. Making the first top half of a platform for Bryan at SurfMode. Should be out of the mold in the morning!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200919/8d5292deef78791cd203fee982ccd0f8.jpg
Bottom half is still in the works. It’s primed with duratec and needs to be sanded and polished. I hope to be making that mold tomorrow at some point.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200919/d9acd9f237bb2cd03347c8e6b4b50513.jpg


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[Turbinesurgeon]

My boat is the same colors as yours


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[Brian_289]

Well I had a little setback. The gelcoat stuck to the mold. I used sealer and release and several coats of wax. I didn’t have problems lifting the mold from the prototype. Oh well back to making the bottom half. Tooling gelcoat is down waiting to dry enough to start laying glass up to make the mold. I need to turn the heat on. I’m working in 50 degree temps! Nothing wants to cure very fast.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200920/f7b6909f37e19edabd46bfc216278448.jpg
Here you can see the built in risers that will elevate the platform up almost 2”. I made them bigger than I needed for my brackets to account for bracket placement variances from model to model.


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[Brian_289]

Lower half mold is completehttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200921/d0d547ed4066615f3802d5197acb88d4.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200921/6063e37e148755cec34dae37faa1b984.jpg
I hope to have the first one assembled by the weekend possibly. I plan to build a bottom half tomorrow now that the mold is prepped polished and ready for production.


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[Brian_289]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200924/d4d680ae7ba0f7e7902d381a04f59e0a.jpg
First one out. Needs the mold release washed off and a final trim. Otherwise I’m pretty happy with it!


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[Brian_289]

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Today I glassed in some 1” HDPE for the mount bracket screws to bite into. This will be filled with two part closed cell foam once the top half is installed over it.


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[Brian_289]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200928/9594db7d03d021a1ec85bef5ae6d5f1f.jpg
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First one is complete minus the padding on top. I’m waiting on the customer to let me know what color he wants.


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[Brian_289]

My boat is the same colors as yours


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Yes it sure is!


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[Turbinesurgeon]

Yes it sure is!


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Regardless what your customer wants the color should be orange [emoji2]


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[Brian_289]

I thought about it for my own. But with the risers the platform won’t be lined up with the orange any more, it will be centered on the black part. So I’m thinking I make mine black..


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[Brian_289]

Well, after a long wait I finally got to see my platform installed and put to use.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210502/5f830d60031f242530b07a4b5ea5c7e9.jpg
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