Once the gelcoat has set up in the deck mold, it’s time to put the structural components into the deck layup. Decks are supported by interior bulkheads and so when our engineers are determining panel strength requirements, they must consider the size of the un-supported panels. Consider that in your typical home all framing is done on 16" centers. In some boat applications there are open spans (a main salon for example) which can measure up to ten feet by fourteen feet.) In order to ensure the stiffness of the panels we use both architectural form and sandwich type composite materials. In some hard top sections the coring materials can be as much as 2" thick and the curvature of the deck surface can be crowned by as much as two inches over the span of the panel. There is an added bonus to this curvature too; it creates excellent drainage of the deck surfaces.
Occasionally I will have a question from a consumer about these shapes. In many cases they are thinking about the design and structure of buildings and those rules just don’t work in boat design and building.
Mike and his crew in the deck shop have now laid in the structural E glass behind the gelcoated surface. Then they have added the coring material and to the inside of the coring they have applied additional layers of E glass. Once all of this is ready the part will be lifted out of the deck mold and then rotated over to it’s top side up position. From there it will go to the deck department for the fitting of the deck hardware but that’s a story for another day.