Aquasport Molds...

[seabob4]

Gentlemen,
I had an interesting discussion with Wellcraft CS this afternoon in regards to housedoctors vinyl question, but also in regards to the state of AS molds, i.e. where are they, what happened to them, etc.  Spoke with Brian, who has been with Four Winns for 25 years and was in charge of getting all the WC stuff up there...and whatever AS stuff they decided to take.  According to him, most of the hull and deck molds were cut up and trucked off to the scrap metal yards at port of Tampa.  Some of the larger molds are still in the plant boneyard, but they won't be sold, mainly because of the patents on the hulls as a result of the design work done by Harry Schoell.

Just thought you guys would want to hear about this... :cry:

[bumpster]

What a waste!

[seabob4]

I couldn't believe it either!  I mean, I asked him, "You mean actually cut up and thrown away?"  He was actually a cool guy, but when I asked him about the bigger molds, you know, my stuff, he was very adamant that they wouldn't be sold...not because it was his job, but just that he knew, after being around Irwin Jacobs for so long, it just wasn't going to happen...

You know, one can always do splashes...

[RickK]

Were the molds metal?  I have visions of wooden molds all waxed up....

[seabob4]

Were the molds metal?  I have visions of wooden molds all waxed up....

Rick, I'll get back with just how molds are built...  Watching the Ed Show now on MSNBC...

[seabob4]

Rick, and everyone else,
When a mold is made it is primarily wood and putty and tooling gel.  Once it is where everyone wants it, it is then glassed entirely on the outside in the case of a hull, or on the inside, in the case of a deck.  Once the glass has kicked off, a massive framework of steel plates and tubing encases the entire mold so that when the temps get hot during the lam process, the mold, HOPEFULLY, won't flex or deviate.

This isn't ours, but here's a pic of a hull mold, probably about a 22' or so, that shows that framing...


A 250 Osprey/Explorer hull mold would basically be about 35' long, 12' wide, and 10' high, as the mold also has to have framing and BIGA$$ wheels to move it around!  So on the smaller molds, cut them up into thirds, truck the pieces to Tampa, they put them in incinerators to burn off the wood/putty/gel/glass, and they have their scrap metal.  Horrible way to end a legacy...

[RickK]

Thanks Bob.
Sad way to end the Aquasport legacy.

[Hardwater]

Thanks for passing that on, Bob.  The first reaction is - They did what?.  From a business standpoint, you'd think there would be more value/money in selling the brand name and molds - at some point - than destroying them.

Oh….wait a minute….selling them might mean future competition for Genmar.  Much better to bury the remnants of a brand with a long history in the boat building industry than risk that.  Besides…the bean counters probably figured a nice write-off in there somewhere.  

Sad, indeed.

[housedocter]

Bob,  did Brian happen to mention who supplied AS with the vinyl?  The cushions were made by Garelick and I have sent pix to them so they can possibly check to see who the supplier was (maybe).  Tried to do this before,  but ran up against a stone wall with the first person I talked to a few weeks back.  I spoke with a Karen in customer service today and she is now nominated for the "friendliest customer service person" award in my book.  Hopefully she comes up with something.

[seabob4]

HD,
He had no clue as to who may have been the supplier.  Hopefully, your new little girlfriend at Garelik can be of some help...