Fire At RP Boatworks

[Madchark]

I was informed that RP Boatworks had a fire on Monday destroying all the molds. If anyone has the article, please post for more info. Sad Day.

[Dads Dream]

Is that located in CT?

[gmoney]

Steuben, Maine


http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/138012.html

[JD5652]

It's sad to hear about the molds....but is very good to hear that one was injured or killed......

[Dads Dream]

You talk about Down East Maine.....

Its located N-NE of Bar Harbor....its one of the poorest parts of Maine as well~ commercial fishing & logging & blueberries are the industries up there......

What a shame.....

[gmoney]

yeah its a stones throw from Jonesport.

There's not much up there, No Suh.

[dunn6253]

This is terrible news to hear. I hope that they can somehow recover the molds that they lost. Is it a simple process of just building another mold? What goes into making the mold? Don, do you know?

Hopefully there was insurance on the building, as one day I wouldn't mind owning a 35 RP. I hope this doesn't hurt them and they can get by on the work that they had in the other building........

[relentless]

This is terrible and I wish them a speedy recovery if possible. I hope they don't shut down as they make a great boat.

Capt Dave

[clt_capt]

Is it a simple process of just building another mold? What goes into making the mold? Don, do you know?

Making a mold is a fairly simple process - If you have something to mold. That's gonna be the challenge - if they still have the plugs or hulls pulled from the mold, they can use that to make a new mold.

Toughest part of making a new mold is getting the surface of the plug perfect. Then you wax it, apply mold release, then tooling gel coat, and layers of fiberglass - a production quality mold needs to be a couple of times thicker than the part pulled from it, and it usually needs a steel frame around it. A lot of time and money goes into mold making.

[Storm]

I Just read about this fire in the local newspaper this morning.

I spent a good part of one winter driving from Portland to Steuben (about a three hour drive) while my 40' kit was being built. I did a couple overnighters at a local motel. The owners, Dickie and Gene, were kind enough to let me do some of the work while the boat was in their shop - which just happened to be the layup building that was leveled from the explosion. I can't say enough good things about the entire crew at RP. I was a bit of a novice (still am for that matter) at boatbuilding and these guys were patient and generous with their advice.

I wish them the best of luck. RP recently built a 42-footer from the 40-foot mold and I was hoping to take a trip up there and learn more about it.