BOATEC, INC. MANUFACTURING PROCESSES
The first process of obtaining a high quality fiberglass truck body panel all begins with the "molds" which is the tool used to fabricate the desired part shape. These molds are all designed and engineered in house by the experts at Boatec, Inc.

Boatec is currently using two different types of technology to create the truck parts, the old "Open Mold Technology" and their new "Closed Mold Technology".

Boatec is converting into a "Closed Mold" facility. This Closed Mold process is called Light RTM, which means Resin Transfer Molding. The parts are made by a vacuum assisted low-pressure resin injection system. The manufacturing process starts the same with spraying the mold with the desired color gel coat or paint scheme. The mold is then loaded dry with a set amount of fiberglass and a back mold is installed. The back mold is a mirror image of the female mold, but has a cavity between the two allowing for weight and thickness change. The two molds remain together by using a vacuum channel built into the back mold and is then injected with a mix of resin and catalyst pulling vacuum through a vacuum pot. Once the resin has cured sufficiently, the mold can be opened and the part removed.

The use of the Closed Mold process results in significantly lower styrene emission, a more attractive reproduction of parts with better consistency. The RTM process also leaves good cosmetics on both sides of the part. The smooth backside helps shed the dirt off the fenders keeping the truck lighter during the race.

Boatec is committed to this new process and setting its future goals on 100% conversion into Closed Mold Processing.

The Open Mold process is a manual process and starts with spraying the mold with the desired color of gel coat or paint scheme that is desired. The part is then laminated by the use of a chopper gun. The chopper gun takes gun roving, which is a collection of twisted glass fibers wound together, resin, and catalyst all pulled together at the same time and manually sprayed into the open mold to a desired thickness. Once the part is cured it can be pulled from the mold and sent to the trim room to have the excess fiberglass waste trimmed from the outer edges. The part is then ready to be mounted to the truck. Boatec fiberglass body panels have a superior fit and finish and do not require any sanding or painting.
Top