April/MAy 2018 61yArD prOFilE: Schooner Creek
50/50 materials/labor, and vary no
more than 10% one way or the other.”
Most projects nowadays at Schooner
Creek are built in composites. The 28'
Sponberg-designed rowboat is all car-
bon instead of glass, to save, as Rander
observed, “the weight of a couple of
people riding along for nothing.”
But for the big sailboat projects, thefoam plug. And that, Rander points
out, would still just be a rough plug
from which the builder would need to
make a mold. “Ours was ready to
build,” says Rander. “From the time we
took the order, in two months we were
building the boat. That just doesn’t
happen [making conventional plugs
and molds]. Our tooling costs areit from changing shape due to changes
in the weather. These types of molds
are throwaways and intended for short
runs and must be kept indoors until
no longer needed. Some carbon fiber
was added at the open end of the mold
to give it some added strength.
“Once the mold is complete, it is
prepared as any other mold would
be, using wax or mold release prior
t o u s e .”
Schooner Creek has taken two hulls
out of the mold already, and with two
more boats on order, they plan at least
six. “And who knows how many more
after that,” Rander says.
Morrelli & Melvin designed and
engineered the hulls to meet American
Bureau of Shipping and U.S. Coast
Guard requirements. They are cored
with Divinycell H80 above the water-
line, H100 below, and H250 placed
where heavy loads are expected. Coosa
board (www.coosacomposites.com) is
used for some high-load attachment
points such as the transom brackets for
life rafts that weigh 800 lbs (362 kg).
Skins are E-glass and the laminate is
infused with vinylester resin. (Fire-
retardant vinylesters are employed for
some commercial projects as required.)
Holland Roberts runs the parts
department and is charged with just-
in-time delivery. “But,” Flanigan
emphasizes, “we have to inventory
certain materials, because lead times
are so far out. We never want to run
out. On every project, we want to
make sure no one ever has to reach for
something that isn’t there. That only
costs you money.”
“Going back to the 70-footer Rage,”
Rander adds, “we built it in 10 weeks,
and that was simply a case of materials
flow. Yes, there were some 20-hour
days, but we made sure everything was
always there. We sit down with our
leads and project what they’re going to
need. Everything just in time. A lot of
materials take a long time to get.”
How does all this add up and trans-
late to cost? Flanigan and Rander esti-
mate that they can tool a 65' cat for
roughly half the cost a dedicated tool-
ing business would charge to mill aSchoonerCreek172-ADFinal.indd 61 2/22/18 3:47 PM