 Welcome back! Today we are visiting one of the more unique departments here at Sportsman Votes. We are visiting our metal shops and our powder coating departments. In this building we fabricate all of the aluminum parts that will eventually become hardtop frames, rod holders and even hand rails. So stick around as we go behind the glass. When it comes to metal parts, aluminum is the preferred choice. There are two main reasons for that. The first is aluminum's superior corrosion resistance. Unlike other metal choices, aluminum is naturally resistant to corrosion. Modern marine alloys take these natural properties to the next level. The second is aluminum's weight. It's considerably lighter than other metals, allowing the frames to be strong but lightweight. The aluminum gets delivered to the floor in long pieces. These pieces come in in various sizes and shapes. Once the aluminum has been delivered, work can begin on the final parts. Let's take a close look at the manufacturing process of a hardtop frame. The team members start by bending the pieces using our state-of-the-art CNC bender. This ensures accurate bends on every piece and makes quick work of intricate compound bends. They will batch process all of the necessary pieces for multiple tops at once. The pre-bent pieces then get final trimmed to the appropriate size. Using templates and jigs, the team member starts assembling the required pieces together. This is a crucial step to have a high quality finished part. Once satisfied with the fitment, they start tack welding the parts together. This will secure the pieces together and ensure that it keeps the shape. Next, full penetration welds are completed on all of the seams. This is where the art form of welding comes in. It takes years to master and it's very visible in the finished product. It should look like stacked coins on every weld. The hardtop frame is coming along nicely. You've seen it go from a stack of parts all the way to a completed hardtop frame. This procedure is very similar for all of our metal parts. Now, let's take a look at adding the durable powder coating finish. Here at Sports our powder coating is done in-house. We utilize a multi-step process proven to be tough and durable. The completed parts are delivered to the powder coating room where a quality technician inspects the parts. The inspector is looking for defects in the wells and other signs of minor quality issues. Proper pretreatment of every part before powder coating is the most important step in getting great performance and longevity out of every powder coated parts. The prep process begins with an alkaline cleaner that removes any dirt, cutting fluid, grease, rust, oil and any other contaminants. This is followed by a high pressure wash to remove the chemicals. Our next prep step is what really sets our process apart from others is how we have elevated the durability and quality on all of our powder coated parts. Using a low pressure sprayer, the technician applies a cerconium acid pretreatment that chemically reacts and converts the surface into a thin film of cerconium oxide. This chemical change dramatically increases adhesion of the powder coating. This step has been proven to increase durability, corrosion resistance and salt spray performance. At this stage, all of the prep work has been completed and it is now time to apply the powder coating. The part gets rolled into the spray booth along with other parts to be simultaneously sprayed. As the name suggests, powder coating is a pigmented powder that takes advantage of the physical traction of opposing electrical charges. A charge is applied to the part being sprayed and the powder is negatively charged as it exits the gun. A 2 to 4 mil thick layer of powder effortlessly clings on the part and is ready for the next step. At this stage, the powder is on the part but it is not permanent just yet. That final step is done inside of an oven. Before we go on any further, we wanted to show you what a part actually looks like before it gets baked. So this part here, the powder has been sprayed on the part but it is not permanent. Let me show you. You can actually take this and take it right off. So you see the aluminum is right behind it and that's what it looks like right before it gets baked. In my hand here, I have a part that has been baked and the finish on it is what you expect out of powder coating. It's completely cured on and it is now permanently attached to this piece of aluminum. So with that let's go ahead and jump back in and take a look at the steps required to actually bake an aluminum part. We now see the technician wheel the parts into a large oven. This oven can bake multiple large parts and small parts at the same time. The oven will heat up to over 400 degrees Fahrenheit and permanently bake the coating on the part. This process of pretreatment and baking is what gives powder coating its durability. The parts will spend roughly 30 minutes in this oven. The parts are now ready for final quality checks before they are delivered to the floor. These checks are broken down into three steps. The first step is a visual inspection. The quality technician is looking for any visible imperfections on the finish. This can include areas where the coating is thin or has any contaminants. The second quality check is a cure test. This makes certain that the powder coating has been fully baked and cured on the part. The final check is a coating thickness test. Similar to the mill gauge test we saw during our gel coat steps, the technicians use a digital mill gauge to measure the thickness of the coating at various spots. This step ensures the coating is within specification and ready to be installed on the boat. Thank you for spending time with us taking a look at our metal fabrication and powder coating departments. This is part of our SportTech Advanced Fabrication process. This proprietary combination of processes and materials yields the best results each step of the way and has been thoroughly tested with durability, longevity and finish. All sportsmen boats feature 100% composite construction with zero wood. Join us in our next episode for another installment of Sportsmen's Behind the Glass. We will be talking all about quality, issue tracking and our test tanks. From Somerville, South Carolina, my name is Victor and thank you for watching.