Craftsmanship & Technology
Three years beforethe first splash
We could have shipped a boat in six months. Instead, we spent three years with naval architects, aerodynamic specialists and composite chemists getting it right.
The Approach
Advanced by science
Every surface of the 428 started as data. The hull was developed with aerospace engineers using wind-tunnel and hydrodynamic simulation across a two-year aero/hydro program, followed by a year of experimentation with resins and chemical compounds — including consultations with the chemists who engineer carbon-fiber windmill blades.
“We’ve advanced the build process scientifically to the next level.”
Scott Grants — Co-founder, Platinum PowerboatsThe goal was never just speed. It was the strongest, lightest catamaran on the market — built with structural integrity.
Computational fluid dynamics
Simulated before it was built
Before a single ply of carbon was cut, the 428 flew thousands of virtual miles. Pressure coefficients, surface friction, velocity fields and streamlines were mapped across the hull, tunnel and canopy at racing speeds — and the shape was refined until the numbers said it would stay planted at 130.
Simulation imagery from the 428 aerodynamic study performed with AirShaper.
The Process
From billet to blue water
Five-axis CNC plugs
Hull and deck plugs are machined on a five-axis CNC router directly from the engineering model — so the tooling matches the simulations to the millimeter.
Proprietary vacuum infusion
Every 428 is all carbon fiber and epoxy, infused under vacuum with a proprietary process for a void-free, uniform laminate that hand layup can’t achieve.
Post-cure
Hulls and decks are post-cured, locking in the full mechanical properties of the epoxy system.
Built in-house, obsessively
Carbon-fiber seat buckets modeled after the McLaren Senna are made in-house. Dash components are 3D-printed for each owner. The windscreen is a single piece of three-quarter-inch acrylic with no center support — and it doesn’t even wiggle at 120 mph.
Art on carbon
Paint and graphics by renowned artists including Stephen Miles Design, on an interior originally designed with Nick Mayden of Mayden Design Co.
Watch it happen
Carbon under vacuum
Resin moving through carbon cloth under full vacuum — the moment a 428 hull becomes one piece. This is the process that makes a 6,500-pound, 42-foot catamaran possible.
Inside the build
Shop floor, unfiltered
The Crew
We only hire rock stars
Scott Grants said it plainly: “We didn’t want to just hire anyone. We knew we needed to hire rock stars.” Here’s who builds your boat.
Enrique Zuniga
Sixteen years at MTI, where he rose to lead the lamination team — the single most critical job in composite boat building. “Honestly, I just love building boats. I was looking for a way to get back into it, and I really like these guys and what they want to do.”
Jonathon Gutierrez
A decade alongside Zuniga on MTI’s lamination team before joining Platinum. “Building boats is my passion, actually, and he brought me back in.”
Nick Mayden — Mayden Design Co.
The 428’s cockpit layout and seating concept were designed with Nick Mayden, the designer behind some of the best-known interiors in the sport.
Stephen Miles Design & Wes Jones
Hull No. 1 wears Stephen Miles’ color-shifting artwork; graphics specialist Wes Jones carries every scheme across trailers, canopies and hardware.
Built by rock stars.
Led by racers.
See the process in person — come tour the Port Orange shop.
Tour the shop →