Cold-Molded Boats

[Maren]

Originally Posted by Wotname

To clear up a couple of misconceptions posted above regarding water and wood.

Water is not (repeat not) the enemy of wood. Do not be put off cold molded / strip plank / epoxy encapsulation etc by the fear of water.

Seawater is fine around wood - witness centuries of wooden boats (before epoxy). Yes worms were an issue back then before modern antifouls but the seawater wasn't the problem.

Even freshwater isn't huge problem but it CAN lead to rot if allowed to collect and the area is not well ventilated.

Your argument is somewhat akin to saying it isn’t guns that kill people, it’s the bullets Or, it isn’t the fall that kills someone, it’s the sudden stop. Technically, what you say is true in that isn’t the water but by what is carried by the water. However, it still misses the mark because since, barring any significant damage, epoxy creates a barrier to water in the first place.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Maren

Your argument is somewhat akin to saying it isn’t guns that kill people, it’s the bullets Or, it isn’t the fall that kills someone, it’s the sudden stop. Technically, what you say is true in that isn’t the water but by what is carried by the water. However, it still misses the mark because since, barring any significant damage, epoxy creates a barrier to water in the first place.

Hmm... not sure if you misunderstood my point or I explained it badly or if I am misunderstanding your point .

C.S. is asking about maintenance issues of cold molded wood cf. GRP. As I understand it, several collective posts warned that if the barrier is damaged, the resulting water penetration destroys the wood.

My point is that seawater penetration will not destroy the wood although freshwater may be a problem if not well ventilated. Separating the two allows for any potential problems to be understood and therefore controlled.

As for water penetration in wood, it is useful to remember the following points (and they apply to cold molded, strip planked, epoxy encapsulation, raw wood, marine plywood etc).

Water penetration significantly weakens wood; however if the scantlings are correctly designed this is not a problem.
Seawater prevents most forms of rot.
Water penetration should not be confused with moisture (water vapor) penetration.
Apart from epoxy, most common waterproof glues are not vapor proof.

[David Spencer]

Can any of my fellow cold moulded hull enthusiasts recommend any good how to publications on this method. I would like to learn all I can before embarking on a build.
Thanks.

[Marinheiro]

the obvious is the Gougeon´s Boat Building book, John Guzzwell wrote a very good book about 20yrs back on NZ style frame stringer and 3 skin construction, similarly Ian Nicholson´s Cold Moulded & Strip Plank boat building, suggest Wooden Boat bookshop and Amazon. Second hand book shop sites might yield more results because I don´t think there have been too many books recently on this subject.
see also
Cold-Molded Boat Building | The Center for Wooden Boats

[Marinheiro]

Guzzwells book is called
Modern Yacht Construction
lots of used copies at Amazon and other sites

[MichaelC]

Amgine - wonderful post. Wood is a fantastic material. I don't know where some folks get their data, but plywood is stronger than standard planking wood, and pound for pound, as strong as steel. Carvel, ashcroft, strip, cold molding, straight plywood - all have their strengths and weaknesses, and all are nicer to live with than GRP. Anyone desiring to build a boat needs first to do lots of research, and then to build a couple of small ones first. You save the time and money when you build the big one, even if you give the small ones away. Pete Culler, one of the grand old men of wooden boat building, pointed out that experience only starts when you begin. and if the first one is a bit lumpy, well better it be a small one than a large one. Building a boat is NOT like building a house [I have done lots of both]. so do the research, build a small one or two, then go for it. Whatever material you choose, build it over strong and maintain it well. It needs to be strong, lovely [or you won't maintain it], keep the water outside and go like a scared cat. Have fun.

[Amgine]

Reuel Parker wrote "The New Coldmolded Boat Building" or something akin to that. It's a less-demanding, over-engineered, sorta workboatish approach to building your own cold molded hull. His hull designs are focused on shallow draft, and building it fast in the back yard with materials you can pick up from the local lumberyard.

[vacendak]

dixdesign.com - a website by Dudley Dix.
Many of his boats are designed for this techology,
also you can find a good list of useful literature

[PAR]

There seems to be a lot of myths about cold molding that I wasn't aware of. First of all, it's resale value is not low. It is in fact the highest of all the modern approaches. Without treading into the little known Lord strip plank method (which is the lightest of all methods), it's the lightest and strongest pound for pound technique going of all the wooden building methods. Given a choice, most professionals would take a molded boat over any other type, in the mid 90's WoodenBoat survay of yard managers when asked the question.

It's believed that a molded hull is more difficult to repair. This is no more so then a lapstrake or other building method. Yes, the repairs are different, and can require some intresting avenues of attack, but no more so then other types.

The real enemy, which has been eluded to previously isn't the choice of hull material or construction method. The real problem facing all wooden boats is neglect. Wooden boats can tolerate neglect the least of all the building materials. Of the building methods, cold molding ranks high, near the top of the list in terms of durability to neglect. Only composites with wooden cores fair better and this is directly proportionate to the thickness of the sheathings in comparison.

[stephaneg]

Hi everybody first of i m new here
well i have a question about Cold-Molded sailboat. I hear that they are the best. I am going to buy a sailboat to be living abord and sailling around the world and i like to know if a Cold-Molded sailBoat is good or a bad idia? I like to find one that is about 40 feet. what you all think about it? or is it better to get a older 1967 vintage fiberglass? i red that they are better then the newest one.
thank you for your help.
steph.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Steph.

[imagine2frolic]

What I am wondering is how in the heck I missed this thread?.......i2f

[Amgine]

Hi Steph!

Nearly every boat material and nearly every rig have been used successfully to go around the world. Some materials are a bit better than others for living aboard permanently, but only when you look at living on the same boat for more than 10 years. Cold-molded is an excellent idea for the kind of journey/life you described, but it's not necessarily better than other materials.

On the other hand, what your hull is made of is a rather small issue compared to knowing how to live aboard, how to maintain all the boat's systems, how to cruise.

[spiritbaer]

West System is the bible of cold moulding. Gougen brothers are the masters of this method of construction and have many extreme and beautifully build vessels to their credit. Their web site is wealth of information in regard to anything related to working with Fiberglas & epoxy. The methods of construction & repair that they use, can be used with any type of epoxy system.

[Boracay]

A 1967 fibreglass is a very old boat. That's 44 years old, If you get some serious uses it could reach 60 in your hands. That's very old in boating terms.

Don't forget that the boat purchase is only the beginning of the story. Very few boats are going to be turn key ready for cruising, so your heart and your wallet is going to be poured into the boat. Can be heartbreaking to do all that with a hull/deck/mast/engine bearers/interior that's not 100%.

There are probably some top cold moulded boats out there. They could be cheap and well made. The way to get some idea is to study how they are constructed, look at a few, find a surveyor with cold moulding experience, talk to him/her and then try to narrow it down to one boat.

Could take quite a while. Would you rather go sailing?