Building the Male Mold

Originally I planed to build the boat using CoreCell, a high quality marine foam core material with fiberglass skins.  I planned a male mold frame covered with very thin plywood on which I would mount the core material, then cover that with fiberglass and epoxy, flip it, remove the mold, support the half made hull, fiberglass and epoxy the inside . . . etc.

I had some old salvaged plywood, 2×4’s and 4×4’s.  I bought a few more pieces of framing lumber, and hauled it all home behind my bicycle.

It was early winter.  I have a small concrete pad (4×12) below my house, and the weather was good enough for me to build the strongback and frame the male mold – and then I covered it with a big tarp.

By early spring I’d decided to build the boat using thin plywood as core material, and use stitch and glue as the construction method.  This would be much less expensive as well as quicker and easier.  The male mold would still be very helpful for laying out the panels – measuring, marking, cutting; fitting one to another.

I’d also made small changes in some of the boat’s dimensions, so I modified the mold frame as needed.