Shaping up the Cold Moulded hull

Phew !  At last I begin to see something worth the effort. Its wooden and coming together. Staples have been removed and a light sanding given, the shape is slowly emerging of some sort of craft. The outside gunnel strip added,  previously steam bent and spliced together out of two lengths of Oak and now glued in place. It will add stiffness as the hull is turned over - right side up.
As  I  begin to lay lay down the ply strips on the port side the benefit of re-reading the John Leather book on the subject of cold moulding becomes more apparant.
Much better to cut the ply strips in batches and prepare a dozen or more together then fit them in a session so that constant switching of tools is reduced.
The weight upon the mobile jig is becoming more noticable as one of the caster wheels has shed its rubber tyre and had to be helped by a lash up support alongside and formed with the use of a skateboard.

The coloured mould strips are simply adorned with insulating tape to prevent glue attaching the ply to the mould and making it difficult to lift off the hull. I shall need help at that stage.

Alternate strips of  3mm ply being laid - the first of three layers on the port side

Cold Moulded Dinghy - Build Progress

30th April sees me finishing laying ply to the starboard side and optimism rises as the prospect of getting the other side completed in May looks good.
I have now bought the trailer / launch trolley  and shall be fabricating a temporary cradle to support the unfinished hull. The nail biting prospect of lifting it off the mould demands I get some help with the muscle power needed once the starboard side is laid.

Cold Moulded Dinghy progress

Slow and steady wins the race or so its said. But this is no race just a journey down the road that satisfies my need to make things out of wood. Something that's  been with me since the age of  ten and the box of balsa wood parts to cut out for something that could fly.
Hopefully I will inspire my two little grandsons (aged three and four to do something similar by letting them drill holes in wood with my power screw driver.
From the video its clear I am making progress and something shapely is beginning to emerge.

Slow progress on the Dinghy

Well pleased with the way my new craft is shaping up today. I made an early start before lunch but Sunday demands I don't disturb the peace too much in our village neighbourhood. Most of the work is done with the garage door closed and outside the tremperature was a chilly 4 deg C with a cold wind blowing off the sea ( a south easterly ).

My video :

About a third of the second layer now inplace to the starboard side.

From this viewpoint the freeboard looks too high but its a trick of camera perspective. Should the gunnels look  wrong once the craft is removed from the mould and is upright the jigsaw will make light work of adjustment. Wood can always be removed but adding height would be very much more of a problem. 

17th April update  --  Butt ends are being spliced on the diagonal.

Around the bilge area some of the slats are needing to be hollowed on the underside.

End splice.  Judging from how much ply has been consumed to date, I expect to use 9 sheets of  8' X 4' ply in total.

Dinghy Build Progress

First Layer of ply completed on one side and some of the staples are being removed.