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. 

How to build a Dinghy in Cold Moulded Ply.

From the lines of this classic dinghy I have modified myself a rowing and pottering boat for general purpose use capable of being powered by a small outboard (The best outboard for the world and known as the Seagull Plus).
A 1/8th scale half mould was made and sectioned off so that I could make the eight full scale moulds that need to be mounted on a mobile horse in the confined garage space available.
As of the 8th of February I am at the stage of mounting the moulds onto the horse/jig. In order to ensure all is correctly alligned I shall be using spirit level, set square, sight lines and making many adjustments until I am satisfied that the dinghy will be fair in shape from all angles.
14th March and the mould is being built up. The stem, hog, keel and transom are joined together and in place.
17th March and the slats are being added to the mould.
Once the entire mould is covered and faired smooth and rounded, the surface will be sheathed in 1.5mm marine ply laid diagonally in strips two inches wide. Each strip will be stapled in place temporarily and the second and third layers added (glued in place) withdrawing the staples  in the immediate underlayer as the work progresses.
28th March and almost ready to begin laying the ply. Took delivery of ply but the wrong thickness, so the idea of  using 1.5mm changed to using 3mm ply in three layers instead of the intended four layers of 1.5mm ... Fortunately my supplier had a special offer and resultant cost is substantially less.
5th April and I am laying on the 2" wide strips of ply. Because the edges don't lay parallel (due to the compound curvature hull shape) a gap is left to be later filled by a second tranch of alternate strips. Each of these will need to be spiled to fit using a marking gauge.  

11th April and one side covered with the first of three layers of ply. So 1/6th of the way along a road which is probably going to take a month before the hull may be released from the mould.

Half model at 1/8th scale

Scaled up paper patterns from which the full-size moulds are taken

The moulds mounted on a mobile horse/jig

Level and trued up

Ribbands follow the mould shape

Viewed from inside

Transom keel and stem glued together with cascamite resin. The pine slats are to be planed fair to remove as many high spots as possible

Mould (plug) ready for the ply strips but require polythene film interlayer to prevent layup sticking to the slats

The first layer of 2" 3mm ply strips  laid with a gap between - just the bow remains with three to go.

The mobile jig is supported on six castor wheels

Shaping up slowly - Hopefully I shall speed up once the routine is mastered

The 14mm staples just about hold the ply down, but go deep into the layer beneath and can break on removal. I may well find that lifting off from the plug will be tricky. The solution may require remove of the plug in sections from below.  I will try using shorter staples later today.