Best cold molding book??

[stonedpirate]

Hi,

I get the basics of cold molding, but would like a detailed step by step guide?

Anyone know a decent book?

Thanks

[jehardiman]

I like Modern Wooden Yacht Construction by John Guzzwell. Goes through the entire process as well as wood selection. A bit dated (1979), but still a good mid level work on the subject. Note that this book does not cover cold molded scantling design, only the building process.

[DCockey]

Best free book has to be The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction.
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/assets/...k%20061205.pdf

[Ilan Voyager]

Yes Dcocked, it's simply the most detailed, from the tooling, quantities calculations, methods etc. Fool proof. A comment; cold molding is very, very tedious, very time consuming and thus rather expensive. A bit outdated I'm afraid. But some realisations were outstanding.

[david@boatsmith]

+1 for the Gougeon book. As far as cold molded being outdated I will have to disagree. Wood fibers are still the only fiber we have that doesn't fatigue with flexation. Sure you can build lighter stiffer composite hulls but the longevity of materials is way different. A 20 year old heavily raced Laser or Melges 24 is no longer competitive with a new hull as the laminate has gotten softer.

[michael pierzga]

Yup Gougeons book. Note that the book is now available for download free at the Gougeons brothers site. Google it

One beautiful aspect of cold molding is that a single handed builder can slowly work at his own pace. Cold molding is hundreds of small components assembled one at a time.


As was noted... it is labor intensive.

[DCockey]

Originally Posted by michael pierzga

Yup Gougeons book. Note that the book is now available for download free at the Gougeons brothers site. Google it
......

Or click on the link I provided above.

[stonedpirate]

I cant believe its free

I paid $100 for it over a year ago

I like the book for an overall picture, but would like something specifically about cold molding.

Like the sam devlins stitch and glue book but for cold molding.

[Ilan Voyager]

I do know well cold molded as I entered apprentice beginning 1971, and I obtained the qualification of master naval carpenter and loftman (traceur et maître compagnon charpentier naval Devoir et Liberté) end 1974 after presenting my masterpiece. I worked in 6 shipyards in 5 european countries. Later I made the studies of naval engineer...I think I have some notions of wood boatbuilding.

So I say that's very labor intensive, very expensive for a shipyard unless you delocate in Philippina or China. You have at least three plies to cut, adjust, glue, grape,and "degrape", plus 4 sandings (inside, 2 intermediate plies et final), add the laminated ribs. Absolutely beautiful and inaffordable.

Even for an amateur it's long, very long; often a composite strip plank/ glass fiber/ epoxy is a better alternative.

Technically is pretty strong but being almost anisotropic is better suited to monohulls. Multihulls need more longitudinal fiber to get rid of a bunch of stringers (look at the pics of the Rogue Wave building and its cluttered inside).

Again strip plank is often better. Smooth interior, no stringers, fewer transversal structure (bulkheads) and better protection by the thicker structural glass fiber skins...

Sometimes cold molding on a stringer-bulkhead frame can be a pain. You have to add stringers as the stringer-bulkhead frame is a rather inadequate mold. Again look at the pics of Rogue Wave...

That explain why I called it outdated because many times you have a better solution using wood, simpler and at better price.
Read the Gougeon's book, it's very formative...

[stonedpirate]

Thanks

I should mention that it is a 10 foot mono hull.

At 10 feet, its so small that cold molding becomes affordable and less time consuming.

[Borneogoat]

I would suggest The New Cold-Molded Boatbuilding by Reuel Parker. Covers the construction of a cold molded boat from whoa to go. Available from Amazon etc.

[Corley]

Cold molding is a simple enough procedure but quite tedious. I've nearly finished my 25 ft trimaran main hull in triple diagonal you get better and faster as you go. What I like about the method is that I can do small sections at a time which is great. I'm building a couple of floats in double diagonal and its much quicker than triple diagonal I'm flying through them. I used the gougeon brothers on boat construction manual as a reference.

It pays to build a good mold I'd be inclined to increase the number of stations to a similar number as you would use in strip planking that way if your using mdf sheet ripped into strips for your battens there is less chance of them sagging between mold stations. The alternative is to use dimensional lumber but its much more expensive and needs to be reasonably clear of faults (and therefore more expensive) to curve in a fair manner over the mold. Its worth using dimensional lumber for your gunwhale strip as the veneers can tend to pull the mdf out of shape in that area. I made my battens out of 18mm mdf sheet which I had ripped into strips by a cabinet maker.