The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction - WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

Chapter 5 – Hull Construction Techniques—An Overview 37
Figure 5-1 <strong>The</strong> 30' (9.1m), IOR 1 ⁄2-ton racer Accolade is the
largest boat we have built using the mold method.
exert the pressure necessary to hold layers together
until the epoxy has cured. Historically, this pressure was
usually supplied by staples, but techniques which rely
on a vacuum to secure layers have also become popular,
especially in production situations.
If you build a relatively strong mold, you have a firm
base on which to build. <strong>The</strong> biggest advantage of this is
reproducibility: you can make any number of identical
hulls from a single mold. <strong>The</strong> major disadvantage of the
mold method is that it is difficult to absorb the time
and materials required to build a mold when you only
want one hull. <strong>The</strong> larger the boat, the larger this
problem becomes unless you are able to find other
people willing to rent or purchase the mold to build
their own hulls. Another objection to the mold method,
Figure 5-2 A beautiful dinghy built by Steven Loutrel using
the mold method.
Figure 5-3 A molded dinghy built by Peter Unger. This size
and style are ideally suited to the mold method.
particularly for bigger boats, is that there is no practical
way of installing interior frames, bulkheads, or stringers
in the set-up. You must build all of these structural
elements into the interior after you remove the mold
from the hull.
If you are considering the mold method for aesthetic
or weight-saving reasons, we recommend it for boats
under 25' (7.6m) that have hulls thick enough to
require little support from interior framework. Smaller
hulls, in general, are ideal for monocoque construction.