More laminating...

Straight away we laminated over the plastic gutter pipe...this box section when covered in GRP would make the mold stiff...

The flange and quadrant were also covered with GRP....

This will give support when levering a boat out of the mold...

Believe it or not....but the mold is made...this call's for a beer!

We took a break from the project for a couple of weeks at this point ....not knowing what lay underneath....did we miss any spots of Gel-coat..was there any air bubbles left...who knows...

Making a mold of a clinker dinghy

Making a mold of a clinker dinghy

Separating the mold from the clinker...

The day eventually came round, when we decided to remove the mold...After all this work over such a long time... I had forgotten what we had actually done...
As luck would have it, some of my sons friends arrived out of the blue...they would come in handy...
It was'nt very pretty, but the way to start to release the mold... is to hammer it on all surfaces with a rubber mallet.
After this,a wedge of wood was partially forced between the two surfaces to force them apart...after doing this a few times the mold slightly lifted from the boat...
It was'nt until a length of strong rope was fixed to the nose of the mold and then levered against the bow,(using a six foot length of 3x3in) of the boat underneath...that there was a series of cracks..and the mold broke free...
Everybody then managed to get their fingers in between the two surfaces, and lifted..
There it was in all it's glory...The Mold...
It looked great....a few little blemishes here and there, but nothing to really bother about...the 10 coats of wax had done their job.


This called for a beer...in fact beers all round...

Trim and Polish...

That sounds easy...trim and polish...
What that really means...is mark the flange of the mold with a scribe...and cut the flange to the required width, with an angle grinder...that's easy...

Then start to rub out any lumps and bumps with abrasive paper...when that was completed, after a few days...any crevices had to be filled with gel-coat...taped over and left to dry...then rub them down again...and when you think they are smooth enough, change to a smoother grade paper and...rub them down again ...and again...and again...gradually going through 240 wet and dry...400...800...and finally 1200...I've really gone off rubbing down by now...

With all the blemishes removed...and all the rubbing down now completed...you must say ''that is it''......it is......it's done....no more rubbing down..!
Only one more thing...the now dull surface of the mold, needed to be compounded up, to give it a good shine...


We are ready to go again...........Let's start at the very beginning....10 coats of wax...

To finish off...

The original boat now needed to be restored....as it had served it's purpose..

All the filler and MDF was removed, by you've guessed ot ...rubbing down...
This did'nt seem as bad...because I could actually see what I needed to do...
Rub it back with coarse paper to remove the un-natural high gloss finish it had now attained....re-fit the rubbing strips with brass screws...that alone took two days, as the oak strips had by now dried out...never the less...levers and ropes pulled them back, to line up with the positions they had been removed from, 12 months earlier...the boat was then painted with two coats of undercoat...before a further two coats of gloss were applied...





The solid brass keel band was polished and re-fitted, using brass screws...
















Due to the vast amount of rubbing down the boat had received...it now sported a superior finish...ready for it's next owner...

....It could be you....

Creating the first boat from the mold..

The original wooden boat was sold at auction with almost 2000 people showing an interest...

It has gone back to the Thames in London, where I'm sure it will be at home in any classic boat rally...

It's been some time since we made the mold, but due to other commitments we have fallen behind....it's just as well this is'nt a business otherwise we would be bankrupt...

The mold now had to be polished...luckily enough only five further times...as there was wax already on it...

Two layers of gel coat were applied in succession... allowing the first one to go off before applying the second.

The following day two layers of GRP were laid up taking great care to squeeze out any air bubbles that might be left unseen in any corner or crevice...a day later the final third layer was applied...

A further three were overlapped around the keel area ... not forgeting to give an extra two layers along the length of the upper flanges/gunwhales...

When the gunwhale is trimmed back the extra layers will help in making the hull rigid, and also allow easier fixing of the trim or rail...

A couple of weeks later we prised the new hull from the mold... it came out quite easily due to all the wax that had been previously applied...

The finish was a whole lot better than I could ever have expected...it was a perfect copy of the mold underneath...all our preparation had paid off...

A transom was cut and fitted with three layers of GRP...giving it more than enough strength to support an outboard motor...

The seats were laminated from molds we had previously made...again three layers were used... these were laminated into the boat thereby giving three watertight sections...

A layer of white gel-coat was applied to the whole inside surface, sealing it, and giving it a durable finish...

The flanges cut back and a 'D' section rubber fitted...this being a whole lot easier to fit, than to start making up rails from hardwood...