Prepping the Mold

Great! Now we've got the mold built, the glue for the keel has dried, and we're ready to go! Today we're going to prep the mold. The glue we're going to be using is West Systems Epoxy, and it's some pretty strong stuff. One thing we need to make sure of is to keep the veneer from gluing to the mold. However, we do want it to glue to the keel. What we're going to do is to cover the mold in plastic wrap, then place the keel into its groove. It's one of those trying to put the square in the circle things, but it works eventually. Now that the keel is in place, it needs to be shaped the curve of the hull. It helps to have an apprentice in moments like this.

Materials:

Plastic Wrap

Masking Tape

Tools:

Hand Planes

It's quite satisfying to shape the wood with a plane. Don't get too carried away though, it gets really hard to add wood back on once you've taken it off.