Scantlings Rule for Cold Molded Construction

Cold Molded Construction consists of gluing up many very thin layers of wood in a "criss-crossed" way over a mold so that when everything cures you have a hull or other part that is essentially like a compound curved piece of plywood. If well done this is a strong light method of construction. However it is very labor intensive.

This rule covers pure Cold Molded construction where the criss-crossing of the veneers produces nearly isotropic strength and therefore totally eliminates framing. So far as we know this is the only engineered rule for true Cold Molded construction ever written and it has been widely used since the early '70s.

In what appears to be an attempt to reduce the labor involved many builders have tried to introduce complex inner framing systems covered with strip planking and then veneered over with a few layers of Cold Molding. This negates any advantage of Cold Molded in that you might just as well use a fully framed stripped planked hull and forget the veneers or go directly to Sheathed Strip Construction which is light for a given strength and much less labor intensive.

Nevertheless, especially in small boats varnished inside and out, Cold Molded construction has great appeal and, provided the customer is willing to accept the increased labor involved, can produce an excellent vessel.

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