Brian Larkin knows there is a stigma attached to cold molding. It may be an unwarranted stigma, but he knows it’s out there.
The president of Maine’s Brooklin Boat Yard says people may be afraid of cold-molded boats because the construction method includes wood. Buyers think that it will be more work to maintain a cold-molded boat, and that it may even rot. That’s not true, Larkin says, but getting people to understand that remains a challenge.
“I don’t know how to overcome that perception,” Larkin says. “Buyers think cold-molded boats are a lot of work, but they are no more work than any fiberglass boat. The maintenance is the same as a fiberglass boat with the feeling of a wooden boat.”
Cold molding is a building technique that laminates multiple layers of wood veneers, or sometimes plywood, in various directions over a jig, creating a light, strong hull. Frequently, an exterior layer of fiberglass is added for abrasion resistance. The layers are bonded with epoxy, and sometimes, carbon fiber or Kevlar is incorporated for strength and weight savings. The process is called cold molding because the epoxy cures at room temperature, rather than requiring heat.
Brooklin Boat Yard has been building cold-molded boats since 1990. That first boat, a 55-footer for then-yard President
