build a boat

[daddyhoney]

I was visiting with a fishing friend the other day and he said he saw a boat at a ramp that look a lot like a whaler. When he asked the guy what it was the reply was that he had "plugged" a whaler or used it as a mold I suspect.

First off I gather that is a protected patten but folks do it. Second off how does one go about the basic process of plugging a hull?
Thanks guys, daddyhoney

[catndahats]

You are right on the "what" part of plugging is. When someone makes a plug, they are using an existing hull or shape to form a fiberglass mold.

The "how" of it is that it is not difficult to make fiberglass molds, but it is not cost effective to make a "one-off" from the mold. It is essentially like building two boats. You pop a mold and then build the new boat inside your mold...it's done often commercially and yes it gets tricky legally when pulling a mold off a popular boat (like Boston Whaler)...if you want to sell copies, you have to "change" some features of the original, etc, etc...

That's pluggin in a nutshell. Hope it helps.