: Question for other builders. Does it make sense to build a ski with internal
: molds left in place?

Yes, quite a bit.

: Lightweight molds @ 8" with strips glued to them.

You cna remove the centers from the molds, making them look like the frames used on some SOF kayaks. Since the skin will be structural, to some degree--as opposed to being a flimsy piece of cloth--you can remove all but the outer 1/2 inch of wood from these molds. In effect you'll have ribs which are 1/2 inch thick, which should be both lightweight, and suitably strong.

With the added strength of these molds you can reduce the thickness of the skin material. Going from 1/4 inch strips to 1/8th inch strips, for example, would cut the weight of the wood for the skin in half. While strips as thina s1/8th inch are obviusly going to be more flexible, the interior supports are going to keep them from bending too much.

: Seal coat of epoxy on the inside.

Put on two coats to properly waterproof the wood. A very light skimming seal coat will fill the grain and keep the second coat from soaking in too deeply--potentially using excess resin and adding weight.

: Vent holes at all times with larger ones to open when not in use or
: traveling.

Add bilge holes to the bottom and center of each frame, so water can drain between the frames.

: It would save the trouble of joining the deck to the hull with the inside
: taped seam.

If you used strips which were already double coated with resin on the inside, and precoated the frames with resin, you could do most of your resin application while the parts were flat and easily accessible. Then you could assemble this without needing to do much to the inside.

: 35#'s would seem easy to get and would save massive hours in building.

Go for it.

: Am I foolhardy?

Well, based on this I can't honestly say. Did you really want that question answered by the people on this board? Some of us are experts at being foolhardy and have a history to prove it.

Good luck with your project.

PGJ