Construction
Malolo is very heavily built, plank on frame construction. According to the surveyor, the builder (Edwin Albury) was known "for the quality of his boats and this boat is no exception".
When we first purchased Malolo, the previous owner told us that she was framed in "horseflesh mahogany", a strong Bahamian wood. When we visited Man O'War Cay and met a couple of the people who helped build her, we learned that her framing and backbone are made of a different, very hard and rot resistant wood known in the Bahamas as "madeira", which is a mahogany native to the Bahamas. They explained that horseflesh comes from the island of Andros and all the wood for Malolo came from Cherokee on the island of Abaco. The wood is so hard that even drilling into it with a power drill takes effort. After forty yearsof use (and lots of abuse), the frames on Malolo are still in good shape. Even in areas where fresh water has been allowed to accumulate and rot has started to form, the softness is generally contained to a very small section and is easily fixed.
The frames on Malolo are a variation on "double-sawn". A traditional double-sawn frame is made up of several pieces of wood (called "futtocks") placed end to end to make up the distance from the keel to the sheer. A second, similarly constructed frame but with the joints in different places is installed alongside the first and the two are bolted together making it almost as strong as one solid piece. Of course, you couldn't use one solid piece of wood because it would have to be too wide in order to cut the curve of the frame. By using individual futtocks, each only has a small portion of the curve cut into it.
Malolo's framing is more like "one and a half-sawn". The frames are made of futtocks, but rather than a complete adjoining frame, there are futtocks only to back up the joints in the first frame and in areas of stress. This was probably done because the builder knew the strength of the madeira and saw no need for complete double-sawn frames. The frames are 1 1/4" across (called the "sided" dimension) and 3" deep (called "molded") and spaced on 12" centres.
The floors (which are the structural timbers that join the frames at their lower end from one side of the boat to the other) are also made of madeira and are 1 3/4" across ("sided"). The bilge area between the floors was originally filled with concrete, which serves two purposes. The first is that it provides ballast. The second is that it allows any water that collects in the bilge to flow over the floors and back to the lowest part of the boat where it can be pumped out. Over the years the concrete has deteriorated to the point where in many places it has pulled away from the planking and started to crumble. As we complete repairs in various areas of the boat, we are removing the concrete. We will replace it with lead for ballast, and cut "limber holes" in the floors to allow water to flow aft.
Deck beams are 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" Douglas Fir, on 16" centres and the deck is a traditional laid and caulked Douglas Fir deck 1 3/4" thick. The deck planking is "sprung" which means that each piece follows the curve of the outside of the deck. Where the pieces meet at the centreline, the ends form a herringbone pattern.
Malolo is planked with 1" to 1 1/4" honduras mahogany (the thicker planks used below the waterline) and is fastened with monel ring nails. Several planks have been replaced and these are fastened with silicon bronze screws. All planks end in the middle of a frame, butted up against the next plank and fastened to the frame. This type of construction is normally only used on boats with very large frames because the frame at the joint has to take the fasteners for two planks. In most construction the planks end mid-frame and the joint is backed up inside the boat by a "butt block" which covers the joint itself and extends over the plank above and below the butt. The construction method used on Malolo was probably done because the builder knew the strength and density of the framing and knew that it could take the extra fasteners. Some repairs have been made using butt blocks. 
The cabinhouse is made of yellow pine and the cabin top is plywood covered in Dynel (a cloth similar to fiberglass) set in epoxy. Unfortunately, the cabin sides are held together with iron drift bolts (similar to long, heavy nails). As the wood ages and absorbs moisture, the iron starts to rust which causes the wood around it to deteriorate (known as "iron sickness"). The only fix is to cut out the bad wood replace it with new (as well as replacing what is left of the iron with silicon bronze). We have done this in many places along the cabin sides.
The spars are solid Douglas Fir and are thought to be original. They are in good shape with only a few small checks and small areas of rot that are easily repaired.
The keel is yellow pine with external lead ballast.of approximately 2800 pounds with bronze keelbolts.