Boat Building Forum

Find advice on all aspects of building your own kayak, canoe or any lightweight boats

Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
By:Dan Caouette (CSFW)
Date: 12/9/2011, 1:32 pm
In Response To: Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC* (Bryan Hansel)

: Not using them saves weight in the ends of the boat which is a good
: thing. There's less weight to swing around which makes for a
: more responsive boat, etc. The nice thing about using an
: internal stem is that it leaves a nice place to terminate the
: strips. The external stem makes the ends look nice. I used them,
: haven't used them, and partially used them.

OK... Gotta add my 2 cents here.

On my current BP build I'm using marginal inner and outer stems. The inner stems were 1/2" thick white cedar. They started out being about 1.5" tall. Before I laid the inner FG in the ends, I them chiseled and sanded them down so they were just a fillet of wood between the sides. Epoxy is heavy right? Why not have the fillet out of wood. Uncle Rob couldn't argue with that! ;)

The last end pour I did was 20 boats and 7 years ago. I either incorporate a wooden block as part of the inner stem or add a small 2-4" chuck of white cedar after the fact.

I like installing hardwood outer stems. Cedar has very low crush strength (ie resistance to impact). The last place you want a soft core material is on a part of the kayak where people WILL run into stuff. A thin 3/8" lamination of even basswood just under the glass of the stem makes a HUGH difference.

Many ways to skin a kayak...

Messages In This Thread

Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rob -- 12/8/2011, 8:17 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC*
Don T -- 12/8/2011, 8:27 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Clayton Plunkett -- 12/8/2011, 8:42 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Ian Cummins -- 12/8/2011, 9:27 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Paul Tavenier -- 12/8/2011, 12:52 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
greg h -- 12/8/2011, 3:56 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Paul Tavenier -- 12/9/2011, 12:50 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bill Hamm -- 12/11/2011, 2:38 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bill Hamm -- 12/11/2011, 2:45 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Mike Savage -- 12/11/2011, 9:02 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rob Macks/Laughing Loon CC&K -- 12/8/2011, 12:44 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rod Tait (Orca Boats) -- 12/8/2011, 4:17 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Kurt Maurer -- 12/8/2011, 6:55 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Dwight Lynn -- 12/8/2011, 7:13 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC*
Kurt Maurer -- 12/8/2011, 7:56 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Dwight Lynn -- 12/8/2011, 10:13 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Kurt Maurer -- 12/9/2011, 10:06 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bill Hamm -- 12/11/2011, 2:44 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rod Tait (Orca Boats) -- 12/8/2011, 7:44 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Allan -- 12/8/2011, 8:57 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rob -- 12/9/2011, 8:14 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Kurt Maurer -- 12/9/2011, 10:13 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bill Hamm -- 12/11/2011, 2:42 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 11:59 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rod Tait (Orca Boats) -- 12/9/2011, 1:16 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC*
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 2:28 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Rod Tait (Orca Boats) -- 12/9/2011, 3:38 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 3:51 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
ScottBaxter -- 12/9/2011, 5:11 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 6:01 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
ScottBaxter -- 12/9/2011, 8:12 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC*
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 11:51 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC*
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 11:51 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems? *PIC*
Bryan Hansel -- 12/9/2011, 11:53 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Dan Caouette (CSFW) -- 12/9/2011, 1:32 pm
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
ancient kayaker -- 12/10/2011, 7:37 am
Re: Strip stems and weight
Will N 2 Go -- 12/11/2011, 11:29 am
Re: Strip stems and weight
Bill Hamm -- 12/13/2011, 4:55 am
Re: Strip stems and weight
Bill Hamm -- 12/13/2011, 5:00 am
Re: Strip: How necessary are stems?
Etienne Muller -- 12/11/2011, 5:01 am