Stems, Off the Form

I am still impressed by the scale of this small boat.  A simple thing as laminating the stem blank required 32 strips and buckets of epoxy.  I think it took me two hours just to apply the epoxy on each strip and clamp the thing together. 

Well, the epoxy cured and the stem blank came off the form easily with a few taps with a hammer.  I planed the surfaces smooth and also got to use my new toy, my very own spokeshave.  I never thought I needed one before.  It works very well and is a real pleasure to use.  I used it to smooth out the inner surface of the stem.  I ordered it from The Wooden Boat Store, where you can find the tools you need at more reasonable prices than, for instance, Lie Nielsen.  I'm just trying to get a boat done anyway, not collect heirloom tools to pass onto my grandchildren!

Once the surfaces were smoothed and scraped clear of epoxy a tap with the hammer separated the inner and outer stem blanks, which were prevented from being glued together by a strip of plastic tape. 

Lastly, I transferred the measurements of the three side panels (garboard, middle and sheerstrake) to plywood.  It required measuring up from a baseline every foot along the length of the plywood sheet, hammering in nails at the points and fairing the curves between the points with a batten.  Once the batten was nailed in place I drew the curves and removed the batten and nails.  The next step will be to cut the three panels out, then use them as patterns to make identical panels from the other 14 ft sheet of plywood.