Stem Action

I was pretty tired this morning but still managed a productive day today. A call to the shop this morning revealed that my Veining bit had just arrived. I went in to pick it up & then dropped it off at Rick's factory (he was out on an installation today, so I couldn't mill my planks just yet). On the way home I stopped off at Bunnings to suss out some different glue, since my experiment a few days ago didn't go so well (way too flexible). After dithering and fussing for ages, I eventually decided to give "Selleys Aquadhere Durabond" a go.
I raced home and immediately set up another experiment, namely the flat planking panel that I'd arranged before. At least this glue seemed a lot less messy. Again, I tried the four different types of tape, so I could find out which ones will release the easiest.




Then it was finally time to get my stems under way. I dragged out my table saw & ripped the off-cut lengths of cedar to the correct width for the stem laminates. Using my flash new hole-saw kit, I then bored some holes in both stem molds, to receive the clamps. After that, it was a simple matter of jiggling all the strips into place, clamping them down & checking for alignment.

This is the Bow Stem........



.....and this is the Stern Stem.



I was particularly impressed with the angled fit I achieved with the short, vertical sections. These I trimmed using my new Japanese pull saw and I couldn't be happier with the job it did.

I was all fired up to go ahead & glue these bits today, but reckoned that I really should wait for the test results of the new glue & tape. I'd hate to plank the boat, only to find I can't get any of the molds out afterward.

So, there we are. On the verge of making a huge breakthrough in progress. Over the next couple of days I intend to order my fiberglass and resin, and on the weekend I'll get these stem laminations glued up. I'll also do a final check on the alignment of the rest of the intermediate molds, as a couple of them look a bit suss.
With all that lot done, next week I can mill my planking stock & finally start planking.