24. Installing an Outer Stem

To prepare the surface for installation, I first sawed, then planed the strips flush with the inner stem. Then I cut a rabbet (stop line) with a pull saw, and chiseled to that line. (not shown below, sorry)


I used way too many screws installing the outer stem, but they were brass and so shiny.. anyways, do you see where the outer stem stops? (in the picture below) That's where I cut the rabbet. (The outer stem is inset a bit)

In addition to the screws, I used a mix of epoxy and lots of wood flour between inner and outer stems. There was a small gap ( < 1/8 " ) and the thickened epoxy hides it.
I shaped the outer stem in place with a sanding drum attachment on my corded hand-drill.

When I was happy with the shape, I applied another layer of fiberglass and epoxy over the whole thing. Below, I have started to feather out (sand down) the new fiberglass. (The white dust is mostly epoxy dust) When I am happy with that the whole assembly will get another coat of epoxy.

23. Laminating an Outer Stem

As a guard, and a structural element, an outer stem covers the inner stem and the ends of the strips. Like the inner stem, I've laminated the outer stem from oak, except the outer stem is wider.


I've used waterproof polyurethane glue again, and as before, it's a bit messy. The glue drips come right of the floor easily, but I still should have laid something down.


I scraped the glue drips off ..

22. Fiberglass the Inside

Long time, no posts. I'll catch up a bit tonight. Here's the fiberglass cloth draped over the inside, ready for epoxy. I started pouring epoxy in the middle, and worked outward. It was more difficult to spread the epoxy on the inside than it had been on the outside. Puddles formed in the middle, and the area around the inner stems did not turn out as well as I'd like.

21. Rainbow

Seen from my porch, while working on the canoe.

20. Fiberglass and Epoxy

I've added fiberglass cloth and the first coat of epoxy! It didn't take long at all, but it feels like a big step!

Up close, it's not as pretty, but if you step back, it looks great.

You can see what I mean in this picture; the drips don't look good. Well, this is just the first coat of epoxy, so it'll get better.

The epoxy. The pump handles ($10) measure out the right amount of resin ($90) and hardener ($35).

The fiberglass cloth ($60 for 10 yards, only 5 yards shown)

Jamestown Distributors
Fiberglass Cloth 6oz
50" x 10 Yds.

19. Sanding

I'm sanding now.

I've finished one pass with 60 grit ..

The level areas are easy to work with ..

The tumblehome is more difficult. It is not possible to use the power sander here.

Soon I will be ready to apply fiberglass!

18. Scraping

I have finished adding strips! I have begun scraping off glue drips, in preparation for sanding. Here's the scraping tool I'm using. It was a little pricy (20$) (I bought it from the marine catalog when I bought my epoxy) but it comes with three different blades, with different shapes, and it's really sharp. It pulls off most glue drips in one stroke.

Note: If you get the stroke just right, you get a terrible screeching scraping sound, hence the earplugs.

What a difference a little scraping makes! This picture is a pretty good action shot.

It's pretty easy to gouge the cedar, so take it slow. Also, the blade is very sharp, so don't cut yourself!