I had a great Christmas and not so much time to work in my shop, but I have made some progress.
There is some preparation required for the outer stems, 1) they have been tapered to 3/8"on the bottom side and 2) the new shape required an "on-the-fly" mod, the angle of the strips on the top side of the boat are wider than the 3/4" allowance, I just added a little width and shaped the inside to fit the inside to the stem shape. The rest will be taken care of during the shaping process.
It's time to fit the outside stems, here the end strips have been sanded flush and square to the inner stem.
Actually fitting the stem is a back and forth operation for me, fit a bit, sand a bit, repeat till it's close. Once it's close I trace the outline of the stem shape onto the hull (no... the sanding never ends, there is more sanding and fitting). Once that shape is traced, I carefully chisel and sand it out flush with the inner stem.
A top view so the idea of the taper is clear.
The stem (glue in area only) and the prepared stem area on the boat are saturated with epoxy, making sure the strip ends get all they can absorb .... the remaining epoxy (I prepare a double shot) is then thickened to the consistency of peanut butter and spread over the areas already saturated. The stem is then fitted in place and fastened/clamped in place. Run a finger (wear a glove ... epoxy on skin = BAD) along the joint edges to 1) remove excess 2) create a small fillet at the joint ... excess set epoxy is a pita to remove.
I lucked out here, the shape meant it just needed to be pulled in and cinched a bit ... sometimes fastening the stems can get complicated.
Shaping is done mostly with the spoke shave, but a plane also gets involved at some point.
Sanding is next, but it is very messy and doesn't translate well to photos ... I used 60 grit in a ROS for initial shaping .... going carefully, 60 grit will take a lot of wood if you aren't careful. I only use it to get the high points off. Then I use a block sander to level the entire surface and move on to 80 grit for the rest of the initial sanding.
This is what she looks like now
And wetted out
The just need to run over the hull with 120 grit, vacuum and it's ready to glass. I need to get a clear day to go get the glassing kit and also figure out how I am going to actually do the glassing in the winter ... it's doable, I just usually wait till spring, but I want this done ... so I will be pondering.
Brian