Laminating the Stem
The front of the boat has a laminated stem on the inside which will not only provide a very strong bow but also provides an attachment point for the strip planking.
The plans include a stem mold that butts up against the front station mold and has to be placed on the centerline previously marked on the strong back. I drilled several holes in mine so I could use clamps to hold down the thin strips of wood to the form.
The stem is the continuation of the keel which will be about 3 1/2" deep so how do you make a two by four piece of wood curve up from the keel? You do this by using glue to laminate enough thin strips of wood until you have a stack about four inches high then you bend them around the form and clamp them in place until it sets up.
My stem was laminated using clear epoxy which was then wrapped in ordinary parchment paper. Parchment paper is that stuff people use on a baking sheet to keep cookies from sticking to it and guess what?- Nothing sticks to parchment paper, not even epoxy glue!!
After the stem had cured I unwrapped it and attached it to the mold.
Here is a photo of the laminated strips of wood that were easily bent around the stem form but after curing could probably hold up the house! It's difficult to see traced lines but the stem needs to be made larger than the final finished part so the proper contours can be cut later. The stem needs to be beveled so that the strips will have a good attachment point when they meet up with the stem.
We will mount the laminated stem to the stem mold tomorrow to continue the process of building the Whitehall.
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