need internal stem tips, guillemot

1st time builder using guillemot forms from clc. It looks like we are asked to bandsaw off a 3/4" strip of the stem and stern forms to add an internal stem which is tapered. The particle board forms included a thin irregular hook shaped piece that one of the diagrams seems to show in the internal stem position. My reading of the included instructions/book seem to confirm going ahead and cutting the 3/4" strip off the form and fabricating the internal stem to attach in place of the cutoff piece. Is that last sentence the correct approach. Do we do anything with those odd thin hook pieces?

TIA


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RE: need internal stem tips, guillemot

I just finished a Petrel, and that's what I did and it worked. My kit came with two MDF hook pieces, one for the bow and stern, and a piece of pine. I used the MDF hook pieces to guide where to the cut the pine. I then used the MDF hook pieces to guide where to cut away into the MDF bow and stern forms.

I attached the newly cut pine pieces in place on the bow and stern forms with a few spots of  hot glue, and then used a plane, a spokeshave and a sander to bring the hook pieces to a sharp edge at the bow and stern. I found that if I did all that, that as I stripped the bow and stern, the strips wrapped around the first and last forms they fit very nicely into the pine hook pieces. I glued the strips directly to the pine. The two pine pieces stay with the boat, so you'll have to break those hot glue spots when you separate your hull from the forms...so don't overdo it with the hot glue. You might just tape them in place.

I hope that makes sense. I didn't have any directions about all that, as I think Nick started using the pine bow and stern piece after he wrote the book and other directions...there may be a reference to it in the handout I got...but I remember going through the same quandry you have, and it was the only thing that made sense to do.

Good luck.

RE: need internal stem tips, guillemot

Ok, thanks for the reply. No pine with my kit, but I can manage that. It does look like they intend for the hook strips to be templates for cutting the end forms and the pine. My particle board pieces don't seem to match the bow/stern forms exactly but they are close and give a good idea of what is wanted, that hump might help position and lock the piece in. I should be able to proceed now. Thanks.

RE: need internal stem tips, guillemot

Gee. My particle board pieces matched my bow and stern pieces exactly. This is something tha needs photos, but I've thrown away those forms and my end pieces are now inside the boat. My pieces varied in width (front to back) so that, when I shaped them, the strips layed down and glued to them nicely. So the angle of that bow and stern piece varied top to bottom to fit the strips. You might try to make your bow and stern piece a little deeper than necessary and then trim it to fit the strips as you go. 

This was in March,and there's been a lot of wood strips in my life since then, so my memory is fuzzy. I realize I'm not sure that board was pine. It looked to me like pine, but I think you can use anything you have handy. It will be buried inside the kayak out of view. Also, I think in Nick's video I saw that he stapled the strips to the wood to hold them in place. I managed to clamp mine. Up to you.

By the way, one thing I learned as I went along it to make sure the strips line up at the bow and stern as you look at the kayak from the front or back. I did my port side first, and then realized as I startes stripping the starboard side that tiny variations in the strips or in how they came together were causing the strips to not line up. I then started trimming the strips or putting tiny filler strips in so, when I looked at the kayak from either end, the strips lined up. In a few cases, the cedar strips had tearout at the end and so I had to repair those by gluing in tiny pieces. 

Another thing I learned that needs photos. Nick shows how he used a small mitre box to cut his strips so they match up. But I learned something so simple it was a real "duh" moment. When I needed to butt joint two strips together, I simply clamped them together so they overlapped slightly and cut them together. That way, the angle of the cut matched exactly.

Have fun. Cheers.

RE: need internal stem tips, guillemot

ok thanks again, funny how the templates did match up better when I lined the bow template up with the bow form and stern with the stern :) Nick says to shape the stem piece first, but sounds like you also modify it when stripping.

RE: need internal stem tips, guillemot

Hi

I've built two Guillemtos and some other boats so far.

You can find some pics showing the build of the first Guillemot here

http://oeko-travel.org/en/home_made/project/kayak_guillemot_cedar_strip_wood.php

Unfortunately not all text is in english already, but I'm working on this. Hope it is of some help for your build. Enjoy.

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