Stem piece and coaming question

My wife and I are building a micro bootlegger double and it is coming along nicely. In the Strip built kayak book on page 100 it describes making the stem piece. At first I thought this was in the wrong order because if you install it as described you won't be able to separate the two halves later. Are you supposed to install it and then cut through it at the shear line after it is shaped? 
Second question, would it work okay to install the coaming after the top half is fiberglassed? The cockpit on this boat is huge and it seems like it would help the fiberglassing of the deck if it wasn't on yet.  


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RE: Stem piece and coaming question

Hi Romad, 

these are good questions.  one of the fun parts of building a strip built kayak is that you get a bunch of wood, a set of plans and a generic book about strip building sea kayaks - you typically don't get a construction manual for the particular design you are building.  so as your question implies, you need to "puzzle it out" how to apply the generic concepts to your build.  i have built a number of strip builts and just looked at the book page 100....and then at the micro bootlegger double.

so onto your questions....

page 100 describes a classic sea kayak where the external stem and stern would only be on the hull piece (not deck).   the microbootlegger hull shape is such that the stem and stern cut across the shear line and now involve the hull AND deck.  so yes, if you did it like page 100 you would not be able to seperate the hull and deck unless you cut the piece.  my approach, if i wanted a clean stem/stern, would be to do these pieces after the hulls sections were glued together and as part of completing the glass work on the outside of the boat.  this is a pretty standard approach and just involves a bit more sanding and time.

on your second question....glassing the deck relative to the coaming.   in most strip construction, folks will glass the outside of the deck prior to coaming work.   it's a lot of work to try to glass around a completed coaming.  it's not a bootlegger...but here is a picture of a recent build demonstrating this on a frej i built a couple years ago.

hope this helps.  a microbootlegger is a beautiful boat.

h

 

RE: Stem piece and coaming question

   Thank you hspira I appreciate your reply and the pic. I will fiberglass the deck and then do the coaming. 
mom the stem I am using multiple strips so I may do most of it and blend it in and cut it and save a final piece or two for when the boat halves are back together. 
 

RE: Stem piece and coaming question

Good advice from Howard above.  From the "multiple strips" comment I assume that you are laminating the external stem from multiple strips?  If so, that is quite easy to do after the deck and hull are joined and the entire boat is glassed.  This sequence shows installation of the bow stem on my Mystery.  Technically, it is a redo because the original was very vertical and caught every weed it came close to, so I planed most of it off and started over.

I used 1/8" strips of Alaskan Yellow Cedar.  I found them very easy to bend into shape with a heat gun after soaking in a bucket of water for 20 minutes

   

RE: Stem piece and coaming question

   My knee is acting up so pardon my lack of going to the shop for page 100.  

I just want to point out that there are two stem pieces . The inner stem and outter stem. On the Mini Bootlegger the inner stem goes up into the deck and down into the hull. So you have to cut that one during stripping so you can get the deck off later. 

The outter stem is often left off so the boat can be stained and not contaminate the stem wood.  Whether the plumb bowed MB or a rockered pointy boat like the Petrel. The boat is stained,  fiberglassed, glued back together and the outter stem attached to prepared end of the completed strips and inner stem.  Then glassed and epoxied.  The pointy rockered boats outter stem can be installed before the boat is glassed. But the Bootlegger should wait till later. 

 

 

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