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Raven, part 2

Finished glassing the exterior. Probably pull it off the stations later this week, hoping for a snow day on Wednesday. Back to work full time, so finding time is a little harder now.
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Without intending criticism, can anyone explain the relativeness 'bluntness' of the stems on this design, or, for that matter, the purpose of any outside stem that's going to be fiberglassed over? Maybe the fine, narrow stems I'm accustomed to in wood/canvas canoes are pretty but not any more functional than blunt ones.... I dunno.
 
Stick around for more tips on how to build ugly things quickly, and then cover them all in paint

This looks very very nice but gotta call you on misleading advertising Mem. As Alan said, I see no wood butchery or even any “ugly” here.

Where are the misaligned/multiple butt-ended strips? The “extra” staple holes where you kept missing contact with the form underneath? Where are the blobs of thickened epoxy slapped on to fill the many gaping cracks between strips? The scraps of weirdly carved wood glued in to cover the gaps too big for said blobs of thickened epoxy? I didn‘t even see huge drips of glue dried into the face of the strips everywhere across the boat, requiring hours of extra sanding and scraping.

So disappointing ….. I would illustrate all this with a few photos from my builds, but they are (mostly) hidden under a couple of coats of paint. Are you even going to use paint? 😁
 
To give mem some credit where credit is due, if anyone had asked me before this "What do you use your drywall screw gun for?!"
I never would've thought "To build canoes."
Just goes to show I have no imagination, but I could imagine paddling that canoe.
 
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can anyone explain the relativeness 'bluntness' of the stems on this design, or, for that matter, the purpose of any outside stem that's going to be fiberglassed over?
Ok, well here is an attempted explanation, comparatively speaking.
This first pic is the stem of a royalite Nova Craft Prospector.
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You can see that it is quite thick a victim of the trade of of having royalite.
This next pic is a Nova Craft Prospector in fiberglass
KeTh87g.jpg

Considerably thinner.
This next picture is the exact same model and make, but in tough stuff.
MrPz4zb.jpg

A bit thinner, but not much
An here is the raven
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I always keep the stripper around 1/2 inch for one reason...so I can mount the 3/8 inch brass stem band on them.

Your wood/canvas is probably the same width, perhaps even more, as they often use a 1/2 inch brass stem band on w/c canoes.

As far as stems vs no stems, it's a personal choice of aesthetics. i like the look, and I like brass stem bands. I also like the way it caps all the strips. But each to their own, I have built stemless as well, but I also used a kayak paddle once.
 
Thank you for taking those comparative pictures. The stem pictured in post #21 appeared to be much wider (to me) but the close up picture certainly belies that illusion. My w/c canoes are mostly 1/2" wide with a 3/8" brass stem band as well.

I also get the aesthetic appeal of the exterior stem. One of my canoes has an exterior stem. To my way of thinking they are largely for appearance since the interior stem accomplishes the job of joining the planking to the structure in both strippers and w/c canoes.

Thanks, Pat
 
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I forgot what a beast the raven is, so much deeper and wider than the Osprey. The worst part is ahead, the dreaded interior sanding, think I'll just poke away at it a little bit each day. Thinking I'm going to have to have it ready for early April though, if current ice conditions continue.
 
I usually prepare them pretty well before I build on them, but not this time, so it will probably be a lick and a promise with some 60 grit.
 
The worst part is ahead, the dreaded interior sanding, think I'll just poke away at it a little bit each day.
It's hard to stay motivated at this stage (at least for me). I use the form marks as my goal - "just 2 sections tonight..." I save the stern/bow, manual sanding jobs for times of self-loathing. April sounds about right.
 
Not that any of us want or need new tools:

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...but these multi-tools do a really nice job of getting into tight spaces like those interior stems pretty smoothly.
 
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Ya, I traded it to him for a hammock, of all things, haven't even used it yet. That raven was made out of white pine and had very robust trim, so it was quite heavy. I'm hoping to keep this one under the 50 pound mark, I'd be good with that.
 
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