Canoe inside stem repair

[DaveNJ]

Over the summer I finished up my first cedar strip canoe. I made the mistake of not making laminated stems and I instead relied on epoxy fillets inside for the stem strength. While it is still a strong boat all around, the milky white epoxy fillet looks terrible with all the nice clear varnished cedar. I first tried mixing the epoxy with fine cedar wood dust but it looked like poop, so I did not use that. I stayed with the epoxy with white colloidal silica filler. The stems are very strong and solid, but I would never do this method again. I would not recommend it to any other builders either. Wood stems beveled and shaped are the way to go!

Is there any good way to cover my epoxy stems up? I was thinking of making bulkheads or football shaped airtanks but it may be hard now that the decks are on. I also thought about getting some black carbon fiber tape and glassing in, then cutting a nice edge on it when it is still in green stage.

Any recommendations to make this canoe look a bit nicer? How hard is it to fit a football airtank shape and then fit it in?

Thanks,
Dave

[Bruce Hooke]

What about simply masking off the white area and painting it black or a color that would blend in with the cedar? Since this area is in shadow most of the time, I'm sure white kind of jumps out at you. A darker color, even if solid, would be less noticable.

[Todd Bradshaw]

Painted bands have been used over stemless construction to neaten things up for a long time and can actually look pretty decent. Black, brown, copper and brass colored enamels all work and are much easier than dealing with carbon fiber, green resin, etc.

The best air tank shape is a long teardrop, put in at an angle. Start with a piece of cardboard or thin plywood and work up a pattern, trimming bit by bit until it fits. Then lay up a strip panel, fiberglass it, cut it to the pattern shape, bevel it's edges and glass it in.

Here is a photo from an old copy of Hazen's "Stripper's Guide to Canoe Building" showing a teardrop tank wall. The work is somewhat more difficult under a deck, but it can be done and you don't absolutely have to go that high on the stem with the peak of the bulkhead.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid35/p74a31c0307c55316dbcfe455b3cc8953/fd2c838b.jpg

It's not a bad idea to put a pin hole somewhere in the tank wall, just in case the boat heats up enough in the sun to expand the air inside the tank. Other options like drain plugs and inspection ports can also be used.

[Paul Scheuer]

It's not too late to laminate. Maybe verneer is a better description. Enough to hide the frosty fillet look, or build out to look like a real stems. I would think that you could lay a narrow strip or strips up into the ends as far as you could see it anyway. Very thin strips wouldn't require difficult clamping or bracing. Got any pics?

[DaveNJ]

http://users.snip.net/~drobbie/canoe1.jpg

Here is a picture of my canoe stem. I like the idea of painting a copper color. Thanks for the replies.

Dave

[Paulyboy]

Why don't you approximate the color of your accent pieces of wood along the length? That way, it would blend in with the wood colors, complement the boat like the accent strips do, and tie everything together visually.
BTW, looks like a great job with the stripping! Nice canoe.

[ 11-17-2005, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Paulyboy ]