Stem and Bearding line questions Babson 14

[Longbow]

I've made some good progress on the Babson island 14 this weekend. I've gotten the stem, chines and transom installed and epoxied together. I have a question about beveling the stem and the bearding line. I've attempted to attach 2 pictures. Picture 1 shows the stem and the chines with the left side beveled, with a batten on the right side. The question that I have is that if I build the stem according to the plan there will be a gap between the side planking and the chine / stem due to the stem not being beveled over it's entire width, the batten shows this, exaggerated because the right side of the stem has not been beveled yet.



http://s640.photobucket.com/albums/uu122/gtrunnell/th_Boat001.jpg

Picture #2 shows what the batten would look like if I beveled the stem so that the planking would lie flat against the stem. I don't know if I have done something wrong or this is how the boat is designed. The plans don't have a view showing the stem in section. I have followed the plans as closely as my skill level will allow, so assuming that I didn't make a mistake why would the designer design the back part of the stem to be flat and then begin the bevel 5/8 of an inch along it's width?


http://s640.photobucket.com/albums/uu122/gtrunnell/th_Boat002.jpg



Secondly and more importantly, should I keep the bearding line and follow the plan or just bevel the stem across it's entire width to make the side planks lie flat? One other note, this boat is also designed to be built in a lapstrake version and the plans seem to be a combination of both the plywood and the lapstrake versions. Is a bearding line something that might be used in the lapstraked version, but not the plywood version? Thanks for any advice!

[S B]

Using one of Murphy's laws, All else fails read the instructions.:) I am not familiar with your boat, and cannot comment on how it should look. You have lofted it? If you have, it is possible to draw any section you need from the plans. To draw a section of the stem,scribe a line, at desired angle, through stem ,on the profile view. Where the line crosses know offsets, transfer them, as offsets to the new line, connect dots. A bit of a simple explanation, but, with a little effort it can be worked out. Normally if there was a design flaw, someone would have found it before you. Good luck.

[P.L.Lenihan]

Not familiar with your plans but this plumb sided skiff may require nothing more then a "V" shaped stem onto which you lay your ply panels against with the inside corners of the ply just touching where they meet at the outside edge of the stem.Once the epoxy has cured, you then plane off the outside"corners" of the ply to creat a perfectly flat surface along the outboard face of the stem,perpendicular to the centerline. Onto this flat surface will then go either a false stem or a length of stainless steeel half round strapping. This make any sense for you? Check out your plans carefully, the information should all be there.

Good luck!

Cheers!


Peter

[TerryLL]

On reading Tom Hill's narrative in WB, and then looking at your pics, it appears the bevels on the inner stem were not cut properly before the stem was attached. Not a problem at this point.

Simply plane the inner stem until the ply sides will lay flat against it, and also flat against the chines and sheer ribband. There should be no gaps. Once the sides are glued on, square up the stem face as Peter describes above and attach the outer stem.

[rnboatworks]

Longbow,

I am just completing a Babson, In fact we are launching at 11:00 AM today. I came across the same thing that you did. What I ended up doing was building the stem to the pattern in the plans, which does leave some stem aft of the berading line, the oly part that bothers me about this is that you have to be careful when you glue the planking on to clean up your glue effectively before it dries, other wise it is a pain to get out of the narrow space betwwen the planking and the protruding part of the stem. Additionaly in order to aviod creating a space for water to pool I filled the gap between the fwd and of the chine and the stem with epoxy and filler and I really happy with the results.

I will try to post pictures in the next couple of days if I can figure out how.
Good luck with your boat.

[Longbow]

Thanks for the replies. The plans call for beveling the stem after the chines were installed so that's why it looks wrong in the pictures. I beveled the stem today using a batten as a guide and it turned out great. The stem is almost triangular but the sides fit perfectly. I'm using 3/8 plywood instead of 1/4 so the final thickness of the inner stem looks like it will work out great also. I added a triangular block between the chines where they meet the stem to give the joint additional strength. I 've gotten the side planking on one side installed and I'll be doing the other side tomorrow. I would have done both sides today, but I didn't have enough clamps. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have the bottom on. My goal is to have it off the molds by next weekend. All in all it's going well. I'll try to post some pictures that a re a little more interesting when I get a chance.