Plywood skiff stem reinforcement

[CaptChap]

During my 18 ft. Lumberyard Skiff build, when I got to finishing out the bow/stem area before xynol/glassing the hull, I was stumped (briefly) on how to reinforce the bow where the ends of the plywood topsides terminate at the stempost. I wanted something strong, impact-resistant, but cheap (my middle name), so I tried the following which was very easy to install and should make my bow a virtual battering ram, should I ever bump into a dock head-on (not I ever will, of course!) See the following sketch I did to explain what I used.
In my local Big-Box store, I found a 4 ft piece of extruded fibeglass rod, approx. 1/2" dia., complete with little "ridges" all around the surface (like steel rebar), in the garden setion of the store. It's called "Fiberglass Garden Stakes" and is bright green in color, and was, if I remember, lesss than $5.00. It fit just right in the "V" notch at the bow where the 2 plywood sides meet, with just enough room to schmeer some glass-filled epoxy putty around it. I used a couple of small stainless screws to hold it into the stem while I set the epoxy filler around it. I then just wrapped the stem in a couple of layers of 10 oz. fiberglass overlapping strips, before the final xynol /epoxy sheathing of the entire hull.
Feel free to cantact me for coments/questions. Cheers.

[neil.henderson]

Personally I always put a breasthook in the bows of my boats, but then I have never built a skiff. if you want to stiffen the hull and stop sides wobbling then I'd ensure I have knees in the quarters, breasthook, floors, and inwale & gunwale.

Regards Neil

[wizbang 13]

I think you have fixed something that is not broke.

[CaptChap]

I think you have fixed something that is not broke.

I agree that it ain't broke; I'm just trying to make sure that it never does! I was simply trying to show how I approached a small problem that I encountered during that phase of my build. That's the fun part of this type of boat building; everybody can try (and sometime fail) at different solutions to the many problems encountered as one builds a boat. I'm sure that not many folks will do things the way I have... and I'm fine with that. Many years ago when I co-designed and built my 40 ft. offshore racing sloop, I didn't have the benefit of reading from (and learning from) a forum like this. If I had, I probably would have avoided the many mistakes I made (and learned from) along the way.
Thanks for the comment!

[Hugh MacD]

Cool That's a lot cheaper than the usual half-round brass stock folks use for bump stop/wear plate thingies. And you don't have screw holes to deal with.

[CaptChap]

Cool That's a lot cheaper than the usual half-round brass stock folks use for bump stop/wear plate thingies. And you don't have screw holes to deal with.

Exactly why I did it that way...plus, it gave a clean, uniform radius to the stem, with little fairing to deal with. You may be able to see how it finished out in the attached photo, taken during the painting process. When I draped the xynol fabric over the hull, I overlapped each side over the stem, and faired the edges smooth. Easy as pie.

[hawkeye54]

CaptChap, I imagine you faired that fiberglass rod down into the skeg - it looks 'interesting' in that photo . Do you have more details on it ?



Rick

[CaptChap]

CaptChap, I imagine you faired that fiberglass rod down into the skeg - it looks 'interesting' in that photo . Do you have more details on it ?



Rick

Rick -
Yes. I used my electric adze (4" grinder) to round off the bottom end of the rod at the point of conjunction where the sides, bottom, keel tip and stem all meet. This gave me a clean fine entry, so the water flow can transition from the cutwater over the bottom wil minimum fuss. Hopefully the "mini keel" along with the side runners/rails, will also give a bit of directional stability while running, and minimize any side-slip on turns.

[robm]

I ran my Gloucester Light Dory into a concrete foundation at cruising speed (3 kts). It is just a Doug fir stem, plywood rounded and double glassed, 6 oz glass and polyester resin. I had to refix the seat in the bow, as the whole boat flexed enough to rip it loose from the sides, and apply a little filler to the bow.

Bottom line is, I agree with Wizbang: nothing wrong with it, but it is an answer to something that really isn't a problem.