Brass Stem Band questions

[Charles G. Clark, Jr.]

I am planning to put brass stem bands on the Freedom 17 I am making. I am interested in hearing others' experieince in putting stem bands on.

Do I need to mill the external stem so that the stem band will be flush with the stem-keel joint?

Do I need to screw and epoxy the stem band or just screw it?

What is the best way to drill the stem bands to accept the #4 screws?

The stem bands come as straight pieces. How closely spaced do the screws have to be to force the stem band to follow the bend of the stem?

How do you cut the stem band to length?

Thanks for your counsel.

[Jeff in Farmington, MI]

Hello Charles,
As described in Canoecraft, cut and bend the brass stem bands to fit the stem profile before drilling any holes. After it is bent to shape, mark the hole locations, then drill and countersink the holes. Space the holes every 6-8 inches.

I don't have a keel on my canoe so I cannot comment on the transition from stem band to keel. However, the stem band is not typically flush with the hull of a keel-less canoe, so I don't think that it would matter either way.

I set up my drill press on a small stand so that the stem band could curve underneath. Support the stem band under the hole location with a piece of scrap wood on edge. That way you don't flatten out the shape of the stem band.
I hope that makes sense. I didn't take a photo of that operation.

I wanted to be able to remove the stem bands after some years of service, so I did not epoxy them on. Some kind of bedding compound is necessary to seal water out from under the band and especially from the screw holes. I used black "Polyether Multi-Caulk Sealant" from West Marine. It probably adds some structural integrity to the stem band as well, while still allowing for removal if need be.

Good luck,
Jeff

[Don Going]

Charles
I attached the brass stem similar to Jeff.
I drilled my holes before bending and had no problems.
My holes were 6" apart and I used a 3M bedding compound.
What really worked for drilling was a lee valley combo drill, countersinker.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... 2240,42281
Good Luck
Don

[Ericthenorse]

One suggestion to seal the holes.... Install the screws, then remove them... Coat the screws with candle wax... Put some epoxy into the holes, and re-install the waxed screws.... Allow the epoxy to dry, and remove the screws again... Now you will have nice sealed screw holes, that will allow easy removal in the future.. If you are still worried, you can coat the screws with clear silicone before final instalation.. Another tip, is to drill the holes in the band from the back side.. That way, the band can curve up while drilling, and you won't have as much interferance...

[Charles G. Clark, Jr.]

I appreciate the comments so far. I went back and read the archives and got more info there.

My question now is what do I use for bedding compound? Is this someting special or is it caulk or something like that? Where does one find it?

[Oshan OkaPini]

I predrilled and countersunk the holes every 6", then bent the band to the stem contour using a hammer and wood block . I then marked the stem, removed the stems band, drilled pilot holes in the stem and ran stainless steel screws into the pilot holes (SS was to prevent twisting off the weaker brass screwheads in this step). The rest of the installation was like the others have described here.

I did not bed the stem bands and it has already paid off for me. When, (not if) you are ready to revarnish or make repairs to the hull, the job is made much easier by being able to remove all of the hardware in that area, such as the stem band. Once you have finished, replace the stem band and it will look as good as new. If you have adhered it to the hull, you can either try to varnish around it or cover it with varnish.

Norman in MS

[Glen Smith]

You can obtain bedding compound from a marine supplies store like this: Jamestown Distributors

Some builders use a compound that comes in a caulking gun tube , such as Sikaflex, but most of those products do double duty as an adhesive so that makes later removal quite difficult. Read the information carefully before purchasing.