Fit of outer stem on Venture 15

[UniCacher]

After two partial prototypes to develop good working practices, I'm in the final phases of stripping the real thing. For the outer stems, I'm using steam-bent, laminated pieces of mahogany (which, I might add, is a real pain to bend!). For the stern stem, I used 1/8" strips and got a very nice, tight-fitting piece. For the bow, with less of a bend, 1 used two 1/4" strips. Unfortunately, they sprang back. I've already planked over the inner stem, so it's too late to re-make the outer (unless I build a new custom form).

The stem springs out about 1" over the length of the inner stem. Is this going to be too much gap to glue in place? Will it potentially break the epoxy bond?

[Patricks Dad]

If you can readily push the stem back into shape it will have no problem staying there with epoxy. I would bet that this would be the case. Try a dry fit with whatever clamping approach you plan to use and see if there are any significant gaps or areas you can't pull into place. 1" sounds like quite a bit but not too surprising. The smaller the number of laminations the larger the spring back (I would think). Last resort would be (as you suggest) cutting a new form to allow you to bend a new stem (but I'll bet that won't be necessary).