Removing Stem Molds from Hull

Post by **Patricks Dad** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 6:00 pm

Patrick and I flipped our canoe yesterday and removed all the forms. We were surprised at how difficult it was to remove the stem molds. The Stem molds along with station 8 (Redbird) were tightly in place despite lots of pulling and even tapping with a hammer. The molds had been taped but still were quite firmly stuck in the hull. We ended up doing 2 things that I thought I'd pass along in this portion of the forum. Perhaps it will help others.

1. We slide a hacksaw blade between the hull and station 8 to remove glue that may have dripped there in the stripping process. This was a somewhat painful process as it tends to skin up the knuckles. Afer this, we still couldn't remove the molds.

2. Then we decided to get more aggresive. We hooked a strap between the 2 stem molds and ratcheded it tight until you could almost play music on it. Then we simply put some muscle on one of the forms and it gave way and popped out. I was surprised at how clean the form looked and all the tape was still in-tact. I can't quite figure out why it was so stuck.

For the 2nd stem mold we no longer had the other end of the canoe to hook it to so we put a hook in the ceiling about 3 feet from the inside end of the stem mold and connected our strap between the hook and the stem mold. We strapped the canoe down to the strong back and put some weight on it as we tightened up the strap to the hook in the ceiling (to keep the strongback from lifting off the floor). With some additional muscle, the 2nd stem mold popped out as well.

It was exciting to finally see the completely empty inside of the hull (and the wood shaving, sanding dust and 1/4" dowels that had fallen into the hull as we stripped it).

Hope this helps.

On to scraping and sanding the inside!

KARKAUAI · Post by **KARKAUAI** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 1:43 pm

Hi, Randy, What kind of glue did you use in stripping and what kind of tape on the forms? I used Titebond and clear plastic packing tape and had no sticking at all. I was perhaps a little "anal" about cleaning up drips that came out around the forms (scraper after the glue had stiffened but not hardened), but still had glue on the edges of the forms that didn't stick.

Post by **Patricks Dad** » Tue Feb 15, 2005 2:02 pm

Titebond and plastic packing tape. The only place that there were problems were with the stem molds. There wasn't really much glue dripped but none of it was accessible as it was hidden behind Station 8 which is a part of the stem mold (on the Redbird).

thanks

davidb54321 · Post by **davidb54321** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 9:49 am

Randy, While shaping my stems last night in the John Michne method, I noticed that I was getting into the tape at the front edge of my stem mold, and also had scratched up the tape on the next station from the motion of the stick. I will have to repair/replace my tape in these spots before I hit it with glue or I will have a stuck stem mold also. I probably would not have thought of this were it not for your post! Thanks

Dave

Post by **Patricks Dad** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 9:53 am

We had the same problem and had to refresh the tape on both the stem mold and the last station. Good observation.

davidb54321 · Post by **davidb54321** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 4:10 pm

Randy, More about stems.......

Did you anchor the stem(not the sheer end) with a screw in the Ted Moores fashion, or did you just use finish nails like John Michne advocates. I am beginning my stripping and am using John's method, pulling the nails as I go. Does the planking hold the upper(lower?) end of the stem well enough without the screw?

Thanks

Post by **Patricks Dad** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 5:43 pm

We did anchor the stem to the last station (station 7 on the Redbird) as outlined in CanoeCraft (kind of). We didn't use a screw we just used a small steel pin so we could remove it easily by just pulling it out. Although in the end a screw would have been fine too.

The stem was held against the station (7) just by it's length and the fact that station 7 itself is screwed to the stem mold. We didn't put the pin into the stem until we had done most of the stripping (we had just clamped it in place with multiple clamps and removed them each when a clamp was in the way). By the time we got up a ways, the stem really couldn't go to far. The pin helped ensure that it stayed down against the form after the clamps were gone.

I was however looking at the small hole in the end of stem last night thinking that it's one more thing to fill before we glass... no big deal.

mtpocket · Post by **mtpocket** » Thu Feb 24, 2005 6:43 pm

I certainly don't have all of the answers, as you will see if you read long enough. Even so, I found a way to accomplish this without putting a hole in my stems where it would show. That was something I just couldn't make myself do. So, I used a plastic wire tie. I sinched it up real tight and it held very well. No holes. Loop the wire tie through the holes you make for clamping the stems after steaming. Just cut it off when you get up to it. By then, you have enough strips holding the stems in place and they won't move. I did this on both ends of the stems. Since the strips near the sheer line did not get filled in until after all other strips were on, it never caused me any problems.