Have I pooched myself already?

[Kermit]

I have read Canoecraft over and over again and swore that the inner stems were to be 3/4" and the outer stems are 7/8"... I'm looking at my lovely glued stern stems, wondering, how in the world am I going to cut a 7/8" mortice over a 3/4" inner stem through the planking?


Am I completely off my rocker, or have I screwed up on step 1?


Thanks in advance,


Chris

[Rod Tait]

Grab a hold of yourself man, put down the sharp tools, as it is not all that bad. The inner stem will have the added width of the planking to make it wider, and you can always trim down the width of the outer stem to fit into any mortise you create. It is nice to have the outer stem wider since you can always make it thinner, but you can not make it wider if for some reason your inner stem and planking add up to an end profile that is wider than outer stem.

[Patricks Dad]

I have always cut my inner and outer stems the same width. You should not be worried about your current situation. You'll be fine.

A couple points/observations:

The outer edge of the inner stem will be only 1/8" wide when you are done shaping it for mating with the strips of the hull. The width of the mortise you cut has nothing to do with the width of the inside of the inner stem. The width of the mortise also has little to do with the width of your raw outer stem material. You will do some shaping of the outer stem before you cut a mortise for it.

Once you have shaped the inner stem and placed all the strips on the hull, you will cut the mortise. The outer stem will rest directly on top of the 1/8" wide inner stem's outer edge. At the stem end near the sheerline, the stem will cover the ends of the strips entirely. Somewhere between the sheer end and the other end of the stem, the strips plus inner stem 1/8" width will be wider than the outer stem and the outer stem won't be able to cover the strips. The "mortise" will begin here. But the width of the outer stem (and it's associated mortise) should be tapered down from it's full width to about 3/8". So by the time you actually cut a mortise you will be cutting a mortise that is only 3/8" wide at the end of the outer stem closest to the yoke.

Make sense?

Be sure to make sure your outer stem is a couple inches SHORTER than your inner stem.