: Okay a little more detail. The stem on Mike’s latest boat is good and
: straight. This makes building clean and managable. On the other hand my
: boat has a stem that starting at the tip of the bow has a slight convex
: curve to it. However, where the stem attaches to the keelson the curvature
: greatly increases. Although it looks real cool, this became a liability
: during the finishing aspects of the kayak building. The staples in the
: stem (and there was a lot of ‘em) caused a buildup along the center of the
: stem. This made attaching the final outer stem piece very difficult. It

I also had some cloth/staple buildup along the stem. I guess it wasn't a problem for me because the hemlock keel strip was actually a length of corner molding. It was triangular in cross section with the bottom (keelson side) routed out with a 1/2" groove. That groove wrapped around the staples pretty well. It also made the strip easier to bend. I used the Putz method of pouring boiling water on the strip before bending. Not pretty, but it bent with almost no effort.

I think either type, straight or curved, looks nice. I was just curious what you guys were talking about.

You mentioned steaming. Have you built a steamer. I'm in the process of building one and would be open to ideas.

Bill