: All,
: I have a Wee Lassie II that I use for fishing in the streams and ponds near
: my home in Alabama. When I built my WL, I put a graphite coating on the
: football area to help protect against the sand, gravel and rocks that live
: in our waters. Now, after a couple years, I need to do some maintenance.

: The graphite on the bottom has held up well. However, the grahite coating has
: not held up as well on the stems. There is serious abraiding of the
: fiberglass exactly where you would expect.

: I am thinking about adding some better protection on the stems as part of my
: maintenance. What do you think? Should I add several layers of fiberglass
: on the stems? How many layers? Should I use kevlar or polypro? How about
: an old fashioned brass stem band?

: I welcome your counsel.
: Chuck

Well..depends on the weight required. If you're not really worried about adding a little I'd do the later, since the brass will abrade first before the wood/glass/epoxy ever gets worn at all. The brass band won't wear enough to matter nearly forever.

Anything else you add will wear, eventually to the point that it'll need rebuilding, even the very hard graphite.

I used hardwood laminated external stems under the glass, but that's kinda hard to do once it's glassed

The brass will look cool too.

Bill H.