: What is "best" is the one that best meets your desires. There is no
: "right" way, just a series of choices. Just realize someone else
: will always come along saying you should have done it some other way.

It might be nice to know WHY someone suggests a method of construction.

There are factors which are important in each persons choice of how to solve a
problem. One person may favor museum quality appearance over a more functional
light-weight simplified construction. Each builder has a set of experiences and preferences
that result in their personal solution to a problem. It helps to read what they say
carefully to understand the choices they have made.

Ted uses external stems on his kayaks primarily because he does not wish
to wrap the stem ends with a second layer of glass. He does not like the "look"
of a second layer of glass on his boats. This is also why he uses his “sheer clamp”
method of joining the deck and hull.

To quote Ted,
"Wrapping a glass patch around the end is not only difficult
but frustrating, because there is no way of doing it gracefully. The double
layer of glass at the stem will always appear a different color and density
than the single layer on the rest of the hull.' "KayakCraft" page 117.

I don't happen to agree with Ted. He obviously doesn't know about applying
bias cut strips of glass, which do work quite gracefully. And yes, the second
layer of glass will be visible if you do not wet it out with a thin resin in a
warm environment.

So, if you go to all the trouble of making laminated stems and add glass
over them you've defeated their purpose. If you know why someone chooses
a method you'll understand if that choice fits your desires. If you just want
pretty wood stem edges it's much easier to apply a veneer strip stem edge
on top of all stripped stems.

All the best,

Rob Macks
Laughing Loon CC&K
www.LaughingLoon.com