After posting these two pics, the additional flattening of the stems is just what I had done. I'm pretty comfortable with a belt sander, and my 4x24 Porter-Cable with a light grit was a good tool for the job. Now the arc of the stems extends up through the deck portion, and laminating the entire stem is possible.

Some time ago, Nick posted a statement that he was forming his stems this way, with the laminations up through the deck area, but after the hull and deck were joined. The glass work was then feathered in to the rest of the kayak.

Thanks for your input Ric.

Chris

: Another way of doing a laminated stem is to flatten the deck portion of the
: bow/stern ie. above the sheer. So you just continue the flattening that
: you have prepared already on the hull. Then wrap the lamination strips
: around the whole end, from the hull right up around the end and a few
: inches onto the deck. When you are ready to separate the deck and hull,
: after glassing, you just cut through the laminated stems with a pull saw.

: Ric