: Every time I've glued on a hardwood strip for a laminated external
: stem, I've had a hard time clamping it. Tape seemed too loose
: and staples wouldn't
: go through the hardwood. Last night when I was wondering what to do
: again, I spotted my wife's latex exercise band. I wrapped it
: around the end of the boat and the strip I was gluing all the
: way from the tip of the bow to the end of the stem. I got lots
: of pressure. If you try it just watch your eyes in case it
: breaks. (older ones seem to break or get cut if you have a sharp
: edge on your wood. I hid the pieces of the two I broke.)

: Ric

I used a combination of cut rubber strips from old bicycle innertubes (worked well) and also, elastic tourniquets (like they use when they draw blood at the medical clinics). They worked especiallly well, and allowed 'customization' of the amount of pressure applied for various degrees of convincing.