: Are you sure you have not misunderstood what Nick meant about how
: the internal stem is fitted?

: You have repeated that you saw it as a problem if the point
: disappears off Form 1. That is not a problem because the bevel
: on the internal stem recreates that point. You need to remove
: the point from Form 1 by cutting out the centre. The fact that
: you have used a different method of attaching the form doesn't
: change the fact that the internal stem needs to occupy the space
: that was originally occupied by the point of Form 1. Nick said
: you cut the point off because the internal stem because the
: internal stem replaces it.

: The plans for Nick's Night Heron Single and Night Heron Double have
: two lines at outside edge of the end stems. The outside line is
: the one you cut to if you plan not to use an internal stem or if
: you intend to turn the outside of the end stem into an internal
: stem by beveling it and cutting it off. The inside line is the
: one to cut to if you intend to make an internal stem from some
: other material. Nick's comment would apply if you had cut to the
: inside dotted line. If you cut to the inside line, you would
: then fit the internal stem to the outside edge as Nick said.

: The internal stem is not an afterthought. Some people build with an
: internal stem; some build without one. The plans allow for both
: approaches.

: Did you look at the photo I attached to an earlier post? Can you
: see how the internal stem becomes the new point on Form 1 (Form
: 14 in my photo)? The bevel continues the slope of Form 1 so that
: the strips fit closely against the internal stem as you said.

Allan,

Knowing how this has gone so far... No, I am NOT sure if I have missunderstood what Nick said. I think I will ask him to get involved in this discussion, because one or more of us has misunderstood something here and I don't want any of us to mess our boats up. My guess is that the Night Heron was designed with two options (either an internal stem or not) and the Petrel was considered to use the internal stem by default. If you have Nick's latest book (Building Strip-Planked Boats), look on pages 233 through 237. It appears to me that the stem was attached to the end form without cutting into the end form pattern. The Petrel plans do not show a dotted area like you indicate is on the Night Heron plans. I hope to have Nick comment on this and maybe we can get to the bottom of this.