: Thanks for the clarification Rob. I sure wasn't trying to twist or
: distort anything. I was just unsure which way to go and since
: this is all pretty new to me; I just didn't completely
: understand my options. When I read your book; it made perfect
: sense to just overlap stips at the end of the stem forms, and
: then when the plans came with the mini set of instructions, and
: that suggested internal stems, that made perfect sense as well.
: What I really wasn't clear on was if you use internal stems, if
: you also HAD to use external stems. I think after reading your
: response, I'm just going to go without stems. I'd just as soon
: start stripping rather than messing with adding stems when I'm
: all ready to strips. The other thing that makes this an easy
: decision is that I can't think of anywhere that I'll use the
: boat where I'd need to worry about rocks.

I didn't use an internal stem, on the Guillemot I am building (my first). Now that I have finished glassing the hull, I seem to have got away without it. I did add an external stem. Reason being my ends were not as tidy as the work experienced builders achieve!

For my 2c:
* Don't bother with the internal stem. Just do a good job of joining the ends. My work wasn't that tidy so I added a fillet and a bit more glass when glassing the inside of the hull (i.e. I basically laid the equivalent of an internal stem when glassing the inside).
* If like me you don't get as tidy a result as Rob's picture above, add an external stem. I used some victorian oak. Heavy wood, but the actual volume of wood laminated on is tiny - I can't believe it would weigh more than a couple of ounces. I do think it will hold up better when it hits something than the end grain of the cedar strips. And it meant that my shonky ends were tidied up!

http://ianjohnsonz.wordpress.com/category/guillemot-kayak/4-stripping/d-outer-stems/