Shaping the stem
This was possibly one of the most satisfying jobs on the boat so far. The stem, running down to meet the keel, had been left square while building the hull, so the challenge was to shape it to provide a pleasing angle between the two sides of the hull. It also needed to be left square at the top in order to accept the bowsprit stemhead fitting.
We started by deciding the point at which the square would begin to taper, then set to work planing. Using a long plane helped us to follow the angles set by the bow panels and did most of the work low down on the stem and along the forefoot, where we wanted a rounded shape between the two. We used the plane to take the timber to a point, before rounding it off using a block plane and sandpaper.
Further up the stem we had to be more circumspect, so started off by carving a 45° angle into the stem using a spokeshave. After continuing this a few inches down the stem, we drew a line from this to an estimated waterline and tapered the timber between the two points to match using a plane.
Once we had the shape we needed, we sanded the whole area to remove any irregularities, easing any sharp corners as we went to improve paint adhesion later on. We also glued timber fillets in place at the top of the stem to make it wider, ready to acept the stemhead fitting.