Building the Eun Mara "Skerry"
Stempost
The stem and stern posts were made from three thicknesses of spotted gum with joins cut at opposing angles. In these two pictures the three parts of the inner section have been joined (you can just see the light coloured epoxy at the two joins on the lower picture). This simplified the task of attaching the outer parts.
This picture shows the whole stempost assembled (dry). I used two screws in each piece so that it would be easy to re-assemble when the epoxy was applied. (The wobble in the cut is the result of an inexperienced bandsawer using a very light-weight bandsaw to cut very hard spotted gum.)
This is the whole lot being glued. The apparent gaps in the clamp arrangement are where the sections are held together by the screws mentioned above, so clamps are unnecesary. The screws are well sunk into the timber, and I took the opportunity to fill the holes with epoxy. The white paper pads help to stop the epoxy dribbling out when it's still soft.
A complex clamp arrangement is necessary at the joints to ensure all surfaces meet.
After the epoxy had set the stempost was shaped with 40g sandpaper (this is very effective for removing excess epoxy), plane, and spokeshave.
And here is the completed stempost, braced in position and with an initial bevel. You can also see the starboard laminated frames.
Here's the stempost in place again, with the two planks for the keelson waiting to be worked on.
(Notice the timber switch from spotted gum to Jarrah for the keelson. I had never worked with spotted gum before and found it too hard for my liking. I like to use hand planes and spokeshaves whenever possible so I decided to complete the backbone in Jarrah, which I find easier to work with.)