THe "opened like a dried fish" is what I am worried about also. This was posted above, but what I was thinking was prior to removing all the forms, just removing the stem forms (after duct taping them together) and using thickened epoxy and filleting in the stems. I was thinking of making the fillet with a plastic spoon so it would be a relatively small fillet(worked great on my S&G). That way, once it cured, the strips at the stems would be secure and I could remove the tape, plane and add the stem pieces like you mentioned. Once dried, the hull sanding would start up.

: Eric: Don't you worry about the look of your stem. The ONLY thing you have to
: look for when you are stripping the ends of your boat is the actual gluing
: of the strips. You don't want to pull away the staples and have your ends
: opened like a dried fish...

: When the glue has cured completely and the staples are pulled away, you can
: first cut roughly the form of the end with a hand saw and then plane it
: with a hand saw. The process is really straight forward.

: Then, rip 5 or 6 1/16" thickness cedar strips, say 2" width and the
: length needed to fully cover the planned end plus 2".

: Buy a roll of duct tape (you'll need it all). Spread white glue all over the
: strips and over the planned end. Make a sandwich with ALL the strips (it's
: better if you've ripped the strip from a single piece of lumber and you
: can "remember" the original position of them, they'll look like
: a single piece again!). Take one edge (aprox 1 inch) of you
: "sandwich" and tight it up with duct tape.

: Now, put this taped edge over the planned end (you don't want to put the duct
: tape on the planned area, but the wood, right?) and start to wrap duct
: tape around either the "sandwich" and the boat.

: You'll notice that the white glue works as lubricant between the strips, and
: that is really easy to copy the profile of the end of the boat.

: Allow two days for a fully cure of the glue.

: And now, the magic trick: Take your hand plane and start planning in the
: direction of the side strips. If you've done a regular job (I'm not
: talking about serious craftmanship), you'll see that right in front of
: your eyes a beautiful bent piece of cedar is giving your boat an
: outstanding look.

: Hope this helps.

: Marcelo