: I wouldn't worry about it- it won't be much weight difference
: overall.
: Ash is one of the lighter hardwoods, and is ideal in bending
: applications (though its strength isn't used in an internal
: stem).
: And, as Sean says, wood is lighter (and cheaper) than epoxy.

: Having a nice 'landing zone' for the inside glass (wide-ish
: internal stem and a fillet) makes for a much easier glass job in
: the ends of the boat, IME.
: Rather than chisel the wood, I'd just add a small fillet to make
: the glass transition from the hull to the stem easier. It can be
: tricky to avoid air bubbles in sharp corners.

In the big scheme of things that little bit of weight in the Ash is peanuts!! I just removed my internal stems because I could do it easily.

As for epoxy fillets - I built Duane Strosaker's Point Bennett 18 last winter. It's a S&G and I filleted everything - keel, chine, sheer, all bulkheads (both sides). I used 6oz glass inside and out and ended up putting almost 2 gals of West System epoxy in to the build. By looking at, you would never know but it's a VERY strong boat. I'm just putting the last coat of epoxy on my Black Pearl (same boat Dan is building) and I'm just over 1.25 gals of epoxy in. I'm convinced that all the epoxy in the Point Bennett went into the fillets because my Black Pearl has 6 oz glass inside and out and doubled on the bottom!! But probably only half the fillets!!

Just my two cents,
Sean