A final decision has been made on the stem repair. Over the years various repairs have been made, perhaps the largest and most intrusive being the big patch that was added near the top.
The final choice has been to replace the stem from the plank ends forward. This will essentially make the stem two pieces. At the lower end of the scarf, the new piece will overlap onto the next section, giving all new wood at that joint. The new wood will follow the plank end seamand extend up into the bulwork area. By extending up into the bulworks to the cap rail we can replace the old plug replaced the bow sprit slot, thereby