We have three older canoes in the shop right now. the all have the old style of closed gunwales which was how most canoes were built before 1915.  Thy all also have keels which we installed yesterday.  A common mistake on fitting keels is to make them too short and the ends too blunt.  By making a long taper on the end of the keel and running it into the curve of the stem, the keel will flow into the shape of the boat and not stick out like a bump on the bottom of the boat.  The brass stem band will protect the tapered end of the keel.