The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

It will save some sanding if you mask the edges of the filled spots before applying the filler.

I thinned the Helmsman about 10% with mineral spirits and that helped on the sags and runs. I had very poor luck with the Helmsman standing up to direct sunlight. I made a mailbox with the leftover strips about 3 years ago. The Helmsman varnish had to be replaced after less than 6 months. I have had...

Get the best grade spar varnish you can afford. I built a mailbox using left over strips and Minwax Helmsman Polyurethane Spar varnish. I live in Florida so the sun really did a number on it. After about 3 months, I had to revarnish. I then used the $30 a quart spar varnish from a marine supply stor...

I use West epoxy and learned the hard way that the hardener darkens in the can with age. After wetting out part of the canoe with the old epoxy, the new can didn't match. Don't know if this is a factor in your case but------

After levelling, I placed some U shaped pieces of 1/2 inch plywood around the feet of the strongback to keep it from moving. I used silicone caulk to glue them down. Once the canoe was completed, they were easily removed and didn't leave a mark on the concrete floor.

Randy, although I haven't used it much, I built a wanigan to sit on when paddling my Freedom 15. Just an alternative to consider.

Go ahead and use the strips. There are many Wee Lassies built following Mac McCarthy's directions that have stripped decks. Epoxy the inside and fiberglass the outside.

You probably already thought of this but just remember to lay out your forms perpendicular to the lilne, not the sides of the strongback.

I agree with a fence that stops shortly behind the blade. You could accomplish this on your angle iron fence by fastening a board along it. It would also be a good idea to elevate the board about an eighth of an inch to prevent sawdust from piling up along the fence and impeding your cut. A zero cle...

If your table saw will accept 10 inch blades, you can put a sanding disk on it. This is a very useful tool for making molds, scarfing, etc. It usually is under $20 and well worth it.

Instead of epoxy to fasten down your strongback blocks, consider using ordinary silicone caulk. I fastened my strongback in place with it and it held fine. When finished, it pried off and was easily cleaned up. No trace.

Take a look at the Wee Lassies. Although they are smaller than you are talking about, they are great for solo paddling. Look at Featherboats.com for some pix. They are easy to paddle and very stable since you are sitting quite low in them

If you have a West Marine store nearby, they handle Captains spar varnish which is good. I have Minwax Helmsman on my cedar strip mailbox. I have to revarnish it every year as it cannot stand up to the Florida sun longer than that. A group of us have a get together every year in the Okefenokee Swamp...

I mixed sanding dust with the wood putty to get as close a match as I could to the wood in my canoes. It took a little experimentation but eventually I ended up using 3 parts putty to one part wood dust. I built using eastern white cedar

I mixed sawdust with Rock Hard Wood Putty in epoxy for my filler. It took a bit of experimenting with proportions of each to get a decent match.