The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Hey folks. been a while since I've posted, but with winter approaching, I've been thinking about building another boat. I've done a Freedom 17 and a Prospector 16. Both are lots of fun, but I've been thinking of building a boat for a specific purpose: I run several rivers, 1 near my home, and severa...

Working with the redwood was actually really easy. It cuts, sands, and glues up well, both with power tools and hand tools. I used Titebond II, and the glue lines don't seem very prominent from a color perspective. I did sand pretty meticulously though. I would say that when trying to colormatch wit...

Howdy all, been a while since I have posted. I just completed my 2nd boat, a 16 ft. prospector. For this boat I used reclaimed redwood for the primary hull material. The wood came from an old water tower built in the 1870s. I had the good luck to run across about a hundred board feet. Age and minera...

I'm in the middle of stripping my second canoe, a prospector, out of redwood. I used Mendards WRC for my 1st boat, and this time around I wanted to use something unique. The wood I am using for the prospector is old-growth redwood reclaimed from a water tower that was built in 1879. I cut strips fro...

I've started on my seconde canoe, a Prospector, and am assembling materials - I had a nice piece of cherry to use for the stems with good straight grain for bending - trouble is I cut this into 1/4" strips that are 3/4" wide vs. the 7/8" width that is specified in the Canoecraft book ...

The best battens I have found - much more flexible, and more durable than a wood strip, albiet, much shorter-Go to the toy store and buy a cheap kite - the little fiberglass sticks used to frame the kite make great battens for lofting forms. You are limited by the size of the kite, but lofting a cur...

To Larry - yes, the strips are on the lighter side for WRC I think. All of my wood came from Menards/Lowes/Home Depot (as per one of your earlier suggestions) and the sweet spot seemed to be 1"x4"x12' rough one side boards from Menards. About 2/3rds of the boat lumber came from a single pi...

Many thanks to the folks on the board, I finished my 1st boat, a Freedom 17 using the techniques in Canoecraft and the search feature of the forum whenever I got stuck. Maiden voyage was the Pere Marquette River in MI on Easter weekend. Attached are some pictures, from the 2nd trip on the Turtle-Fla...

Just finished steaming and laminating my stems - after a botched attempt at an epoxy lamination, I consulted the board and found that some are using Gorilla Glue. After putting together 2 sets of stems using Gorilla Glue I am a big fan - Here are the pros: 1. Gorrilla Glue relies on water for activa...

I'm not at the point of varnishing yet, but am trying to figure out my options and get an idea of costs for this step - I am interested in anyone's thoughts on 2 part polyurethane varnishes such as Epiphanes or Interlux Perfection - I've read the material on oneoceankayaks.com and seems like the the...

Glen, thanks. I checked my depth and was just a hair over 1/8". I cut a few more test strips after adjusting my fence and am getting cleaner edges. As you well know, differences in grain are also playing a part. Thanks for the tip.

I am in the process of milling my strips and am at the point of putting cove edges on. I used WRC cut to 1/4" thinkness - my saw setup was actually quite good, and most planks were spot checked for thickness. My beads were easily cut and are centered. I am able to center the cove bit, but wind ...

I'm in bloomington - just updated my profile.

Hello all, 1st post on the board. I am getting ready to begin on a Freedom 17 and have a couple of questions - due to cost of clear WRC locally (central IL), I am opting to build using a combination of Cypress mostly and basswod/redwood for accents. I am going to mill my own strips and from a weight...