The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

I have a movable seat. It moves fore and aft about 13 inches. Therfore I can adjust for the wind (ie, if going into a headwind move the seat forward and get the bow down and if going downwind move the seat back and get the bow up) and make paddling a lot easier in windy conditions. Incidentally, the...

I bought the strips with bead and cove. The bead and cove was sufficient to build the canoe above, below, and at the chine. It really pays off to fit the bead and cove as carefully and tightly as possible. It saves a tremendous amount of work latter on and achieves a level of quality otherwise unatt...

PJ I've never paddled a Bell Magic but this boat paddles wonderfully. It accelerates quicker than any boat I've paddled - weight is only 45 lbs. It tracks well and is not difficult to turn. It is deep and has plenty of volume for and aft to handle big waves - that's a guess on my part as I have not ...

Although I've only had it in the diving well of an indoor pool - not much room - it paddles wonderfully. I'm really pleased. I like to paddle kneeling but in reality I need to switch positions frequently to relieve cramped muscles; therefor the movable seat. Sitting,the boat can be a little squirell...

This is the freedom solo 16'2". I don't know if it is the first one done or not. I've had it in a pool to determine the placement of the seat. The thwarts are at 6'8" and 10'4" from the bow. They are different than suggested on the plans because the seat is going to be movable front a...

The canoe weighs 44 lbs without the seat.

This boat is on the top of my list once I am able to get back to building boats. Has anyone glassed around the corner of that chine? It looks pretty sharp and I'm concerned about how glassing it will go (inside and out). Am I worrying needlessly? glassing around the chime was no problem. I made an ...

Here is one of a number of pictures of a freedom solo 16-2. Should be finished by May.

A friend suggested that coating the boat with a thin coat of catalyzed resin before putting the glass cloth on is a good idea. The advantage, he says, is that when the resin is then applied to the cloth it is less likely that the cloth will be starved because of the wood pulling resin out of the clo...