The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

I am all about the graphite bottomed hull. This is my sixth canoe and every one has had the treatment. Definitely worth it!

Thanks for the advice, Sedges. I'm certainly nervous looking at the interior. Though I'll admit I'm more interested in paddling the canoe than a perfect fiberglass job, so that alleviates some of my anxiety. I'm weighing your advice carefully... Brian, I'm basing the strength numbers I found on vari...

I'm building a new canoe and I'm using a 6 oz. fiberglass cloth whose weave is new to me. It's manufactured by BGF and called Style 76281. It's a tighter weave than what I've used in the past. I've glasses the exterior and am finding it interesting to work with. It's stiffer than a plain weave but g...

Anybody have any experience installing brass painter rings, specifically through the stems? I'm talking about the Old Town style rings, where they're mounted using a u-bolt style piece of hardware that bolts through the stem and has a brass plate. If you installed them in the stems, did you also hav...

Hello- I just finished building an 18' tandem and am having trouble with oil-canning. It's a shallow arched hull with double layers of 3.25 oz cloth on the interior and exterior. Any suggestions as to what I can to do improve this situation? The only thing I can think up is to put another layer of 6...

It is graphite. Wouldn't build a boat without it. I like wooden canoes, but I work them hard out on the trail. The graphite makes everything slide much easier. I paddled my father-in-law's canoe once and put a scratch in the hull - no graphite. Learned two lessons that day...!

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Jim & Brian- Thank you for the info. I had never used fabric on the bias on the hull and had only used narrow strips of it on the stems before, so I'm glad to have my intuition held up by facts. I appreciate your time. I've attached a photo of the new canoe. It's a Newfound design I had been loo...

True, but my real question is, will two sheets of cloth of differing weave direction work to stiffen a craft? Much like the alternating layers in plywood. Obviously warp and weft run perpendicular to each other, so turning a sheet 90° won't help, but what about a sheet set at 45°? My wife learned ab...

Hello- This is my first post, though I am writing about my third canoe. As I'm already finished with the boat, there's nothing I can do but file away your advice for my next one (yes, I need 4 canoes for some reason). I built a 15'-4" solo canoe (not a Bear Mtn. design...sorry) using 3/16"...