The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Hi Kermit, I still have my station molds from my build. If you want them you can have them. Also, you would get a chance to look at a finished freedom 17 9. Anyway, if you are interested, feel free to email me at sel4sel4@gmail.com. Also if you have any questions about the build I would be happy to ...

Hi Old 750, The coves are very fragile. What I did was I would only prepare a few coved strips at a time and glue them up, before I went ahead with coving a few more. The only thing is you need to keep your router set-up intact until you are done. In my case I didn't need the router for anything els...

Hello Everyone, After three years of work I finally launched my canoe at the beginning of this summer. Here are a few pics. My son trying out the seats.... but backwards: http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q49/sel4sel4/Canoe%20prjoect/IMG_0206.jpg The inlays (there is an identical one on the other s...

Hi You are not alone. Mine is almost done. All I need to do now is attach outer gunwales, varnish the hull, and install the seats and thwarts. It should hit the water this spring. Mine took a long time to build (3 years). Many things contributed to extending the build such as: a wife, 4 kids, and my...

Hi, You can mix in any type of wood you want in the canoe. For example, my accent strip is mahogany and maple. The only thing you need to be wary of is that during sanding, the softer woods tends to grind down easier thus leaving a ridge where the two wood species meet. This can be addressed y using...

HI POTC, I just looked at my build pics and I think I understand your question. The answer is yes that form's bottom portion is wider that the strongback. I think it makes it easier to strip the end of the canoe and it does not interfere with anything. It just isn't wide enough at that point to caus...

Hi POTC,

My strong back is 17' long. It is of the plywood variety, and it worked quite well.
With regards to strip length, the longest strip is about 18'6". Maybe even a bit less.

Good luck on the project!

Cheers!

Martin,
Gatineau

Hi POTC,

I have almost finished building a 17'9" freedom; however, I am struggling to understand your question.

Give me more detailis and I will be glad to help. Or Perhaps you can look at my postings. I think I have a picture of the set up molds in there somewhere.

cheers

Martin
Gatineau

Hi, I glassed the outside of my 17'9 freedom alone using RAKA. The only thing I would add to what has already been said is that from now on I will be doing an epoxy pre-coat prior to laying the glass. The reason is that I see colour change demarcations between the batches of epoxy on the boat. I fig...

I glassed the outside of my boat a few weeks ago, and here is the thing I learned. I didn't do a pre-coat and I was alone to do the mixing spreading and squeegeeing, and I found that there are color changes at all edges where I had to stop spreading to go mix another batch or squeegee. So in the fut...

Thanks for the compliments. Yeah the inlay is supposed to be a heron. As for the steps, 1) find a picture and separate into pieces. I used photoshop to mess around with a picture I likes (modifying colours, blurring, etc. ) until it looked like a cartoon, then I printed and cut my pieces from that. ...

Hi everyone.

I need to cut the sheerline too.

What is the best and easiest tool to use for the job?

In other words, how do you usually do it?

cheers


Martin
Gatineau

Here is a quick update on the Freedom 17'9" project: I have finished one seat: http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q49/sel4sel4/Canoe%20prjoect/IMG_6704.jpg http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q49/sel4sel4/Canoe%20prjoect/IMG_6703.jpg I have finished the stripping: http://i133.photobucket.com/alb...

Is adding a second layer of glass on the football required.. or is it optional.

I am currently building a freedem 17'9', should I put a second layer on the football?


Martin
Gatineau, QC

Hi, I would weigh in on covering with matte finish over the high gloss varnish. I typically do this when finishing furniture because several coats of matte finish reduces clarity whereas the high gloss varnish is completely clear. By only using matte finish on the last coat, the finish remains clear...