The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Better Half in Skiff.jpg Wow, can it be this long since I posted???? Yow! Anyway, I did finish that RL Skiff (some years ago) and here's a couple of photos - that thing rows magnificently - almost skims along - so rewarding after all the work. I've also made a Redbird and a Prospector - but I find ...

Glen suggested that I post photos of my Rice Laker - so, I thought I'd jump right in. After having seen the work of Don Going and Juneau Dave and Chris Fowlie, I'm a little embarrassed to put mine out there. I've had a number of difficulties, and I'm not as patient as I should be - nor am I as capab...

Hi Rick - Thanks for your reply. By "integrity" of the hull, I know what you mean: Don't put any holes in there! But attaching the keelson and clamping involves wedging sticks from the ceiling onto the keelson. Then the keel - I've already glassed and painted the exterior of the hull - so ...

Hello all: I am at the point of attaching my keel to the hull of my Rice Laker. The question is whether to use epoxy or bedding compound with screws. There is a solid keelson all along the inside centreline through which I can drive stainless steel screws through the hull and into the keel. In other...

Thanks, Glen - you're a handy fellow to have around.

Thanks, Glen. I've already got a supply of #403 not #404 - what's the difference?

Just to be clear regarding the mixing proportions for Aeromarine Epoxy - the pumps are meant to dispense equal amounts of from the epoxy bottle and the hardener bottle. But the user is to make two pumps from the epoxy side and only one from the hardener - this quantity is 3 oz. - and so abides by th...

Looks great to me! And I'm amazed at how your work area resembles mine - damn that dust, eh?

Hello all: Rice Lake Skiff build - I am at the point of installing the transom, keelson, and floors. The builder's notes advise to thicken the epoxy under the keelson and floors and for the little gaps that have occurred around the transom. My question is which is better for this purpose: fibres or ...

Thank-you all. I'm sure glad I haven't tried rejuvenating using acetone. I was going to try that on a separate test piece anyway. But I'm abandoning that. And, I have seen the method of using the cup inside the cup and used it last summer before I determined the problem with the pump. It worked perf...

Sedges, thanks for your reply. The supplier (Aeromarine) is sending me a new pump for the epoxy - I notified them of the problem last summer but I thought that I had solved the difficulty. In fact I had - there was a slight obstruction in the ball valve at the bottom of the pump that prevented the p...

Well, I've run into another problem - due to some problems with my pumps in a project from last summer - they have dispensed my components unevenly. So much so that I have run out of hardener during the lay-up of fibreglass on the inside of my Rice Lake Skiff and I still have 25% of the hull to go. ...

Thank-you gentlemen - great replies. And Moonman: I had never heard of Vandorf before although I have numerous relatives in Aurora and have spent many days visiting my cousins and their families there. I'm on my way to the garage with my better half and we will try to lay the cloth out in an overlap...

I am at the stage of fibreglassing the inside of my Rice Lake Skiff, but I'm having some difficulty laying out the cloth. The instructions call for two layers of cloth 60 inches wide that is meant to be trimmed at the water line on both sides. This results in a football shaped overlap of the two lay...

Thanks, Randy - that was a quick and helpful reply . I was hoping that you or Glen might see the post as you've made so many useful suggestions. I've beleaguered Don Going innumerable times so that he must just throw up his hands whenever he sees an email from me. I think mixing up the filler is the...