The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

I have been hoping the Shearwater plans would become available some day. John Winters and Steve Killing have, by far, the best modern touring canoe and kayak designs for builders. The more designs they make available the better! Anybody know of an inexpensive CAD software to view these with?

It is really difficult to change the keel line profile without redrawing the whole boat. Look around and find a plan that suits your needs, there are many out there. That said- We have used our prospector on lakes of all sizes, with wind and waves and in flat, glassy calm- with 480 to 600 pounds in ...

I have been hanging seats from my gunnels for decades, never had one fail. My main partner on the water weighs in at 280 lbs and the hanging method works fine. I use 3/16 silicon bronze carriage bolts and a piece of thin walled copper tube for the spacers. I highly recommend an adjustable bow seat. ...

Sorry I don't have a way to post picture right now. This pine in yellow-more rich colored than spruce for instance, with a reddish brown grain. The yellow ages to a darker, less bright color. SYP is structurally a very strong wood. Its specific gravity and strength are more similar to hardwoods than...

There is nothing magical about ash for gunnels and other trim. It just happened to be the species that grew straight and tall in the traditional canoe building country. Maine, New Brunswick, Ontario. It is not especially rot resist. It does steam bend very well and if your canoe has high end peaks t...

I never liked the idea of a sealed bulkhead. I like to have access to the ends of the hull for repairs. I use a removable bulkhead that wedges on a cross piece on the bottom of the breastplate and attaches to the end of the inside stem. One screw gets it out. I have formed foam to fit the space and ...

Mark! I have never covered the cedar with gunnel material. I think it drains and dries out better without a cover. It looks fine, too. Make sure it is sealed well and touched up frequently if it gets rubbed on carriers. etc. I always put heavier gunnel piece inside3/4X3/4. The inside piece takes the...

Neither of the strokes described in the websites is a pitch(as I have been taught it). The pitch stroke was describe to me as stroke for the stern paddler to compensate for the turn away from the stern paddlers side, just like a J-stroke. The pitch stroke, however has no J to it. It is simply a forw...

Bent shafts are more efficient because at the most powerful part of your stroke(both arms straight and twisting your torso to add power) the blade is perpendicular to the surface. This means that at the most powerful part of your stroke you are not lifting water out of the lake(as with a straight sh...

I built a 20 foot strongback before I started my second boat. The longest boat on it has 18'10". I like having the space at the ends to hold tools and supplies. I also like to have the entire stem form anchored to the strongback. This means that the entire hull most be above the surface of the ...

Broken shafts are hard to repair well. Laminating repair on to sides will make the paddle have a stiff spot in a normally flexiible shaft.. Your first solution would be a better repair. IMHO if you have the skills to do either of these repairs, you can build a new one. If this is someones dearest pa...

I use a dedicated brush cleaner. This stuff is toxic as hell, but works great. Clean your brush outside. Fastrip is the name on the container. Its Got a soup of chemicals in it. Acetone, Methynol, tuolene and methyl chloride. I try and remove as much varnish from the brush as possible before cleanin...

I have been using a cheaper spar varnish for great results for years. I have boats that have the original varnish on the topsides for ten years. Often, I only refinish below the waterline were all the scratches are located. Benjamin Moore Impervo 440 Spar Varnish. Less than $10 a quart at your local...

pecan is a hickory and has many of the same properties as other hickories. One is that it changes dimensions(swells) a lot with increase in moisture content. More than any other really dense American hardwood. I saw it used on the edges of paddles. The blades were glassed and the tiniest nick in the...

The cosine wherry is really designed as a rowing boat. The run aft is swept up and the transom is meant to be out of the water. I would maybe consider putting a trolling motor on it. Any speed at all is going to cause the stern to sink into a hole. The Rice Lake Skiff looks a lot more like a motoriz...