The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Good advice from everyone, thank you. I'm going to go ahead with the four man crew. One mixer and time tape man(little brother the genius), 2 squegee men (myself and other brother) and one pour man and drink fetcher and general overseer (father in law-willing but not very able). I would love to do i...

I know alot of you wish you had this problem but I called in all my owesies and have three "volunteers". My question is how should I use the manpower effectively? Unfortunately, none of them have any experience with epoxy and all my knowledge comes from recent reading (alot of it on this s...

It seemed to work really good on my test pieces and since my stems fit pretty tight it worked really good on them. Glad to hear it will work with US Composites (thanks Larry). Shaping on Wednesday finally. Had plenty of time to sharpen all scrapers and spokeshaves anyway. Wore off the casting and gr...

The Ranger is progressing nicely but I've been a little delayed by waiting for my epoxy. Turns out I have some System 3 T-88, could I use that to put the stems on the canoe without any problems later with the US composites stuff I'm going to use for the fiberglass? I realize I'll have to wait for th...

Yes, the book is a little light on detail. I think I've got it now and hope to finish stripping Tuesday. Epoxy is ordered (US Composites) and will be glad to get to shaping and installing outer stem. I used Probond Polyurethane to laminate because I could't wait for epoxy but I want to use epoxy for...

Yes, the guitar was made by me for J. Blues, a local jazz and blues guitarist. He saw a bass guitar I made and commissioned the guitar to his specs. Sounds great, too. By the way, I did alter the bow curve on the Prospector Ranger, just a little. I kept the same plane but pulled the point back aroun...

Thanks David B, glad I'm on the right track. Just getting ready to turn the bilge area and REAL happy that I don't have to pull all my strips off. Any other tips feel free to leave 'em, it sounds like you're far enough ahead of me to stop me before I make any huge mistakes. Mortice the stem? Could y...

Will do. On my way there, thanks Glen.

I have about 7 strips on each side and as I am tapering my stems I noticed that the profile I am getting isn't exactly like the book.(page 117) I'm hoping that variations between plans is the reason. Strips are fitting tight to stations 6 and 7, and snug against the stem on either end but my profile...

Yes, I printed and used the offsets from BMB. Still a little unsure where my foul up was but as long as it works out I'll be happy. Thanks again.

It looks right, and with a temporary clamp up everything seemed to line up. I bent my stems today and the curve on them looks good. So, I guess I cross my fingers and deal with any problems that come up. This is off subject but I was wondering if anyone gets to the Ottawa river around Moffet? A coup...

Got revised from library to get Prospector Ranger plans. Only building one so I figured that would be cool. Where my stem should have met station 6 it was cut off too low by about 5/8 of an inch. I wasn't sure where to bring the last plotted point to and apparantly guessed wrong. It should end up th...

I have the older copy of canoecraft. My problem was where the last plotted point on the stems went to. Turns out it goes to station 6, less 3/4 so stem can be trimmed and planking can lay across it, I think. I did a clamp up of the stem and saw I had cut mine straight across instead of tapering it b...

I put a tapered piece of wood from my cut off line to 3/4's of an inch below the peak of station 6 and ran a thin batten to keep the curve even. Can someone tell me if this will work out? Also station 7- subtract the width of the stem or not? (haven't cut it yet)

I've got a question. On my stems,(Ranger) at the last plotted point, I ran the line straight back to the centerline, where the stem should (I hope) meet with station 6. Was this right or did I need to carry the curve back to 6? I'm all ready to bend my stems and there is a sharp angle at the top. I'...