The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

I glued the outer stem laminations on tonight. http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l103/ME-262/CopyofIMG_2775.jpg I got my wife to agree to let me buy a board, while we were at Lowes, to make the outer stems with. The only hardwood they had was red oak. So my stems are red oak. I cut the board into st...

Wow! What a beautiful boat. I had not heard of the fishing line method. I used tape.
Can you give us a little more detail about how you made those beer holders, and how they're attached? I might need to add them to my canoe. :big grin

sel4sel4,

Wow! what beautiful work. I love the inlay. I can't wait to see more pictures. Is there any special significance to the bird on the side? Is it a great blue heron?

Part of my dislike of the knots stems from their workability. I had a strip with a knot in it bust apart at the knot as I was gluing it in. And the knot material is so much harder than the softer surrounding wood that it made for a lot more block sanding to fair it smoothly. It kind of makes a britt...

I think it is a good idea to have enough wood to make more strips than you think you will need. Because it can be difficult to find long boards that are free of knots and other defects, I ended up not using about 1/3 of the strips I cut because they had "issues". In retrospect I wish I had...

The cedar dust seems to stuff up my sinuses also. So I take some antihistamine and keep on going. I used the disposable dust masks when I was creating most of the dust, but they are not fun to wear. I also seem to be affected by talc, my mom used to douse me with it as a baby. http://i94.photobucket...

I was thinking of precoating my canoe with epoxy before I put the glass on. I had heard that some folks thin the precoat out to get better penetration into the wood and a thinner lighter coat, and then put the glass on while the epoxy precoat is still green. For best results how much should you thin...

Dennis,

Am I correct in assuming that you will glass the boat inside and out before you put the keels on? The sandwich panel will be strongest that way.

I am part way done building a Hiawatha as my first boat. I have all the strips on and am working on the outer stems. I tried something different on the inner stem and I regret not using the method in the book. I went cove side up with the strips, and it worked out great. On the football where it fla...

Thank you guys for the compliments! I can feel my big head swelling even larger. My wife has been taking photos of my project every so often as I went along. I think she is collecting it to document my insanity. I think she suspects my new hobby is the result of some kind of midlife crisis. I don't ...

Where the keel started off sharp I tapered the ends of my strips on a belt sander and then glued them in together as pairs. Then where the bottom flattens out I transitioned to a double herringbone so I could keep the pattern centered on the centerline. http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l103/ME-262/...