The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Is it necessary to remove all the epoxy in the final sand or will it blend in when the fiberglass and wetting out process takes place, or will it stand out as a darker spot? Or worse will it cause the fiberglass to lift in that area? Fiberglass should bond to the thickened epoxy if the glossy surfa...

Anybody ever go with 4oz. inside and out?

Other builders of small and light pack canoes have done this, so they can be portaged long distances more easily.

Hi Spurwing, Alternatively could I get two narrower lengths and overlap them at the keel for additional strength - and if so how do I hold the one side in place while wetting out without the weight of the cloth draped over the whole boat? This will help protect the keel line against any scratching.....

Randy, I was thinking of (in order to reduce weight) simply taking a single piece of gunwale stock and putting a 1/4+" wide dado about 5/8" deep down the length of it and using it to form an inwale and outwale simultaneously. I would have to accommodate the stems of course but it would see...

Mix your epoxy in small amounts so that if some detail delays getting it on the fiberglass for any reason, a large amount will not be wasted by heating up and going solid in the mixing cup. The large surface area on the hull prevents heat buildup and the thinly-spread epoxy stays cool and cures norm...

The Eastern Cedar added about 18lbs. to the weight.

I used to burn ERC in a wood stove in eastern Ontario, it was heavy and hard enough. What was the final weight?

Good-looking canoe, BTW.

You should be able to use the oversized bits... the bead and cove joint should "rotate" well enough on curves so that there shouldn't be any gaps between strips. If the exchange to the 1/8 radius is easy, it might be worth the effort to switch... OTOH, the larger radius bits will provide c...

I'd rather have the joint line away from where I need to drill. The joint line could be harder than the surrounding wood and could cause the drill to wander... maybe. Just speculating here, since I've never drilled holes through any scarf joints. In theory, the joint line should be stronger than the...

I did not get any adhesion of the glass to the leading edge for about 1/4 to 1/2 inch. I am considering putting a bias cut strip, 4 to 6 inches wide over the stems. Is this overkill? Is it too late to apply this tape? Not too late... sand the edges of the cured epoxy and glass to smooth in with the...

All kinds of used table saws available at Craigslist and Kijiji... they should let you try using it before buying.

You already have several canoes suited to various purposes, so maybe the stripper's main appeal will be beauty... I thought the Huron was the most attractive design and built it, but Prospectors also look great with their high-ended classic lines. I prefer the Huron for solo use since it's smaller a...

Another option could be to buy hardwood moldings at a place like Home Depot and then rip them down to form gunwales. Could be pricey, relative to fiberglassed redwood.

In the old days (pre-1950) outwales used to be made from white spruce, with hardwood being a more expensive option. Inwales could also be made from this... I used white pine for inwales, softer than WS and after several years everything is holding up AOK. With hardwoods unavailable, maybe WS could b...

The 6 oz fiberglass and epoxy added only about 20% to the total weight, so for me the way to save the most weight would have been in the wood selection.... Huron @ 53 pounds. Adding an extra layer of glass onto the bottom added on another pound and a half... it may have helped after running onto som...

It might be possible to weigh down the hull with sand bags, taking care not to add too much weight, and then get underneath to somehow glue the hull onto the stations so that the right shape is preserved. After the hull is glassed, the glue would have to be cut away carefully, maybe with a Dremel-ty...