The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Hi Guys, Just wondering if any of you have ever made a temporary middle seat. I'm thinking of something relatively light that I could just slide over the gunwales and use for young kids on short/day paddles...I know there are a few options for buying something like this but I'd like to make it. Than...

no probs.

Moonman.

Hi Bryan,

Couldn't figure out how to send it as an attachment so I saved it as a jpeg and posted it here.

Moonman.

Hi Bryan, Sorry for the late reply. Butternut is much lighter than ash. Specific gravity of an oven dry sample is .38. white ash (oven dry) has a specific gravity of .60 so you can see its much heavier. For comparison, white pine is .36, white spruce is .35, cherry is .50, walnut is .55. Using those...

Hi Bryan, A suggestions for gunwales would be Butternut. Lighter in weight than its cousin walnut good strength considering its lightness, light in colour (although not as light coloured as ash), and quite beautiful grain wise. I used it on my Winisk for trim (except gunwales which were cherry). Als...

That will work fine. Other quite accomplished builders have used the same method - see this link to a neat looking solo canoe : https://picasaweb.google.com/conk46er/TheHarrier# Another method would be to use ratchet straps. You can cinch them down right around a form and they will hold everything n...

The Freedom 17 would be an excellent choice and the best choice among the Bear Mountain designs. If you are also considering non Bear Mountain designs, you could try the John Winters boats over on the greenval.com site. There is the Cirrus, Baracuda, Kipawa and Winisk. The Baracuda may not qualify a...

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the weight listing.

Big coincidence - I was actually on the cushgear site this morning as I think I might build myself a backrest for use on my tandem this spring.

I'll be very interested to hear how the boat handles once you get a chance to put it in the water.

Moonman.

Hey Randy it looks great!

One question - how did you attach the hinge points for the yoke/backrest to the rear cross pce on the seat? Any special type of hinge? Also, what was your hull weight before any glass/epoxy/trim?

Great varnish job by the way.

Moonman.

Hi Randy,

I was wondering where my post went!

Nice look to the new forum setup though. Nice to see the additional backrest/yoke pics. Really practical approach. Whereabouts do the backrests touch on you back when sitting?

Moonman.

Hi Randy,

Any new progress on the boat? Did you actually come up with anything for the integrated yoke/back rest? Your decks look great.

Moonman.

Hi Randy, Just checked out your latest pics. Looking great. One question - you mentioned you can slide your seat forward 3 inches. What mechanism did you use? Also, just confirming that you did use 1/4" strips for the hull? Also, are you still going to build an integrated yoke/backrest? Thanks,...

7/8 wide x 3/4 high is the 'standard' approach but really, so much of a canoe you build is custom to what you want to do. Lots of people have built canoes with much smaller gunwale dimensions, myself included. Scuppers as well are completely up to the builder. They are only present as a nod to the t...

Hi Randy, Good point about the seat and cleat/chine issue. I was planning on using cleats when I build this boat so I will have to think again on it as well. How many inches below the shear does the chine start? I think the biscuit and butt joint with the thwarts and inwale will be fine. Agree it wi...

Hi Randy,

For the thwarts, you could also just epoxy them to the hull and the undersides of the uniwale. I imagine you are epoxying your seats to the hull as well (cleats)?

Moonman.