The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Click here for pics of my rope/epoxy skid plates. You can't see much under the black graphite. But note the picture on the right you can make out the shoulder of the stem. The rope skidplate is wearing but wearing exceptionally well.

I've finally started updating my website and included some photos of the wear on my graphite coated hull. You can see them here - just scroll down the menu bar on the left and click on "Graphite bottom". You can also see the skidplate wear in the "Skidplates" section.

There's currently another good discussion about lightweight construction (under 40 lb Osprey) in the CCR forum here.

See here for my experience building a lightweight Huron. My Huron came in at 45 pounds. More than 5 pounds heavier than I was aiming for. I attribute the difference to my inexperience applying epoxy. I also added a little more freeboard. Next time ... I agree with John's post above. You need to be v...

Someone on the old forum mentioned pegboard and rubber bands as an alternative stapleless method and I tried it with good effect for my first and only canoe. You can see pics here But it is time consuming and I guess most stapleless methods are when compared to stapling. The good thing about the peg...

My plastic cane seats are 3 years old too and no problem so far. Mine was from JJ Perkins(?). I don't know if all plastic cane is created equal.

That post by Tom's Huron above is me. I just registered. Epoxying seats to cleats on the hull is a more permanent seat placement than hanging from the gunwhales. Moving the cleats involves cutting them from the hull (destroying the cleats in the process) and possibly damaging some of the underlying ...