The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

With the type of use that most seats get, epoxy coating the frames isn't needed and probably won't show any kind of long term benefits over the years. The typical varnished or oiled seat frame will last for decades without using any epoxy on it. On the other hand, I would certainly varnish or oil my...

As far as I know, the scouts still teach that method (though it's been over 40 years since I got my canoeing merit badge) and it works if the people have the strength. There also was a big push a while back to do a similar maneuver solo, though an awful lot of paddlers would have trouble doing a big...

I've done most of my tanks using the shape that Hazen showed in "The Stripper's Guide to Canoe Building" as shown here in this photo from the book. http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid35/p74a31c0307c55316dbcfe455b3cc8953/fd2c838b.jpg You start with a chunk of cardboard and slowly work...

A cubic foot of air space will displace an amount of water, in pounds, in the low 60's range. Fresh and salt water are slightly different in weight. Also, the weight of anything that is put inside the chamber (like foam) must be subtracted from the buoyancy gained by the space. If you figure around ...

General Boatbuilding Guideline: The use of steel wool on boats is generally frowned upon.This is because it tends to leave teeny-tiny steel particles on the work, or in the wood in the case of gunwales, etc. which can later pick up enough moisture, (even if covered with varnish) to turn to little ru...

Also according to WEST - from the conclusion section of an article in their "Epoxyworks" magazine (Epoxyworks #17, Spring 2001) where they looked back at some older boats built with their epoxy "Natural exterior finish (they're talking about varnished, epoxy coated wood) is high maint...

OIl, varnish and even epoxy don't generally soak in anywhere near as far as most people think they do. If you ever have to sand any of these substances off of the surface of a piece of wood you'll find that once you get through any build-up on the surface you'll be down to bare fresh wood in no time...

Personally, I'd attach my gunwales with duct tape and clothes pins long before I'd ever epoxy them to a canoe. Gunwales are long skinny pieces of wood which most likely have some grain run-out and may well have some spots which are substantially weaker and/or more brittle than others. They're also i...

Gunwale Guard is most likely Watco Oil packaged with a different label for Mad River Canoe Company (they bought the Voyageur company a few years ago). Mad River has a long history with Watco. As long as you oil frequently, especially when the boat is new and you're still building up a good base coat...

While fiberglass cloth will "absorb" resin, the glass fibers themselves technically do not (or absorb much of anything else, for that matter) since they really are glass. When was the last time your drinking glass absorbed some of the water in it? When you saturate a piece of fiberglass cl...

Check this earlier thread:
http://www.bearmountainboats.com/phpbb2 ... freedom+27

I've paddled a few concrete canoes and did design consulting for a couple teams at the University of Illinois Engineering School for a couple of years. The typical scenario is to try to duplicate a fast marathon-style racing canoe in concrete, which is just about exactly the wrong approach. Those bo...

The disk type of roller is often called a "bubble roller" as it helps get air bubbles out of the layup. They are at their best for high-speed production layup work using thinner polyester or vinylester resins. I wouldn't bother to buy one for strip building. You aren't in that big of a hur...

Not to be contrary or anything... (who me?) but I'd oil the paddle if you want an oil finish and varnish it if you want a varnish finish. I own paddles which are older than most of you and even have a couple which are nearly twice as old as me. Some are oiled, others varnished (which in general I te...

I've been building my Greenland-style paddles from cedar 2x4's for a couple years now. Granted, you can't pound them on rocks and you need to be careful about gouging the shafts with the cockpit rim while getting in and out, but they're extremely light and wonderful to use. I more or less followed t...