The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

A 1/4" on each side isn't much. I would use a spacer glued on the end of the thwart something short of 1/4" so the ends do not rub on the sides. You will not see the spacer if it is mounted under the gunnel and it is too thin to interfere with the bolt holes... IMHO :embarassed :embarassed...

Physics is physics... Initially, the I beam is stress free. When you apply a load, one side will be in compression and the other in tension. If you have built it with internal stresses, of course they will come into play but everything like a heat gun, steaming, etc. is an attempt to change the shap...

I have a photo or two of motor mounts I can send to you. Send me an email... I am making mine out of Ash... :smile :smile

Well, IMHO, I believe that the strength of a cedar stip canoe or any other material for that mattter, is derived from the construction technique, not the strips. If you cut thru a cross section of the hull, you would see a top layer of glass, a filler and another layer of glassl If you took an I bea...

Yeah, I'm with Glen... we want to hear more after we now know that you will recover... IN FACT, pictures are appropriate also... plus a little story to go with them...

I have always heard that it is 1 hour of steam for every 1 inch of thickness OR better put, 15 minutes for a 1/4" thick strip. This worked great for me on ash stems and also for many others...

It is my understanding that the material used in stripper canoes has very little to do with the strength of the hull. The "wood" acts like a filler or spacer between the layers of fiberglass. Think of a cross section through the hull and you will see that the inner and outer layers of fibe...

Come on Glen, I was half right... Yep, sure enough, I was thinking in radius and got sooo confused. It is 5/16" dia. vs. 1/4" dia. I like the 1/2" shank better anyway and if I remember, they were the same price. Another delay in my Nomad but I am back sanding the inside and hope to gl...

Some guys are using the 3/16" radius bits instead of the 1/8" radius bits to solve this problem. It makes a flatter cove with thinner sides. MCLS sells them...

Randy... Although biased, good choice on the Nomad. I was going to buy another style but I was talking to the guy who cuts strips for Noah's in Toronto and when I described my desires, he advised the Nomad. I told him I wanted something that would handle my weight and that I would be using it for fl...

Randy... I'm assuming you have decided to build the Nomad? If so, I put a 12" spacer in the middle of the strongback to make the total length 17'. This worked fine and I used 3/4" MDF for the strongback and 1/2" MDF for the forms which also worked fine. No changes required on the mold...

Hi Jeff... Don't know if they have it but I found that Fingerle Lumber in Ann Arbor had the best selections around. They stock WRC up to 22' and of course, Armstrong Mill Works out in Highland is another source but they did not have cedar when I was looking. CYA, Joe ps. I have my Nomad off the mold...

My previous comment was based on my thinkiing that the final wet sanding on the epoxy was to be done to get a super smooth finish. The most important thing is the "tooth" required to get good ahesion. The benefits of wet sanding to keep paper clean, etc. are true but you still need a surfa...

There are NO dumb questions... You only learn by asking and then giving us old farts something to do...
CYA, Joe

Why would you wet sand a final coat of epoxy? You want to have a good mechanical bond between the varnish and the epoxy and that requires some tooth... I would not use anything finer than 120 grit on a randam orbital sander. With 220 grit, I think it is too smooth. After you have a few coats of varn...