The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Hi Tim, This was one of those jobs that I looked forward to with fear and trepidation, but turned out to be very easy. I cheated and tapered my gunnels on the table saw. I drew my line and then freehanded it on the saw to within about 1/8" and block planed it from there. I did all four gunnels ...

Hi Kerry, I went with oil on my trim as well (and love the look of it). However, I did varnish the inside of the scuppers when I varnished the hull. I used a regular brush and used it to work th varnish into the gap between the hull and the scupper inside. Just make sure you come into the scupper ar...

Great job Roger. Looks fantastic.

Hi Kerry, Sorry about that. I read it again and realized it was a bit unclear. Plus, I forgot one important piece of information, that is, when I go alone, I sit in the front seat and paddle the canoe backwards. With my gear properly positioned, the canoe sits pretty level in the water. So, when I g...

Kerry, I did a little trick on with my thwart/yoke on my Bob's Special. I installed it simply to the underside of the inwales with two brass bolts on either side. However, I installed the bolts perfectly so that the thwart can be removed and rotated 180 degrees. This is very handy for me, since I of...

It's probably too late now, but I managed the scuppers (1/4" deep) on my gunnels on my 15' Bob's Special. The curve is sharp only at the very ends within about 18" of the decks, and I did not put scuppers in that area. Plus, I don't know if it makes a huge difference, but I used Philipine ...

Terry, I just finished my first build (15' Bob's Special) and used 5/8" MDF for the strongback and 1/2" MDF for the molds. The MDF worked very very well for both. Takes a pencil line well, is very stable, and cuts and sands well. The only drawbacks I experienced were the heavy weight and t...

I can appreciate your apprehension. I found scraping the inside of my Bob's to be one of the less fun parts of the building experience. Scraping the glue and wood was fine, but the drips in the epoxy was much less fun. I used a regular paint scraper that I shaped to a nice curve plus a sharpened pro...

From one Bob's Special builder to another, awesome job. And great reflectors on the bike!

I did mine a few months ago (in Scarborough) and definitely wouldn't have minded an extra pair of hands. Good luck finding 'work'!

Hi Pete, For my scuppers, I used the following dimensions and am very pleased with them (they were very much worth the trouble to do): Scuppers were 2" wide and spaced at 1" ( http://www.avoisin.com/album/canoe/slides/Canoe%20291.html ). I left a space of 3" before and after the seats...

Hi Steve, I used this circular saw blade for my Dremel tool to cut the sheer on my Bob's Special. It worked very well, and as Patrick's Dad says, it cuts quite straight. Remember to cut at least an 1/8" off the sheer line so you can trim down to it flush with the gunwales when you put them on. ...

Greetings to all. I just returned from my first trip with my new Bob's Special. She paddled like a dream and looked awesome in the wilderness of Killarney, ON. Thanks to everybody for your help during the building process. I've built racks to store it in my garage, and am wondering if I should be co...

My shop actually had a fairly uneven dirt floor, which I'd covered with a large blue tarp. You can imagine the leveling nightmare that that meant. I actually was able to get it surprisingly level bow/stern and starboard/port with a bunch of shims and a lot of patience (actually it didn't take all th...

Greetings to one and all, Last week I finished my 15' Bob's Special. She looks great (for my standards) and paddles like a dream. We're going to Killarney on our first trip together in a week and a half. Thanks to everybody on this forum for your help. http://www.avoisin.com/album/canoe/slides/Canoe...