The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

I agree that it is a tough job. A person with a lot of experience with a heavy duty disc sander may complete the job in a few hours. A person without the proper equipment and experience could spend days destroying their boat. Either way it is a messy outdoor job, with lots of airborne glass fibers. ...

Moving the stern paddler forward creates all sorts of problems. The stern paddlers need to use a variey of strokes and corrections which become more difficult moving forward to a wider part of the boat. I suggest putting heavier paddler in the front, moving both seats back. To start I would hang the...

As this is a fine boat to paddle solo I would suggest a kneeling thwart placed maybe 14 inches behind the center. This thwart could be four inches wide and set at a comfortable angle to rest your butt on by using wedge shaped spacers under the gunwales.

I do believe that thinner strips will give you a weaker hull. It is the thickness of the sandwich that give it the stiffness. That 1/16th inch of cedar weighs very little. Also it is the inside laminate that gives the hull strenght against a stress from the outside. I would not skimp on the inside g...

On very straight keeled hulls a slight hog-back can occur during the stripping process. Strips meet at the centerline at the center mold at a nearly flat angle. Toward the ends this angle increases especially in hulls that have V-shaped cross sections. This increases the thickness of the wood profil...

I have been oiling trim, so turning boat over is no problem handling it by the gunwales I have been using moderately priced spar varnishes for a long time. Currently using Bejamin Moore Impervo 440 Marine Spar varnish. I store my boats in the weather and it last 6 years or more and still looks good....

If you don't mind a trip to NE Georgia I will mill 20 footers for you. I have a good supplier of clear WRC up to 20 feet. I think you can send message through the personal messages if you are interested.

I really don't see the advantage of slow cure varnish. Keeping a wet edge to work from is not hard on a canoe. Using a good 3 inch brush that holds a lot varnish, you can cover a lot of area fast. A 16 foot tandem takes 30-40 mintues at most. I always varnish at the end of the day so there won't be ...