Well, our Redbird is pretty much done. It’s time to start putting nicks and scratches in her. Anybody know of a lake with pure water and a shag carpet bottom? :eyebrows She’s going into the water tomorrow (9/17)! :big grin
I’d like to take a few minutes to thank all of you who have been so very helpful over the past 13 months (yeah, it took almost 13 months even though it was a near obsession throughout – mentally at least). I can’t describe the value this project has brought to me personally. It provided a much needed and welcome distraction from a very stressful job. When things were difficult at work, there was always the refuge of the garage and the Bear Mountain Boat website.
But most importantly, it gave me an opportunity to spend quality time with Patrick knowing that it won’t be all that long before he’ll be on his way to college and on to his own life (he can’t want to spend time with the old man too much longer). Maybe that’s why it took so long to finish (why rush something like this?). Sweeping the garage the other night brought tears to my eyes as I realized that the building experience was nearly over (maybe it was just the dust). It’s that experience of which I am the most proud and grateful. The canoe itself is a bonus. Building it was Patrick’s inspiration and influence. He saw a possibility that I wouldn’t have imagined. He provided the “nagging” to get the project started and never lost interest throughout. Our 2003 trip to the Quetico Provincial Park had a deep influence on both of us but he found a meaningful outlet for that influence. Building this canoe has drawn us closer and at the same time helped keep alive our memories of that trip while we plan and look forward to another trip next summer. For that experience, I must thank Patrick first.
I’m also very grateful for all of the great advice and friendship we’ve benefited from on this website. You folks are simply fantastic. Any corporation in the world would give a lot to have a customer support person like Glen Smith on their staff. With over 1200 posts (>14% of all posts on the forum), Glen has dispensed advice to virtually everyone who has a question. Without Glen’s guidance and help over the many months, I’m confident our project would have not been so satisfying. Canoecraft has lots of the answers but Glen did (and continues to do) a great job of helping us interpret the written word with specific advice, pictures and encouragement throughout the process.
I’ve never personally met any of the fine people who have given us advice on the BMB website but I feel as though mtpocket is a close friend. I deeply appreciate his open, genuine encouragement and support, be it posted on the website, a private message or an email. He has taken the time to share his expertise and experiences while building a beautiful, jaw dropping Redbird of his own ahead of us. We have benefited greatly from his work. His quote at the bottom of his posts has certainly been words to live by (in canoe building, at work and in life):
Howard Newton: “People forget how fast you did a job - but they remember how well you did it”.
KARKAUAI has provided much inspiration as well. Having built a fantastic canoe and have it destroyed in shipping has to be a horrible experience. Yet he set about the task of rebuilding a new canoe from scratch (with amazing speed). He demonstrated that no setback is insurmountable. He provided many useful insights throughout our project and was very helpful in sharing his experiences with clear coat among many other topics.
So many others have provided frequent inputs to the website. They are too many to name but you will all readily recognize names like Dean in Eureka, Its Me, Bassbug, Hoz, Bud, Erik in Belgium, Bryan Hansel, Doug, Rick, Juneaudave, Ed Houston, Rod Tait, and Jeff in Pembroke. These and many, many others (e.g., Martin Step and John Michne) make the web a great resource and a true asset for any boat builder.
You have demonstrated on a daily basis that people are good at their very core.
This was also a great opportunity to buy some tools for which I had not previously developed a good enough excuse. I often said that this project is a great example of applying technology to compensate for my lack of skill. Long live technology!
New tools I never thought I needed but now can’t live without:
- Spokeshave
- Block plane
- Michne stick
- Japanese hand saw
- Cabinet scraper
- Router table
- Random Orbital Sander
- Laser level
- Drill press
- Surface planer
Old tools I still love & depend on:
- Belt sander
- Chisel
- Scroll saw
- Sabre saw
- Power drill
- Power miter saw
- A block of wood & sandpaper
- Strapping tape
- Pencil (with eraser of course)
- My paycheck…
With all that said, I offer below several links to many of the pictures we took during the process. I’m not an expert photographer but offer them here for anyone who would like to browse them (God knows that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the photo’s posted on this website of the many beautiful works done by the masters). Perhaps someone will get something out of them.
Warning!, there are a lot there. Almost as many pictures as Glen has posts on this forum! Hopefully they capture many of the details of our experience although I’m sure we missed lots (with quite a bit of repetition in some areas). They can’t however, capture the joy this project has provided.
- Album 1: (218 pics) Clean Garage (a project of its own!) –> 1st couple strips
- Album 2: (234 pics) 1st few strips –>Outer Stems glued on.
- Album 3: (209 pics) Outer stems on –>Inside Glass
- Album 4: (243 pics) Inside glass –>Decks, Inwales in. Seat Frames built. Yoke placement
- Album 5: (249 pics) Outwales –>Complete
- Length 17’ ½” (shortened ½” per station between station 0 and 7).
- Hours to build: Who knows, we lost track long ago…. But all enjoyable.
- Stems (in and out): Laminated Cherry
- Hull: Western Red Cedar (Bead & Cove – from Great Northern Craft - Vancouver, BC )
- Glue: Strips - Titebond (1qt I think) - all other: Epoxy with carbosil thickener (Raka).
- Gunwales: Cherry, scuppered (3½ ” fading to ¾” length scuppers) – epoxy / carbosil install
- Decks: Walnut & Cherry (Canada Silver Dollar – Bow, US Silver Doller – Stern)
- Glass: 1 layer 6 oz inside and out (Raka)
- Epoxy: Outside - West System 105/207 (4 coats – 1 wet, 3 fill)
- Epoxy: Inside - West System 105/209 (by accident) (2 coats – 1 wet, 1 fill)
- Hardware: none – seats/yoke attached with Walnut dowels with Cherry wedges & epoxy.
- Seats: Cherry & natural cane
- Yoke: Cherry – Nashwaak Gear (too beautiful to pass up)
- Finish: Hull & yoke - 3 coats autobody clear coat. Seats – 5 coats Epifanes High Gloss Clear.
- Total cost: As they say in the MasterCard commercials, “Priceless” (I’m afraid to add it up)
- Final Weight: ~57 pounds - broken down as follows assuming my scale is close:
Sorry for rambling on so long. Here’s a picture of the finished product.
Thank you and Godspeed.