The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

Just watched the slide show! What a gorgeous boat! I can't imagine being able to pull together that much sapwood from red cedar! Your shop is really set up nice. Everything is top notch. Really inspiring!

.... Great to see another SD person in the forum! I've been through Dell Rapids. I live in Vermillion. This is my first boat/woodworking project and I got the plans from Bear Mountain Boat Shop -- "The Cottage Cruiser". There is a link to an online photo album of everything I've done since...

Before I checked replies this morning I was thinking to myself "I wonder if I could add an extra strip of wood under the seat rails to reinforce it?" So Thanks Tom for answering that question. My boys were holding the edges of the seat rails with my daughter sitting on the seat last night ...

I agree, many of these tests (especially the ones in the video link I posted) are not really telling of what your particular construction will endure or is capable of. In the case of my seats, I am more concerned with the inwales breaking from the weight of the person on the seat than I am with the ...

Thanks for the link to the article. Those numbers are interesting but I'm still not sure I understand how they relate to the strength of the canoe. These tests were performed on a 12" square sample of cedar and glass. This quote from the link you sent is something I think I also ran across in C...

Well, I am very glad to hear about the 3 grown men taking a test run ... this will put my husband's mind at ease too. He has been skeptical as well if it would hold his weight!

Hi, Quite a few people have started asking me if I will take them for a paddle in my new canoe when it is completed. As the question is posed I find myself sizing them up - wondering if their weight is "suitable" or if I can trust them not to do something stupid (get in it before it is in ...

I bought extra maple just in case something like this happened. I don't like the idea of having two joints on each side. One was bad enough. So I'll just rip a couple of new inwales and re-orient the scarf, watch myself on the clamping pressure, cut the scuppers, apply a little heat to turn up the e...

It is surprisingly reassuring that we've been able to pinpoint some things I absolutely can change and should and should not have done! When something breaks or doesn't work and it seems like you did everything right, it is more discouraging then if it doesn't work and there is a definite "why&...

Hi Glen, the "fixture" used to bend the inwales around was nothing more than the molds that were used to shape the hull of the canoe positioned in the same distances as the finished canoe. I used the center station mold and the end molds. I am not sure if setting up all the molds in betwee...

... I am going to take a look at setting up a better system of steaming the ends. I had opened the book up again last night to see what else I might have missed and made a note to myself concerning the title of chapter 9 on installing trim. Appropriately enough titled: "Character Development&qu...

I agree.... Jeff's boat is gorgeous. I just looked at the whole album. And I love that cover. What kind of wood did you use for the thwart? SO pretty!

The gunnels do look big in the pictures. I always think that about other people's gunnels pictures that I've seen too! They are 3/4" by 6/8" (tapered to 3/8" on the ends). If the joints were starved then at least I have something I can work on correcting. I would not have thought I ne...

I uploaded a few images of the joint and how I approached this whole thing. I do agree that I wasn't sure if steaming would be necessary. I had hooked the inwale across the stems and put a fair bit of pressure pulling it towards the hull when it was dry and it was about 3 inches from making it befor...

... On the first one I did not steam the center where the joint was because I wasn't sure how the epoxy would handle it. I thought that it would be enough to apply steam to the last four feet at each end. When the joint failed I thought it was because I didn't steam the center where it snapped. I fi...