The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

The question of scarf or butt joints may be moot, but for me personally the scarf is preferable for one reason. The butt joint has no strength and the scarf has essentially the same strength as the strip. To me that matters, on the water it might not. I also think that if you have the option, doing ...

Thanks. I did my best to brush them out dry, with limited success. We also gave them considerable attention in the squeegee process, and worked them as the cure progressed, unfortunately with less than total success. I'll definitely take your suggestion to roll out the inside fabric on the outside b...

When I unrolled the cloth on my Redbird, it showed a pattern of small longitudinal creases, presumably caused when the supplier rolled it on the tube, perhaps under too much tension. These were minor humps, not sharp folds, nor was the weave of the cloth pulled or affected in any way. Because I had ...

Great information. I'm curious though, can anyone explain why a static charge will prevent varnish drying?

An interesting discussion of relative strength of materials in another thread has me curious. Has anyone experienced structural failure of the strip/epoxy/glass structure in service? Let's leave aside simple impact punctures for the moment. I'm curious about stress failures and how they occurred. Al...

Great pictures of beautiful work.
Glen, thanks for posting that link. Interesting reading.

Perform a test. Take and glue up 3 panels, 12" x 12". One with wood strips lightly tacked together with dabs of glue. The second edge glued strips, fully glued and clamped together. the third, use bead and cove strips tightly glued. Fiberglass all three with the same cloth and epoxy, both...

I know it's customary to say the strength is in the glass and epoxy. I don't buy that, and think it might encourage some to take less care with the joinery than they should. If you just had the planking, carefully done, and no glass, you would still have a canoe. If you just had two layers of six ou...

Tom,
Which Raka formulation did you use? I'm probably going that way too.

I would caution you to verify that the screws you got are actually stainless steel. "Non corrosive" is a very imprecise term that could be applied to just about anything with some sort of coating on it. If they are indeed stainless steel the box will say so. If it doesn't, they probably ar...

Use stainless, especially if they won't show. The alloys commonly used are almost completely passive (will not corrode in any normal conditions), and are considerably stronger than either brass or bronze. The only compelling reason to use brass or bronze would be for cosmetic considerations. With an...

John will certainly have a more complete answer, but it is the epoxy that does the sealing, not the glass. The glass adds strength and also acts as a screed to control or at least influence the uniformity and thickness of the epoxy coating within which it is encapsulated. With careful application, a...