The Bear Mountain Boat Shop

They don't replace the spoke shave, rasp or plane, they just add another tool to the shop ... albeit a very inexpensive, useful tool. For shaping the inner stems, which are typically softwood, I would suggest they are probably more friendly to new builders than any other tool for the job. I use 60 g...

Big fan of the Michne stick, choose the best sand paper you can find and it will last the whole build. Useful for shaping and also for any where you want to sand a flat area such as the sheer cut and even the football keel cut in place of a plane or rasp. You will probably make a few flavours of sti...

I appreciate all the feedback and like most of my research on line there appears to be several general camps of thought on how best to apply varnish. I have completed the inside, gunnels and decks (2 sealer coats first) with 4 coats Epifanes high gloss, finishing with a matte coat ... I am happy wit...

When i was doing my strips , I did some research into what blades were best for ripping. I started with 2x4s and for thicker pieces they recommend fewer teeth (~18), and a narrow kerf blade. As the thickness goes down to 3/4" the number of teeth recommended rises to the 24-40 range. I found a l...

Ok, I will post a new question, since it is related to this post. The canoe is almost ready for varnish, just need to do the final sanding. I have 2 coats of epoxy on the inside to leave the weave and surface a bit rough. Everything I have read so far says to do a rough hand sanding of the inside, t...

It's my first one and not even installed yet, but I think you get the idea and concept. This is the underside view, epoxied to save the bother of trying to do it insitu ( I am installing in the next couple of days). The extra pieces are to reinforce the deck and save me installing handholds for carr...

I have a deep rooted phobia of cleaning brushes, but I guess I am going to have to get over that and make a trip to Lee Valley, may peruse the catalog online first, just in case there is something else I can't live without.

Brian

Thanks for the replies, it didn't seem like a necessity, as I typically build without fasteners ... so this is all what I needed to hear.

I finish the forward deck tomorrow, so this is all very timely, and I got a couple ideas from reading the posts.

Thanks again

I am close to installing the decks, but after planning the job, I am questioning the need to use screws at all. Just seems that once the decks are epoxied in, the screws would just be a negative addition, both from an appearance and future maintenance pov. If I use screws I would likely use plugs an...

Although I do want some opinions on whether I can use a roller to put on the varnish (aided by a brush for some areas), the main question concerns timing and what gets done. I did a search on the forums and there is some information but I still have a few questions. (Project is a Freedom Solo, Uniwa...

Just an update on the repair and a few pics ... This pic was after I cut off the stern stem, surveyed the internal damage (good thing I did, was cracked clean through), cleaned up the crack, saturated with plain epoxy, then packed with thickened. http://i1288.photobucket.com/albums/b494/Cruiser1959/...

Things have been moving along pretty well until last night. I took some time and planned through design and installation of my uni-wales. Everything went as planned until the very end of the install, when a sling I was using let go and the stern end went straight down on it's side and impacted the f...

Just a followup note about the colour variation issue I posted when I finished the fiberglassing of the outside hull. I followed up with Noah's and they put me in touch with "Ric" , I still am not sure who he is, but he seemed to have a lot of experience, was helpful and after we chatted f...

Well, I have all the fiber glassing done now, I put an extra coat on the outer hull, because i think i sanded a little too far in a couple spots, at this stage I figured better safe than sorry. Here are a couple of pics, I am now envisioning the first paddle .... whoa ... work to do before then http...

Thanks for the replies, the situation I was in is that it was still "sticky" at 11 at night .... I was tired and really didn't want to work on the boat and screw it up. Since I was going to hand sand between the 2 coats anyway (per Canoecraft) I just waited till today. I have a great boss ...