Chestnut Prospector or Peterborough?

Tim Eastman · Post by **Tim Eastman** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 5:44 pm

My son and I are going to be building a canoe for the BWCA.

Question is; for portaging, loading and unloading, general canoeing in wind and waves, would one recommend the Chestnut Prospector or the Peterborough? I've looked at the Redbird but it just seems that profile is too low at the gunwales and too high at the bow and stern for catching wind. I've seen a heavily loaded Redbird underway.

Another question then is - in the BWCA it seems no matter how careful one is - when water levels are low, one will get in arguments with submerged rocks that aren't visable until too late. How is it best to protect the bottom from scrapes? Mix graphite/carbon with a final epoxy coat below the DWL?

Thanks in advance

Glen Smith · Post by **Glen Smith** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 11:14 am

The Peterborough or Canadien is referred to as the "cottager's canoe" as it is best suited to lakes. The Prospector is probably a better handling canoe for your purposes and it will carry a heavier load. The bow height is a bit lower for less windage and the center is a bit deeper for a drier ride.

A mixture of epoxy, graphite and silica can be applied to the football for better abrasion resistance. I have used it on one of my boats and I used it for all the fill coats on the football and not just the last coat to provide optimum protection without adding too much extra weight.

Tom Angelakis has a write-up about his graphite bottommed Huron Cruiser on his website: http://tomangelakis.tripod.com/graphite_bottom.htm

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 12:24 pm

I agree with Glen that the Prospector is more likely to be more suitable for canoe tripping. The PC is one of the tippier hulls, as indicated in the stability chart, OTOH, it should be the faster-paddling canoe, if that's needed more than capacity and stability.

I didn't opt for graphite, rather used an extra layer of glass on the bottom and built up a low skidplate with layers of glass under each stem for better abrasion resistance - so far, several times I've run into rocks in rapids and submerged just under the surface and haven't had any serious scratches (through both layers of fiberglass).

hoz · Post by **hoz** » Tue Oct 25, 2005 1:52 pm

For a modern tripping canoe would choose the Freedom from Bear Mountain:

Or one of the John Winters designs available from Green Valley. The Kipawa or Winisk make good wilderness trippers.

Jeff in Pembroke · Post by **Jeff in Pembroke** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 6:55 pm

The Prospector has a very large load carrying capacity (it use to be used by prospectors carrying bags of ore samples on trips through the Canadian Shield). If not well loaded it can sit fairly high out of the water and catch more wind than you might expect, especially on windy lakes and open crossings. Unless you are going to carry really large loads I'd second the nomination for either the Freedom or Kipawa. You may want to rethink the Redbird as well. When I built my Redbird I raised the sheerline by 1" and lowered the height of the stems by 1" to compensate for the concerns you raised about the design. It can easily carry all the gear needed by 2 people for a 5 day wilderness trip and is very fast - few boats keep up with us.
I would also recommend the epoxy/graphite coating below the 3 or 4 inch waterline. On my last trip we rode quite a few shallow rapids, fully loaded, and bounced off and scraped off quite a few rocks. There were some shallow scratches in the graphite but none even got as far as the glass layer. That stuff is tough!
You won't go wrong with any of the above three boats.

Cheers,
Jeff