Champlain 16

Product Description

The Champlain 16 is a general-purpose recreational canoe with a traditional style that evokes the classic canoes of old. This canoe is ideal for light touring, paddled tandem or solo. It paddles well in the heeled-over position.

The Champlain High-Ender was originally built in cedar/canvas by the Peterborough Canoe Company and was one of their most popular designs. It appeared in their final catalogue of 1961. The Champlain Low-Ender, with less height in the ends, was built on the same mould. This version, from Bear Mountain Boats, is built using lightweight wood-strip planking without internal frames.

Fans of traditional symmetrical canoes will be pleased by its appearance as well as its performance. It has a moderate displacement, soft bilge and a moderate rocker.

Ted Moores of Bear Mountain Boats is the author of Canoecraft, the standard reference book for wood-strip canoe building. The book is recommended to accompany the kit or plans. It is packed with tips and techniques and has inspired countless first-time canoe builders around the world.

Length

4.88 m (16′)

Maximum beam

825 mm (32½″)

Beam waterline

750 mm (29½″)

Beam gunwale

800 mm (31½″)

Bow height

660 mm (26″)

Centre depth

345 mm (13½″)

Displacement

147 kg (325 lb)

Optimum capacity

127-204 kg (280-450 lb)

Draught

102 mm (4″)

Wetted surface

2.28 m² (24.5 sq ft)

Weight to immerse

94 lb/in

Prismatic coefficient

0.557

Weight

20-25 kg (45-55 lb)

Keel

Keel-less or shoe keel

Watch us build a Bear Mountain canoe in this one-minute overview video:

Kit

We manufacture our kits to the highest standard using European-grown Paulownia for the planking strips. Uniquely, the strips in our Bear Mountain Boats kits have not only a bead-and-cove profile but also a pre-cut finger joint at each end, making the neat joining of strips even easier for builders at home.

The kit includes:

• Plans
• Instructions booklet
• CNC-cut building forms
• Paulownia strips with bead-and-cove edges and finger joints on both ends
• Ash blanks for decks
• Ash stem strips
• Ash gunwales (inwales and outwales) with scarf joints machined for joining
• Ash thwart
• Cane seats
• Waterproof glue for the strips
• Epoxy resin and activator
• Dispensing pumps
• Digital scales
• Epoxy fillers
• Woven glass fabric on a roll
• Free technical support from a competent builder

Please note that the kit does not include the box beam strongback for mounting the building forms on. You can either use a straight length of suitable timber or order the box-beam strongback we supply.

What else do I need?

Strongback

This strongback is made up of CNC-cut MDF panels that fit together to form a strong and stiff box beam measuring 200 mm × 200 mm and long enough to build the boat. You'll need a pair of trestles or sawhorses to raise it to a comfortable working height.

Plans and Instructions (not required by kit purchasers)

The plans contain sufficient information to make it possible to build the boat from scratch rather than a kit. The plans are printed in colour and include scale plans and full size drawings for all the forms.