In 1997, Jeff Hoy built this Chestnut Prospector using the strip plank method. The plans were drawn by Ted Moores, Bear Mountain Boats (http://www.bearmountainboats.com/ ). It is 16' in length. It is built of western red cedar and white pine, covered with a layer of fiberglass & epoxy.

The Chestnut Canoe Company built this "workhorse of the North" to meet the specific needs of the prospector - good maneuverability through whitewater and wilderness, with capacity to carry substantial loads. The 16' Prospector features a flattened, shallow arch hull with its fullness carried into the bow and stern, good depth amidships to maintain freeboard and deepened ends to keep paddlers and gear dry. The rockered keel-line makes it very maneuverable in whitewater. This was the favoured canoe of the late Bill Mason, Canada's premier paddler..."it is amazing that such a large-volume tripping canoe can also be so beautiful to paddle solo in the leaned position - canoe ballet, as I call it. It is the ideal all-round canoe."

Length 16'
· Maximum beam 35"
· Beam waterline 33.25"
· Bow height 19.25"
· Centre depth 13.25"
· Displacement 420 lbs.
· Draft 4"
· Wetted surface 27.2 sq.ft.
· Weight to immerse 120 lb/in
· Prismatic coefficient 0.510
· Weight 55 to 60 lbs