The Kipawa is the forerunner of a new breed of fast, seaworthy and maneuverable tripping canoes designed to meet the modern tripper's needs. For the experienced tripper, the Kipawa offers the big boat feel of a seventeen footer with the ability to go anywhere, even under the most severe conditions, while the novice will still be pleasantly surprised by his control in conditions that would be frightening in other canoes. Kipawa owners have found them to be superb whitewater boats with speed, stability, and responsiveness rarely found outside of dedicated whitewater craft.

The Kipawa is designed to carry between 400 and 500 pounds when tripping but can be a real blast when lightly loaded for day paddling or whitewater. For a real treat, paddle it solo with a kneeling thwart. Now that's real fun! If you can have only one canoe, and the majority of your paddling is devoted to tripping, then the Kipawa should be your choice.

John Winters comments "Out of the hundreds of canoes I have paddled, none has ever been so versatile or so much fun to paddle as the Kipawa. On our first wilderness trip in the prototype, my wife commented that it didn't seem very fast. Only when we arrived at the first portage six kilometres away in much less than an hour did we realize that our sedate 30 strokes per minute made it fly! What we had been missing was the absence of the noisy bow wave and wake normally associated with speed. I believe the Kipawa is the best argument yet for the scientific approach to canoe design."

The clean lines of the Kipawa look gorgeous in cedar strip, and its 16.5 foot length will fit in any garage. The bow shape reminds me of the lines on some of the fast 12 metre racing yachts!

Overall Length: 16'6"
Waterline Length: 16'
Gunwale Width: 35"
Waterline Beam: 32-1/2"
Bow Height: 21"
Centre Depth: 14"
Stern Height: 19"
Bow Rocker: 3-1/4"
Stern Rocker: 1"
Freeboard @ 450 lbs: 9"

For information of what is included in your cedar strip kit, click here.