Deep Prospector?

[Iris]

Hi,

I recently got a well-used 17' Prospector, or is it? When I came to measure it, I found out it is no less than 16 1/2" deep, and 35" wide rather than the expected 14 1/2" and 37".

Has anyone ever seen / heard of extra-deep Prospectors? And what about the 35" width? Could it be an extra-extra-deep Cruiser?? I'm confused.

Thanks for any help

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Not sure where you are located or where the boat came from, but tripping camps can be hard on them. Many of the prospectors that regularly come out of keewaydins fleet end up deeper than yours after a hard life.

 

[rbudge]

I can understand how a canoe might end up a bit deeper than new after a hard life but the width at the gunwhale can't change unless the thwarts do.

 

[Andre Cloutier]

Depends on who built it and how it was ordered, might have started out that way. Keewaydin shortend the thwarts on their cruisers, changing dimensions and bottom profile. After hard use their boats can end up similarly deep, or more so.

 

[rbudge]

OK. I never heard of such a thing. There's lots of things I never heard of. My ignorance is broad and deep.
If you shorten the thwarts of a canoe, that would normally drop the ends of the keel line and raise the middle, hogging the profile. That would seem to me to be one of the things I would never want in a canoe.

 

[rbudge]

Last week I saw a canoe on top of a car in Halifax NS which resembled the canoe described by Iris. I asked the owner where it had originated. He told me it had been built in some summer camp somewhere in Quebec, where they typically build one or two a year. He did not know the name or location. He was simply telling me what the original owner had told him. His canoe was no more than 15 years old. It had square edged ribs, fairly far apart and was very deep. To me, it looked fat (I hope he never reads this). Cree canoes from the James Bay region, especially the Quebec side, had that look.
The seats were mounted high too and he said it was a bit of a pig when lightly loaded. Very little initial stability. He is thinking about lowering the seats a few inches.
Ron