Kipawa

A New Breed of Seaworthy, Maneuverable Tripping Canoes
Kipawa Cedar Strip Tripping Canoe
Kipawa Cedar Strip Tripping Canoe
Kipawa by Ian Noyce
Kipawa wood canoe by Valerie Welch
Kipawa wood canoe by Valerie Welch
Kipawa wood canoe by Lee Conroy
Kipawa wood canoe

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 might 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.

Included in the Plans:

  • Three 36" x 48" [91cm x 121cm] Drawing Pages including: Full size form or mold station drawings showing all the sectional forms and the end/stem forms. You will trace the pattern on your form material. The drawings are copiously annotated with Martin Step's notes on building this design.
  • The Builders Notes: This 14 page set of builders notes created by Martin Step details his techniques for creating his nice construction details.

Recommended Manual:

  • CanoeCraft - Ted Moore's bible on wood strip canoes goes into the canoe building process in great detail.
Body Plan Drawing
Kipawa strip built canoe plans
Profile Drawing
Kipawa cedar canoe plans
Plan (Top View) Drawing
Kipawa strip planked canoe plans

Features

Beginner Small Paddler Average Paddler Large Paddler Extended Tour Fishing Lakes and Rivers Open Water Racing Surf

Measurements

Length Ft Beam In Beam Gunnel (in) Waterline Length Ft Waterline Beam In Design Displacement Lbs Draft In Waterplane Area Sq Ft Wetted Area Sq Ft Surface Area Sq Ft Volume Cu Ft
16.50 35.00 35.00 16.00 32.50 363.00 4.00 24.50 27.20 60.00 31.00

Secondary Measurements

Prismatic Coefficient Block Coef Midship Area Coefficient Waterplane Area Coefficient Lateral Plane Coef Sinkage Moments to change trim 1 inch Righting Moment at 1 degree Vertical Center of Gravity above DWL
0.51 0.38 0.75 0.58 0.81 116.00 86.40 6.11 17.00

Stability Curves

Predicted Drag