Coppermine 17

Product Description

The Coppermine 17 is a sleek tripping canoe with a small transom for mounting a small outboard motor for auxiliary power.

Designed for the ageing paddler who doesn't want to give up canoeing, the Coppermine provides the same paddling experience as its cousin, the Nomad 17, but with the additional possibility of motoring when necessary, as a backup to traditional paddling.

Part of the Bear Mountain Boats range, the Coppermine 17 is a square-sterned version of the popular Nomad 17, which is an easy-to-paddle canoe with a moderate displacement for trips. Designer Steve Killing kept the underwater shape of the Nomad but added some flare above the waterline in the aft section to produce a 230 mm (9″) wide transom that will accept a small outboard motor. The result is a stately canoe which can be paddled or motored with equal ease.

An electric outboard would be perfect for this boat due to the light weight, but a small petrol outboard will also fit.

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

5.18 m (17′)

Maximum beam

890 mm (35″)

Beam waterline

830 mm (32.6″)

Beam gunwale

870 mm (34.3″)

Bow height

635 mm (25″)

Stern height

535 mm (21″)

Centre depth

370 mm (14½″)

Displacement

193 kg (425 lb)

Optimum capacity

160-308 kg (350-680 lb)

Draught

115 mm (4½″)

Wetted surface

2.83 m² (30.5 sq ft)

Weight to immerse

143 lb/in

Prismatic coefficient

0.541

Optimum capacity

160-310 kg (350-680 lb)

Stability factor

115

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 thwarts
• 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.