new Swift Prospector 14 solo

[gumpus]

Swift is showing a new Prospector 14 solo. I'd like to test paddle one.

I hope the link works.

http://www.swiftcanoe.com/copy-of-keewaydin-14

 

[Dagger]

Oh...same here. I'd love to test paddle one and perhaps the 15' Prospector while I am at it. Swift makes sweet boats!
Your link works fine.

 

[memaquay]

Wonder why they call it a prospector?

 

[Iskweo]

Yeah that is closer to a fox than a prospector....I guess it just sounds cooler. We quickly discovered that 14 feet doesnt really cut it for tripping. 15 minimum and better 16. They do make pretty spiffy boats though...we have a Mattawa that has taken us a lot of places.

 

[yellowcanoe]

I think this is the first "Prospector" I have ever seen with bow and stern rocker of one inch. While it seems fat and stable and purty the dimensions are less than playful
Thx I ll keep my Wild Fire. 14 feet and two inches narrower and a good bit more rocker bow and stern.

14 does it for me solo. But I don't carry a saw or reflector oven.. or work gear like Karin and Christy. I am sure there is a market for this new Swift baby

 

[sweeper]

I had a great time in Algonquin for 8 days with my Swift Prospector 16, it handled great as a solo, even with a saw, ax and reflector oven. I only had one day of heavy wind that I needed to put a bag forward of the bow seat.
I'm planning to use it on most, but not all, of solo trips this year.

 

[gumpus]

I had a great time in Algonquin for 8 days with my Swift Prospector 16, it handled great as a solo, even with a saw, ax and reflector oven. I only had one day of heavy wind that I needed to put a bag forward of the bow seat.
I'm planning to use it on most, but not all, of solo trips this year.

Very cool. I'd like to paddle Swift's 16 Prospector. It looks unique/unusual with 2 inches of rocker. It looks very capable and 16 feet is a nice size. my buddy had a Swift Prospector 15 and it felt a bit sluggish both solo and tandem. For a 15 small tandem I'd go for a Colden Starfire if spending the big bucks on a new boat.

 

[recped]

I also have no problem doing a long (4 - 6 weeks) trip in a 14' boat. This new Swift is a good entry into the solo tripping category but as mentioned it's lacking the rocker and depth that I need for my kind of long tripping which usually involves quite a bit of Class III & III+. That very sharp entry line to me means only one thing......LOTS of bailing just like with my MR Guide and Swift Raven both of which are barely good enough for Class II.

On the other hand, if you are mostly doing flat water tripping with a small amount of CI/CII this boat is probably a good option.

 

[sweeper]

Very cool. I'd like to paddle Swift's 16 Prospector. It looks unique/unusual with 2 inches of rocker. It looks very capable and 16 feet is a nice size. my buddy had a Swift Prospector 15 and it felt a bit sluggish both solo and tandem. For a 15 small tandem I'd go for a Colden Starfire if spending the big bucks on a new boat.

I'm bringing it to WPASCR If you're going 1-3 June.

 

[memaquay]

Swift Raven both of which are barely good enough for Class II.

Interesting, I have heard that comment about the raven before, that it was a wet ride. I never found that to be the case with the one I built. Wondering what the rocker was like in the royalex version? I had a lot of bow rocker, and a fair amount of stern rocker. I never found the entry line to be sharp either, in most cases, I rode over top of haystacks. I had a fixed seat, about 10 inches aft of the middle, perhaps that is why.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Never had a wet ride in the RX Raven though it was a sucky playboat.. Like playing with a truck.. Perhaps I did not have enough gear in it.. Quite blunt entry line and it always rode over haystacks too.. I did have the sliding seat and it was usually back.

 

[Robin]

Wonder why they call it a prospector?

Money, the name sells and some builders have no respect for the company that produced these wonderful canoes with names like Pal, Bobs and Prospector.

These are Prospectors below, anything else is not even close to the same. You can build a canoe with any other material to the same exact measurements and it's nowhere close to a wood canvas Chestnut Prospector. Never was, never will be.
Pal, Bobs and Prospector.
Those names should be reserved for wood canvas canoes built off of as close to original Chestnut forms with no builder "improvements".

Can anyone see the real Chestnut Prospectors here, there are two in the background, 17' and 18', there are two Chums in the foreground.(surprised Chum name hasn't been taken too)

Now that's a Prospector

 

[Guest]

(surprised Chum name hasn't been taken too)

People not familiar with canoe model names might think of this first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Odl651baQGA

 

[Fitz]

Hey! I recognize that Prospector!

I always liked that photo of you, Robin.

Cheers,

Fitz

 

[recped]

Interesting, I have heard that comment about the raven before, that it was a wet ride. I never found that to be the case with the one I built. Wondering what the rocker was like in the royalex version? I had a lot of bow rocker, and a fair amount of stern rocker. I never found the entry line to be sharp either, in most cases, I rode over top of haystacks. I had a fixed seat, about 10 inches aft of the middle, perhaps that is why.

VERY little rocker on the Royalex version, the entry line is not nearly as sharp as this new 14' "prospector" but relative to what I'm currently paddling it's "razor sharp". In any event when you add 400lbs of paddler and gear the freeboard is minimal and the ride is definitely wet when cruising through the big stuff. I don't mind taking on some water but I don't like being full to the gunnels with another kilometre of CIII to run.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Something must have changed. My Raven in RX was from 1996 and it had a good bit of rocker... We sometimes rocked in it on the garage floor to get the dog used to it..
I think the big difference was a lot of weight..

However even with 350 it bounded over Gulf of Mexico waves.. Not its milieu ocean flatwater.. It was sometimes slower than the opposing tide. But it could carry 100 lbs of water and another 60 of gear and me,

 

[memaquay]

Hmmmm....I recall bow rocker being in the neighbor hood of four inches and stern rocker around three. It's not a play boat for sure, but it put me through lots of white stuff with loads around 350 pounds. It was a big canoe and still my favorite solo.

 

[memaquay]

my apologies to the OP, not totally trying to derail the thread, but here's a shot of the bow before trim was added....pretty broad entry

 

[tump_lion]

the 1988 swift canoe catalog had a fellow named 'prospetor bill' in an add, some old bearded guy with a 'familiar' look, one rubber-booted foot in a sport-pal type tin can talking about how great the lines of his birch-bark painted boat were compared to the more modern sawyer type designs that bill swift jr was building under license back then. that fall, bill mason passed away and the add was never seen again. the swifts tried branding some 'chestnut' canoes back in the 90's but that never really took off for them, but, the prospector name sure worked out well for them.

 

[Steve in Idaho]

Whatever they want to call it, I bet it paddles nicely, and I bet it's more capable than it might appear at first glance. At 14', I wouldn't expect it to need as much rocker to handle well. In fact, I'd want the rocker toned down a bit for a solo river tripper - not dedicated whitewater boat. But I deal with wind more than waves. No, I wouldn't expect it to be real playful, and yes, I would expect it to need some bailing in class III stuff. But I bet it would be a very useful mild-mannered solo canoe.