Chum solo tripping canoe

The perfect solo tripping canoe

The Chum is an excellent and proven canoe for solo tripping, style paddling or a leisurely afternoon getaway. It’s a lightweight canoe that’s easily portaged and it’s one of the famous Chestnut Canoe Company’s Pleasure Models.

These recreational canoes are the most commonly found Chestnut models. The 15 foot Chum is worldwide favored by many solo paddlers because of its excellent paddling properties.

Price: € 3080

A classic canoe with good loading capacity

The Chum was originally built as a compact tandem boat but it has really proven itself as a solo tripping canoe. It’s a very stable, quick and agile canoe with a very decent carrying capacity of 300 kg.

This canoe comes as close to being the perfect classic solo tripping canoe as you will ever get. It will provide endless joy on lakes and rivers either on trips or while style paddling.

Dimensions

Length: 450 cm
Width: 80 cm
Depth: 29 cm
Bow Height: 55 cm
Weight: 18 kg

Properties

Sides: Straight
Bottom: Shallow Arch
Rocker: Moderate
Capacity: 250 kg

Canadian Style Paddling

The Chum was immortalized by Omer Stringer, the father of Canadian Style paddling. He developed his very own style, with paddle strokes that most paddlers can only dream of. Omer claimed that he started paddling this way because of his short stature. He didn’t have enough muscle to keep up with his friends.

In his own words: “I’d canoe fifty miles in a day. All the old people paddled from the stern with a weight in the front. On a windy day, you couldn’t get across a beaver pond with the front up. So I’d sit in the middle of the canoe and sneak over to one side to paddle. No one else did it that way, so I wouldn’t let anyone see me. Older guides, if they saw that, would hit you over the head with a paddle.”

The Canadian Style he developed has been taught to generations of paddlers and is by far the most widely used technique for solo paddlers today.

Technology

Western red cedar and glass fabric-epoxy

Our Chum tripping canoe is built with western red cedar and details in ayous and laminated with glass fabric and epoxy. The laminate ensures that the wood is sandwiched and never comes into contact with water. In addition, it provides extreme stiffness which makes the canoe very efficient to be paddled. The boat is finished with high or satin gloss spar varnish with an excellent UV-blocker.

Solid ash for the outfitting

The gunwales, seats, decks and the yoke are made of ash. Ash is hard, very flexible and relatively light. Because the ash parts of the canoe suffer the most they are coated with double boiled linseed oil to keep them flexible and in good shape. The outwales are screwed to make replacement easy. All screws and bolts are stainless steel.

Canoe maintenance

Our canoes are very strong and stiff. Normal wear will occur when used normally. We recommend checking the canoe regularly and retouch any scratches in the varnish. In the unlikely event the epoxy laminate gets damaged, it should be repaired within reasonable time to prevent water seeping into the wood. The gunwales should be oiled three to four times a year. Read more about maintenance.

Build it yourself?

Build the Chum tripping canoe by yourself? All our canoes can be built by yourself in our shop. This requires no special prior knowledge. Check out our workshop section.

Delivery period

Our canoes are made to order. It takes us about 100 hours to build one. Prepare for a delivery period of approximately five weeks. If you would like to test our canoes, please contact us by e-mail.