Swift Canoes Keewaydin 16

The Swift Canoes Keewaydin 16 is a touring canoe, most at home on calm waters and ideally suited for day paddles, overnight weekend trips and multiday expeditions and treks. With sleek lines the Keewaydin is known for its quick acceleration and efficient glide on every paddle stroke. This David Yost designed canoe has an asymmetric shape featuring an increased bow rocker and lesser stern rocker, assisting in gentle turns, with a narrower bow and fuller stern, for increased volume. The stern is also intentionally straighter to give improved straight-line performance and allows the rear of the canoe to follow the far nimbler and more manoeuvrable bow.

Another characteristic of the Keewaydin is the rounded chines making it a canoe to handle wind and waves, this well-rounded area of the hull allows small waves and chop to roll under the canoe with little affect of being bullied by the water, unlike with a squarer sided canoe. For those looking to load up and journey over longer distances, such as Scottish Lochs and wishing to be self sufficient with several nights worth of provisions it is worth also looking at the longer Keewaydin 17 for an increased waterline, higher top speed and increased carrying capacity.

Internally the Keewaydin maintains the same high-quality build found on every Swift Canoe, finished with Cherrywood throughout. This canoe features all that you would expect from a tandem boat, from bow to stern; cherry carry handle, contoured bow seat, deep sculpted yoke, stern contoured seat and finally a cherry carry handle, (please note that the finish on the Combi is different with a thwart behind the bow seat, removable yoke and additional third centre seat). The contoured seats are designed to be comfortable irrespective of how you prefer to paddle the canoe, either seated or kneeling with a dropped front lip kneeling can feel like perching on a kneeling thwart. While the deep yoke is sculpted to contour around your neck and shoulders to ensure that it is as comfort as possible to portage the Keewaydin (or indeed any Swift Canoe) on the carry yoke.

The UK specification for the Swift Canoes will be the most popular material, Kevlar Fusion. With an exceptional strength to weight ratio of any laminate, this Kevlar Fusion is constructed of a top layer of urethane resin with a thin exterior gel coat for increased durability and a stunning high gloss finish. The hull itself is made up of a layer of polyester, S-Glass and a Kevlar cloth sandwiching around a highly durable foam cored ribbing system. The laminate is fused together with a high-pressure infusion process, and the result is Kevlar Fusion has a high impact and abrasion resistance. Having a lightweight canoe without having lightweight trim would be a futile exercise, however due to the infusion process, Swift are able to utilise a unique bonding whereby the canoe hull and gunwale are fused together making it maintenance free and minimises the requirement for any “heavy” hardware to secure them together.

Keewaydin 16 Combi – 3 Seats: Much like the Prospector 16 Combi, the Keewaydin 16 Combi replaces the fixed yoke in place for a central seat. Positioned on the balance point this third seat is perfect for those looking to use this as a solo boat especially given the asymmetric design of the Keewaydin. However, it is at its conception designed to allow families to get out on the water with three people in a single canoe. The UK has these supplied with a removable carry Yoke made from Cherrywood, this makes the Keewaydin 16 Combi an easily “portageable” canoe while not limiting you to solo or tandem paddling.

The canoes listed on this web page are all in the standard UK specification, however Swift do offer a wide range of customisations; with everything from material constructions, outfitting choices, trim packages and some beautiful custom builds, in fact some come with no wood or steelwork in favour of the lightweight Carbon Fibre options instead. If you would like to design your own super canoe from Swifts wide range of choice, we highly recommend contacting our specialist Swift stores; Manchester Canoes and Norfolk Canoes who will be more than happy to help and assist.

Features

• 2x Cherry contoured, webbed seats.
• Built-In buoyancy chambers at either end.
• Bow and stern cherry handles.
• Cherry central yoke (detachable yoke included on combi model in UK Spec).
• Kevlar Fusion hull material.
• Black and Gold Carbon/Kevlar integral gunnels.
• Keewaydin 16 Combi has 3rd cherry contoured webbed seat fitted with no fixed central yoke (removable yoke on UK Standard Spec).
• Cherrywood Thwart behind bow seat on Combi model.

Dimensions

• Length: 16'
• Gunwale Width: 32"
• Maximum Width: 35"
• Waterline Width: 32"
• Centre Depth: 13"
• Bow Height: 20"
• Stern Height: 17"
• Bow Rocker: 2"
• Stern Rocker: 1.25"
• Weight of a fitted out Keewaydin 16 in Kevlar Fusion with Carbon/Kevlar Gunnels: 38lbs/17.3kg
• Weight of a fitted out Keewaydin 16 Combi in Kevlar Fusion with Carbon/Kevlar Gunnels: 39lbs/17.7kg