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kerry · #2 11-20-2005, 07:52 PM

That's a tough question to answer. You're correct that most canoeists stay away from the Scanoe. When I use a motor on my canoes, I use a motor bracket off the side at the stern. Square stern canoes are not as efficient to paddle.
As you can see from my list of canoes, canoes are usually designed for specific purposes so it's hard to find one or two that fit all our needs. The lightest weight ones are kevlar but they are usually quite pricey. Royalex is very durable but not that light. Royalite is a bit lighter than Royalex, but the inside material is much harder to glue to. Cross linked layered polyethylene like Old Town's Discovery models are popular and inexpensive but quite heavy. Cross linked Poly in the Coleman models is also inexpensive but very flexible and the designs are not what most experienced canoeists like.
The Trapper is a pretty wide canoe, which makes it hard to paddle efficiently, although it has a lot of initial stability.
If I have to portage, I have an 18' Wenonah Jensen, foam core fiberglass that weights 54 lbs. It is basically a flatwater canoe that I put a fabric deck on if I have to paddle a lot of open water.
I have an 181/2' Jensen WWIII that I like for river tripping. Very cheap fiberglass layup from the late 70's that weights about 70lbs, but it's a fast deep boat that can carry a huge load.
For whitewater tripping I love the old Blue Hole Starburst. It's 16', but still very manoeverable and can carry a fair load.
For tandem whitewater I paddle a Dagger Caption. It was designed by Stever Scarborough who also designed the Starburst. I think he's designed wonderful tandem river boats that are hard to beat.
For all round paddling, I have an Old Town Tripper-- which I originally bought for whitewater back when it was one of the few Royalex models available. I've put thousands of miles under its hull.