We ordered a carbon fibre model, probably around 1998, and have used it almost daily every summer since. We had it equipped with a fixed front seat and kneeling pads, and raised the seats so that our feet would fit under them. It has been on 4 day trips in Algonquin Park each year as well as a number of shorter ones in the park and in the Frost Centre area. I removed the kneeling thwart so that it is easier to load and unload the canoe pack and the food barrel. I can carry the food barrel and the canoe at the same time so my wife and I can do portages in one pass. I am 69 and would never have been able to do this with a heavier canoe. The two drawbacks to our model are that it doesn't have the extra freeboard/spray deflector that was added later and it is noticeably slower than longer models. It now has a number of cracks in the gel coat but hasn't leaked. I probably should have got the 16'6" prospector but I wanted to be able to manoeuvre easily on portages.
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