My oldest son hikes miles and miles into the Adirondack Mountains to get to ponds and small lakes no one fishes to catch Monster Brook Trout.Its a passion of his.These are not cheap,,but this is what he uses.He has two of their canoes. www.hornbeckboats.com

I have a 14’ hornbeck. I paid $2500 delivered. It might weigh 20lbs at most

If you only go once a year why not just rent a kevlar from one of the many outfitters in Ely instead of selling this or that to buy one? Beat the crap out of it for a week then return it and go home, seems like a no brainer.

I think "toughest" and "lightest" are mutually exclusive features. My thinking is that ABS or the new equivalent is the toughest, but kevlar is the lightest. I sold my ABS 16' Mad River Explorer a couple of years ago. I just wasn't comfortable handling it's 70 lb weight anymore. If I was going to get another canoe it would be a kevlar model with a bit of keel.

Meyers over Radisson. I've had both. Meyers, IMO, makes a better Sportspal.

ABS will never be the toughest. Durable yes, tough no. Royalex reigned in pure toughness but not weight. Kevlar/Spectra/Carbon rule for weight not so much on toughness.

Dang, their 14 foot classic canoe only weighs 25 pounds.

My Old Town Pack canoe weighs around 30 pounds but it is a one man canoe.

I have had my Kawartha canoe now for at least 30 years and used it a lot trapping.
Tough as nails and fairly light.

they make canoe porters, two wheels and handles weight no problem on mostly flat ground. I use a homemade one to get to the lake from roads that have been blocked a few hundred yards from the water. Made it from a trailer dolly.

Throw away that stupid wheel thingy and bring the Amazon woman.

The mose UN stable canoe I'v ever been in

You see those blue NRS straps in that portage cart video above? Best straps out there for securing gear anywhere. Get 'em from Amazon and they come in different lengths, all marked on the strap. Worked a canoe livery for four summers after I retired and two straps was how we secured all canoes on top of vehicles.

Warrior, I'm a bit confused by because ABS = Royalex.

Two different materials. Or at least if my memory is correct in thinking ABS is what Old Town referred to as crosslink and others as rotomolded. The stuff they make these sit on kayaks out of.

Royalex was a sheet material made by one supplier that chose to discontinue it.

If I'm wrong the mea culpa.

old town sold

ABS and Roylex they look somewhat similar

Roylex had an outer color layer and an inner color layer and then was a base color in the middle

the ABS they sold was color through

ABS was heavier and lower cost , decently tough

the Roylex cost more and was lighter and stiffer

my 17 Penobscot is Roylex

I used a lot of the ABS 16 foot old towns at different camps they were color through and the abrasion of being drug up on the beach a lot didn't effect them much , run over a lot of logs on river trips the bottom would sort of bow in then pop back out as you road over the partially submerged log.

My tripper is royalex, I dont think they came in anything else. Much stiffer material than ABS. I've been in some plastic boats where the bottom flexed with each passing wave.

The royalex is a layered material. I need to tape the stems of mine as one end has worn through the outer layer. It was that way when I got it.

Unfortunately for me
Color/ pattern play a role in my choices on many purchases

Not very Analytical...but that's my Artist brain - so it factors in.

1 .Weight
1-a. Enjoyable to paddle loaded (solo or 2 person.
2. Able to take lakeshore and some river travel.
3. Color.

***I will NOT buy a Yellow Winona-Kevlar. I hate them and their patches I see on most of them in the BWCA.

There's Souris River and there claims for epoxy.

https://www.sourisriver.com/materials-construction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royalex

Royalex was made with ABS. My Mad River Explorer was Royalex.