Originally Posted by
Tourist in MSN
It is an 18 foot lightweight, I think it is 66 pounds. I do not recall if that weight is with or without the portage yoke. The skin is quite thin, I think it is 32 thousandths of an inch, where the standard (heavier) model was 50 thousandths. Easily flexes, so you do not want to do any white water. Nine ribs in the bottom due to the thin skin. I think it is mid 70s vintage if I recall correctly. I bought it new in early 80s, but this one had sat in the canoe yard for a few years before I bought it.
My first exposure to white water was in the 1970s in a Grumman, and it left me not particularly enthusiastic about the experience. 15 years later, same river in some sort of plastic canoe made me realize the aluminum really was great -- at sticking to any rock it brushed against!