I'll also cast my vote for the Raleigh project.

In the late 1980s, I bought a Mongoose mountain bike which I began converting for touring. It had a range of gears suitable for hills and wind and the riding position was comfortable. It didn't have all the braze-ons necessary for racks, but I still managed to add a Blackburn rear rack and later an MEC front rack. This bike performed well on the highway and could easily handle rail trails, gravel and dirt roads and even sandy forestry roads. The only drawback was doing maintenance in the last couple of years as some part sizes have changed a little since the 1980s.

A few years ago, a thief decided he needed the bike more than I did. I replaced it with a Devinci touring bike. This one's built on a cyclocross frame and is great in almost all the same conditions. It's got a triple ring up front and a huge range of gearing. For off-road use however, an old-school mountain bike is still the clear winner.

If you're going with the Raleigh project, you'll have a great bike by the end of it.