peter osberg
LOVES Wooden Canoes
[I have used yellow cedar by preference to build historical reproductions (lines taken from Adney an Capelle's book) and the yellow cedar ribs taken down to 1/4 inch and under 1/8th inch planking (yellow cedar). With the dacron cover my 14 foot canoe is 25lbs. In terms of durability it has demonstrated bouncing ability from 8 ft (onto concrete) without any wood cracks (not an intentional test). I still like the 18ft chestnut for evening paddles with my better half, and it is still managable with its wieght loss program at 49 lbs. A 40 lb 15 or 16 footer is realistic, but you may need to build it yourself.