Wardie,
I have an Old Town Tripper made of royalex which is a few inches shy of 17' and weighs somewhere around 80 pounds. But I am an anachronism, so be wary of my approach to these things. At the time I bought it in 1978, it was considered a whitewater boat, but I don't think many people would classify it as that today. Nevertheless, it is very stable and has lots of capacity and freeboard. For my money and limited boat storage capacity, you can't beat it for its versatility because it allows you to carry so much gear, another paddler, and even a passenger in the middle which I have done on occasion. Ironically, I paddle it solo most of the time.
The downsides are its weight and handling. It's like a tank or a tub, but I've learned to compensate for its lack of nimbleness. It can also be a real challenge in stiff winds.
Canoe and Kayak magazine used to put out an annual issue that reviewed all currently available models of canoes and kayaks, but I haven't subscribed for some time.
It's probably important to decide what type of paddling you will do most often (river, lake, canoe camping, whitewater, racing, tandem, solo) and then get the opinion of people who do lots of that type of boating and then try out different boats before buying one. You will be welcome to try mine any time.
Hope this helps.
JP
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