I live in Hawaii but love to canoe camp in the north woods. This summer I'll be out for about 3 weeks, paddling flat water routes (no rivers). Renting canoes for that length of time gets expensive. For my son and I this summer, it could exceed $800 in rental fees!!

So I'm considering buying a "Pakboat 170 17'" canoe that breaks down and fits into a backpack (~53 pounds). But I'm nervous. They are available from Piragis (and probably elsewhere too). The upside is that I could pack it up and bring it home to Hawaii until my next freshwater adventure. (I would not use it in salt water)

Anyone have any 1st hand experience with these? How do they handle? Are there any technical problems?

Thanks!!

Buddy has one which we've used several times.  That same model.  He also has a 'yak of theirs, just to show how much he likes their products.  

Durable, roomy, can take a lot of gear.  We've had it loaded with 600+ lbs of gear and people, easily 8" of freeboard.  Very stable.  Could likely load up with 1000lbs.

My complaints:
1 - The floor is a bunch of aluminum poles.  Rough on the knees.  If it's not standard, you'll likely get cheaper & better knee protection than what Packboat sells.  Closed cell foam is cheap.
2 - The seats are basically aluminum plates.  Rough on the bum.
3 - The seats have a tendancy to pop loose with the standard attachment.  Some re-usable zip ties secures them fine.

It will never perform better than a rigid hull, but it performs just fine.

Packed it takes the space of two hockey bags.  One for the skin, one for the poles.

With practice assembly takes <30min.  I wouldn't want to do it alone, there are some tight fits.

Re-usable zip ties are very helpful with some attachments.  Maybe not out-of-the-box, but certainly after a few years.  Re-usable zip ties are awesome anyway.