Throughout our float down Honduras’ Patuca River, local indians marveled at our red canoe. “Que bonito!” they said. “How pretty!”
They couldn’t have been as impressed as I was. My partner Scott Wiliams and I were testing a new model of the ScanSport PakCanoe, a collapsible boat that weighs 47 lbs, fits in one duffel bag and assembles in 30 minutes.
We put it to the test all right: Two days hiking through the jungle and five days on a river involving fast water, slack water, creeks, snags, shoals and windswept lakes. Throughout, the boat performed beautifully.
Ernst Herndon is a staff writer for the Enterprise-Journal and also writes for outdoor magazines like Paddler and Canoe & Kayak.