I've not yet found a history of the Coleman canoes online, and seldom recall having seen them mentioned in canoeing magazines before the interenet. Most of the paddling community seems to have, and still does, consider them the red-headed stepchild of the canoe world. The design is slow and wide in beam, a deep keel required to bed the stiffening keelson. Still they oil can, the bottom flexing. Another negative was the upward bowed aluminim tube thwarts which extended above the gunnel height making it near impossible to slide onto a rack from front or rear, and scratching car roofs when loading it on foam blocks. The bow and stern were low and low volume which meant plunging deep in a wave or swell and shipping more water than hull designs with rising, more full volumed ends. In the interest of initial stability, the hull was exceedingly wide in the center. This was good in that it increased displacement adding to the carrying capacity, but bad in added drag on non-moving water. And coupled with the keelson, added effort in maneuvering. Over time, I came up with my own style of paddling which for the most part overcame some of these negatives. It forced me to learn to read the currents sooner and better and set up for manuvering before I reached tight, tricky spots. In a way, it was like driving a UPS truck.
I never wrapped my Coleman, but I did bend a gunnel once broaching on a tree. It was easily pressed back out true. I took it into some heavy Arkansas whitewater, places I had previously gone in a Bluehole Sunburst, where it got rammed into and dragged over sharp rocks, launched down the highway from my Honda once in an emergency stop, stored out in the weather for years on end and it never suffered a puncture or other damage other than a few battle scars. After ten years, it did develop a hull crack below one of the thwart mounts at the gunnel. I drilled a round hole at the bottom of the crack, then used a soldering iron to weld in a filling made from a sliver of matching plastic cut from the seat bottom. It never got worse or opened back up. I sold that canoe in 1994 when I moved out of state for my original purchase price.
The earliest ones, such as I owned 1976-1994, had bare aluminum gunnels and a day on the water left a distinct dark gray aluminm oxide on one's hands. At some point this was overcome with the use of black polyethelyne covers over the metal gunnels, pretty much industry standard now. They also had cast aluminum bow and stern caps and plastic sheet decks ending in aluminum channel stock to improve stiffness and provide a hand hold for carrying. Together with plastic sheet bulkheads, they enclosed formed styrofoam end blocks for floatation. This configuation went through a series of changes over the years with the multiple components being replaced first with a single molded plastic end cap and deck, then with a plastic end piece with molded in hand grip, floatation being then provided by hollow molded seats replacing the original molded bench seats secured to aluminum frames attached to the gunnels.
With the takeover by Pelican Industries, several changes were made including replacing all thwarts and seats with hollow molded seats with pedestals to stiffen the bottom as opposed to the vertical aluminum tubes previously used. The increased air volume in the seats did improve floatation when swamped. And these canoes are seen in one variant or another at nearly every big box sporting goods store today, still cheap. In fact, adjusted for inflation, cheaper than the originals were back in the day. While I don't care for them myself, they are still today the ubiquitous entry level canoe.
The closest models offered by competetors are still several hundred dollars more in MSRP (and often found at the same big box stores). The competetors too have gone to the rotomolded hollow plastic seats. My newer canoes, Old Town Discoverys, both came with those and I have replaced them with ash framed and cane webbed traditional seats. If you are tempted to do this, be aware that you will be giving up a portion of the built in floatation.
I am still watching for a first-style Coleman 17 footer in good condition near me for nostalgia and as a loaner. They come up for sale quite often, but usually too far away for me to consider going after them or having them shipped. Common prices I've seen are usually sub-$500. About 1/3rd to 1/4 of what it takes to get into an upper level canoe these days. I have paddled some upper end canoes such as the Bell Wildfire (now called "Yellowstone", MSRP $1900), but the boney waters I frequent for the most part are flowing and I don't have to portage, so much of the finer points of upper end canoes are lost on me. Not that I would turn one down as a gift, mind you.
