Personally, I wouldn't be so quick to eschew composite boats--especially if the price is quite comparable to poly, or thermal plastic boats. If you know for sure that you will be bumping around in rocks and whatnot, then maybe polyethylene is the way to go. IF that is the case, I would at least check out what Current Designs has to offer. Otherwise, if you want to do some comparing, go to nckayaks.com and see what you can get for a very reasonable price. Their regular price and especially the sale prices in no way are a guage of the quality of of these boats. They are simply superb.