same here Pete..the subject of modern gear somehow taking away the wilderness experience has been beat to death on the canoe tripping sites,with no agreement of course.
nylon or canvas,fire or Gaz stove,wool or polyfluff and so on.
in the end everyone just said "it's your trip"
and of course you could go as far as to say that having any kind of survival gear along is cheating and you have to face the wilderness,or backwoods maybe,one to one to have a true adventure otherwise your just a tourist.