As far as Rotary engines, they are a simple and strong design. The crank shaft is a lot more durable than a Lycomming or a Continental with fewer moving parts and if you blow all the oil out of a Rotary it will keep turning until you shut it down and then you can junk it an build anopther one for 3 thousand dollars. Run the oil out of a Lycomming or a Continental and you will quickly discover why the Rotary is a better engine.
The point was made that you can get more torque per Hp with a conventional engine but you can get up to 900Hp in a modified 3 rotor Rotary for not much more weight than a IO 540 which does not give you 900 Hp and that should give you more torque than you need. The gear box, PSRU, is the Aquiles heel of the rotary but Tracy Crook of Real World Solutions puts out a dependable and reliable product that have been keeping dozens of RV flyers in the air for years and he is constantly improving on a good idea, canards like them too. I would never say automobile conversions is always the best way to go because for the most part they are not, durability and the PSRUs have been a problem, but the Rotary is a proven alternative.
I hope some may have found these humble words interesting and maybe even enlightening from a Canard builder/flyer point of view. Good flying and stay safe.