I owned a "cooler" for 15 years found it to be an excellent starter canoe. It's red color faded to a light pink hence the nickname "The Pink Banana" It took many hits including a tree falling on it and never sprung a leak.
I purchased my Explorer 16 TT last year and have enjoyed it on the rivers of MO. immensely. It handles on moving water quite well with gear and 2 paddlers. My son and I took it to the BWCA for a week this spring and I was impressed with its stability in big water. It was heavy to portage and the yoke broke on us but, we were quite pleased and would take it back for another trip
I have owned my Mad River Explorer 16TT for a little over a year now. We have paddled it on the rivers of MO and even taken it to the Boundary Waters of Northern MN. It has been an excellent boat. The portage yoke broke on our MN trip, but we were able to repair it with some lashings and a stick. Otherwise it would have been a 10
