I own a 169 Discovery as of recently and decided on it because of prior experiences with the Old Town polylink/superlink construction type ... My particular priority objective was the ability of these canoes to handle resonable whitewater ( worse case scenario ) with lots of rocks to go bango , as is always the case on the rivers I run down to go fishing for smallmouth in W. MD., VA., W.VA., and PA. ,... I mean , you got to go thru/over them when they are in the way !! ... These canoes do it real well !! ... they are stable , quiet , warm , bouyant , and carry loads ( we're gone a couple days or more at a time , with all you need for surviving in the outdoors )... in our waters these canoes have bounced off of , banged into , scraped over every kind of rock , dropped off ledges into the fast turbulant races , and even hung in the rips , without ever a concern ( or at least a big one ) that we wouldn't make out OK !!... So what about still water ?? Nice platform that goes where you put it at reasonable speed ( even in the wind )... I'll be honest with ya , I'm not sure if I can tell any difference at all between heavily loaded and bare minimums when it comes to handling and effort ... but I like it when it's loaded because that means I'll be in it and gone longer ... so if you think the name Discovery is a resonable one for a canoe , well I'm here to tell ya , that's right and she holds up to all that you can encounter while your in that place " discovering " , and for my money , that's what I want and need to feel safe and certain ... go for it , a tried and true canoe , yes !
