I have found a used Mad River Explorer 16 in Kevlar composite for sale. I’m inquiring to see if anyone has experience or recommendations regarding this boat. I have to get more information from the seller, but I thought I’d start here first. Will be used for a couple of BW/Q trips per year.

Good Morning Greybeard
I have 3 Explorers, 2 Kevlar expedition layups 52-56# and one royalex LT 65#. They are a good general purpose canoes with the ability to handle class 2 plus whitewater. A Very good river boats. The Kevlar boats are 16’ 3” and the royalex is 16’
They are not particularly fast, they track fair, have about 2.5” rocker which allows them to turn. They are very deep and will haul a load. Being a shallow vee boat they very stable. Can be paddled solo sitting backwards in the bow seat and work good with my 92# poodle.
I have used them in the BWCA on fishing trip with a few portages, but if I want to travel I use one of my ultralight canoes.
As I get older and don’t portage as much and they are becoming more and more my favorite boats. I would love to find an ultralight Explorer at about 45#.
E-mail me and I will give you my phone number and we can talk.

Carl

email sent. Thank you

Make sure this canoe has a thwart behind the front seat. Outfitter canoes often are missing this thwart which makes the canoe "snaky"... in rough conditions, the front twists left while the rear twists right.

After a couple dumps without that thwart, we nicknamed a friend's boat the "Devil Canoe".

bobbernumber3: "Make sure this canoe has a thwart behind the front seat. Outfitter canoes often are missing this thwart which makes the canoe "snaky"... in rough conditions, the front twists left while the rear twists right.


After a couple dumps without that thwart, we nicknamed a friend's boat the "Devil Canoe"."

So you're saying hull flex caused you to dump??? I own and have paddled a PakBoat in serious waves and whitewater, fully loaded, without problem, and it's probably the most flexible boat out there. The flex gives it added stability in most wave conditions (think of Rubby Ducky kayaks in whitewater). You might look elsewhere for causes of your dumps.

I picked up a '82 Explorer Kevlar on a steal a couple years back. It quickly became my favorite canoe. The gel coat and the wood gunnels means that it is heavier than a modern kevlar, but the canoe is a pleasure to paddle solo or with a crew. I love the gelcoat in terms of raw durability and combined with wood gunnels and deck plates that canoe is gorgeous in a way no yellow, aluminum-clad kevlar will ever be, IMHO. As others mentioned, being 16.5 ft long and a little wide, it's not the fastest canoe out there, but it can handle an incredible amount of weight and can take the rough chop well. Last Labor Day, a couple old guiding friends and I had a larger group out and the Mad River had three adult men and a full pack and was still riding close to an 8" freeboard which is pretty incredible. It also glides quite well which has made it a suitable solo canoe for me. The V-hull can take some getting used to; I have grown to love it. It's very much a utility hull where it's probably not the best at anything compared to specialized canoes, but it does a lot of things pretty well. And for me, that's what makes it a really nice canoe because I might end up in a river or a stream or a lake. I might be out for a day trip or a longer expedition. And the utility of the Explorer meets those needs quite well.

MReid: "

bobbernumber3: "Make sure this canoe has a thwart behind the front seat. Outfitter canoes often are missing this thwart which makes the canoe "snaky"... in rough conditions, the front twists left while the rear twists right.



After a couple dumps without that thwart, we nicknamed a friend's boat the "Devil Canoe"."

So you're saying hull flex caused you to dump??? I own and have paddled a PakBoat in serious waves and whitewater, fully loaded, without problem, and it's probably the most flexible boat out there. The flex gives it added stability in most wave conditions (think of Rubby Ducky kayaks in whitewater). You might look elsewhere for causes of your dumps."

The fact the Explorer doesn’t have a thwart behind the bow seat gives it the ability to be paddled solo sitting backwards in the bow seat. I haven’t found flex in the boat a problem, but more of a plus when you hit a rock.
Carl

MReid: "...So you're saying hull flex caused you to dump??? ...You might look elsewhere for causes of your dumps."

Just repeating the story from the survivors. And no dumps with that boat since a thwart was installed. The cause and story seem valid to me. Although, I'm sure there were other factors at play.

We have one (an '85) that we picked up for $50 at an auction because it needed the wooden gunwales replaced. It has been a great tripping canoe for us in the BWCA. We took on a a lot of trips with 2 adults and a teenager and gear for a week. We have passed it on to our son since our age has us cutting gear weight wherever we can, but it is still a very seaworthy boat.

RedLakePaddler: "Good Morning Greybeard
I have 3 Explorers, 2 Kevlar expedition layups 52-56# and one royalex LT 65#. They are a good general purpose canoes with the ability to handle class 2 plus whitewater. A Very good river boats. The Kevlar boats are 16’ 3” and the royalex is 16’
They are not particularly fast, they track fair, have about 2.5” rocker which allows them to turn. They are very deep and will haul a load. Being a shallow vee boat they very stable. Can be paddled solo sitting backwards in the bow seat and work good with my 92# poodle.
I have used them in the BWCA on fishing trip with a few portages, but if I want to travel I use one of my ultralight canoes.
As I get older and don’t portage as much and they are becoming more and more my favorite boats. I would love to find an ultralight Explorer at about 45#.
E-mail me and I will give you my phone number and we can talk.


Carl


"

I've tripped with Carl in his MR and it was the most stable canoe I've been in. He's right, they track fair, not great. I wouldn't hesitate to buy

This is mine. I don't get into the "tech specs" of canoes. I just know I like it and it has been a great tripping canoe for me whether solo paddled backwards or with either of my sons. It has handled full loads for 4-8 day trips just fine. When my son was much lighter than me, we did have issues with tracking and wind with an unloaded canoe (while fishing for example), but that's something I would completely expect. This one is from the early 90s, has taken a beating but it does the job as well as I need it to. We did replace all the wood and paint the aluminum gunnels a couple years ago to spruce it up a bit.

I have a 2000 kevlar explorer. Previous comments on it's lack of speed are correct and as mentioned it's not the canoe to solo fish from in the wind. In rough seas it handles better than my Mn.II, which due to no rocker, seems to have it's own idea of where it's going. I think I paid $2000. new. Buy it!