Other than two P.net reviews, I can find NOTHING on the boat. Looks like a narrower, shallower Explorer with a little tumblehome added? Even the Mad River website has nothing I can find. Any help would be appreciated.
It’s in
this product guide: http://www.madrivercanoe.com/content/madrivercanoe.com/assets/page/archived_catalogs/2006%20Mad%20River%20Catalog.pdf
Frank
Here
http://www.madrivercanoe.com/content/madrivercanoe.com/assets/page/archived_catalogs/2006%20Mad%20River%20Catalog.pdf
But the gal who had it ( and probably still does) had standard seats in it. Though she was somewhat petite, she was able to solo it well.
Mini Explorer with a little more maneuverability.
They always make it look like they put
such care and technical precision into their catalogs, but every catalog I’ve seen makes some hilarious statements about their hulls.
This one says the Outrage and Outrage X are “fishform”. I’ve paddled the X, and it is a nice boat but not fishform by any stretch of the imagination. I have a fishform boat, my Millbrook Edsel, and I’ve paddled my swedeform MR Synergy backwards, in “fishform” mode.
The Outrages are so close to symmetrical, it isn’t even worth discussing.
In another catalog, they switched into saying the Guide/Freedom Solo is “shallow arch”. Well, I have one, and it is a very shallow V hull.
Usually their actual dimensional figures are correct, but buyers, take everything qualitative they say with a grain of salt.
—Owner of 3 Mad River hulls, going back to '73.
Thanks Anyway
The boat sold. Interestingly enough, it’s the only MRC I’ve ever seen that had the shouldered tumblehome that you see in Bell Canoes. I was just a little too late. Thanks for the help!
I have one
I have an Express 16 in royalex with factory skip plates. Funny I had to come on pnet years ago and ask the same question when I found mine for sale. Someone was kind enough to email me the catalog. Mine was a leftover model new from the dealer. Like someone said, it’s tucked in a hair more than an Explorer with a hair less rocker, I believe. I wouldn’t go to the extreme of comparing it with a Bell. My dad is a die hard old school explorer lover. I like to tell him it does everything the Explorer does, just faster. In reality, you wouldn’t be able to lean it over as much as an Explorer, but it’s been a great boat. Not really worth MR producing it AND an Explorer though, probably why it was so short lived.
Scott
Which might raise the question, why is
MR offering the ex-Dagger Legend 16? It is different in handling than the Explorer, but about as slow and roughly equal in agility. And while I have never been an Explorer fan (though I have expressed admiration repeatedly for what some people can do in it), I have to say that the Explorer has more “personality” than the Legend.
They also resurrected the Reflection series, canoes weak on personality but strong on technical merit.
Now they have no more Royalex blanks to shoot, so we’ll see what MR throws at us instead.