Pelican bass raider is a great boat. Mine is over 7yrs old and still performs like day 1. As far as the 2 piece thing, it really doesnt matter. Ive forgotten to put the plugs in the pontoons before and fished for hours on the water. Both pontoons filled with water, and I didnt even realize it until i got back in. I just thought it was moving alil slower is all lol.
Cant speak for other brands, but I can tell you the bass raider is super tough, (ive dropped it, scrapped it, bumped it, you name it), really stable, almost impossible to sink, and light enough for 1 person to load and unload in a pick up, if you dont have a trailer. Would recommend.