Mad River Serial Number

After calling Mad River and coming up empty I thought I’d ask the masses. Trying to figure out what canoe I just bought. S/N is MADE1122M83k. By the E, I assume explorer, the 83 the year but material? Very thin, less than 1/8 between the gunwales(towards the ends 1/16 max.) You can see the cloth weave, gray inside, and you can see the weave thru the outer covering if you look close. Foam closed ends. The canoe skin is very thin and flexible. Thanks in advance.

Probably Kevlar
I believe that MRC attached a K at the end of the HIN of their Kevlar boats. Some were painted on the interior to prevent photo-degradation of the Kevlar. Back in 1983 I believe Mad River’s Kevlar boats were all Kevlar layups. It probably also has the non-radiused (squared off) gunwales.

My '73 pure fiberglass MR Compatriot
had a very thin layup, not over 1/8 inch. And up high on the hull, below the end caps, the weave pattern showed through the white gelcoat.



Quite possibly you have a Kevlar boat, but remember that replacing fiberglass cloth layers with Kevlar really does not make for a stiffer boat. Glass is plenty stiff, and glass outer layers contribute more to stiffness than Kevlar outer layers.



Kevlar’s main role, used for inside layers, is to protect against propagation of tears. Kevlar is very tough. It is very strong in tension, but if you make a tube out of Kevlar, similar to the carbon tubes used for high end paddles, you’ll find that Kevlar is no better than glass in compression. Early attempts to use Kevlar for paddles were failures.

'83 Kevlar Explorer (nm)