One more Issue with Mad River
Mad River has a lot of classic designs and I’d hate to see them gone.
But I have not seen any new designs of interest to canoesters in quite a few years.
The NewSynergy may be selling like cigarettes but to canoesters it’s a joke. Not a very funny one either.
I’d sure like to see Mad River live up to to it’s heritage of innovative canoe design. Yeah Jim Henry’s shoes are big ones to fill.
I can only hope.
Tommy
a couple of brilliant statements here
not sure what’s happening at MR but undoubtedly, something negative has occurred since the change. and good points made by the bloke about problems with all companies, this is very true.
however, i’d just like to comment on these 2 quotes found in above postings…
"
From my experience, it seems like bad customer service that starts right at HQ. "
and
“not much into boats”
DAM STRAIGHT!! the paddlesport industry is a passion business, and it is so freaking clear when you are dealing with a company/store/outfitter, etc, who is actually into paddling, and i can sniff out the pretenders immediately.
sadly the juggernauts that own much of the paddling industry these days are just these types, and yes indeed, a bad customer service attitude does come DIRECTLY from the top. i’ve seen it up close and personal in past employment, and it’s ugly. support small passionate paddlesports businesses!
For clarity
Early on in this thread I made some comments regarding Confluence and Mad River. I stand behind everything I said. As this thread loses steam and heads off to the archives I would like to make a couple of points unambiguous for the record:
I did not say that anyone at Confluence/Mad River was “evil”. It seems that it was inferred by someone that I had said that – I most certainly did not. I am of the opinion that some of their marketing scams for the formerly well respected Mad River brand name are disreputable, but to call them “evil’ would be quite a stretch.
I also did not in any way mean to imply that folks who are unfortunate enough to get suckered into purchasing a Confluence/Mad River cross-over ‘can-yak’ are deserving of ridicule. They would have my sincerest sympathy for falling for the marketing hype, but I wouldn’t mock them. The inference seemed to be that I was somehow elitist calling those cheesy things “floating objects”. I stand behind that assessment.
My earlier post is above near the beginning of this thread. Please note that it has not been edited. - Randall
I’m glad this thread turned out well
it had the potential to downgrade into finger pointing and gnashing of teeth, but has remained civil and informative. I just spent about a half hour rereading all the comments, and exploring the Mad River Canoe web site, and I, too, am disappointed that such a fine company reputation that was hard won by the Henry’s has deteriorated so badly. It took the Henry’s 30 years to win their reputation, and it took Confluence Watersports less than 5 years to undo that effort. Shame on Confluence Watersports.
Incidentally, another fine company that spent 30 years building a reputation for innovative and quality paddlign gear has disappeared under the Confluence Watersports management. Voyageur-Gear is no more. Sigh.
Thanks
Andy
Old thread re: old vs. new Explorers
If one is looking for an older (made in VT) Mad River Explorer 16Rx, what to look for? What identifying features?
Were all of the pre-2001 Explorer’s outfitted with wood gunnels?
Are the black vinyl gunnels indicative of post 2001?
Is there any difference in the labeling/logo?
thanks guys.
Vermont Canoe Company seems dead…
Following up on this old thread as I am in the market for an older Mad River Explorer.
I guess Jim’s ex-wife Kay and some former Mad River employees started Vermont Canoe Company here in Waitsfield VT.
I visited the website, which is running. The website highlights the Encore, which looks like it’s based on the Explorer specs, in fiberglass or Kevlar. the list of dealers turns up dead ends. None of them stock VT Canoe Company boats. Email to info@vermontcanoe is returned/undeliverable.
Seems they might have folded?
I’ve owned an Explorer 14 TT and now a 1997 Tahoe RX. IMO, they are garbage. I love my Wenonah! The “Mad” in Mad River is how you feel after a day of paddling these oil-canning pieces of junk. My biggest complaints are the easy oil-canning and the flimsy seat hangers. A friend loves the kevlar Mad River canoes, but I don’t have any experience with that layup. I’ve owned 20+ canoes in order to test drive them to find what I like. I always seem to have a good float when I’m in a Wenonah (I currently own four of them. Two are racers though, which aren’t quite as enjoyable…haha.). If you’re in Virginia or close by, you can go to the Appomattox River Company demo day in early June (June 10th this year). That can give you an opportunity to try out different designs and figure out what you like the most.