Canoe Identification Game

Greetings and salutations all,

Newbie here and I would like to pose a challenge to all canoe enthusiasts here on this great forum. I have recently procured an older Mad River Royalex Explorer that will be an ongoing project to fulfill my inner amateur DIYer’s beckoning. However aside from dimensions (16’ from bow to stern) and decals, I cannot tell what year this boat is. The obvious hint is the styling of the decals. They seem to call back to a time when Rollerblading and the grunge scene were just taking hold.

Can anyone of you enlightened few peg the year of this vessel?


There is a Hull Identification number on the stern under the outwale. The last two numbers are they year of manufacture

Thank you kind sir or maam!

So what is the year - I’m going to say 1992, because I have a 1992 Dagger with wood gunnels that looks just like that.

@eckilson said:
So what is the year - I’m going to say 1992, because I have a 1992 Dagger with wood gunnels that looks just like that.

I figured it was from around that time. The gunwales themselves are still somewhat firm under the outer roughness so I am going to attempt to sand and oil them after I get it all cleaned out. I may venture further and explore fully replacing them but I wanted to first see what there condition was after a bit of sweat-equity.

I am sure there are post on this, (I honestly have not searched yet) but am considering switching out the seat dowels for a truss setup for additional stability. I have a little boy that will be in full blown “destruction age” soon and would like to proactively protect my efforts.