Help Identifying Older Mad River Canoe

Advice
#1

Hey! new to the forum, and canoeing really. I just acquired an older Mad River Canoe from a buddy, and we are really looking forward to having a great time with it!



It does need some repairs, such as a new seat, however I’m having trouble identifying it. It is made of Royalex, and is a little longer than 17 ft. There is no marking showing the model. I was able to get the serial # off of it, and was hoping that would be enough info for someone on here to help me. I checked older posts, but was not able to decipher it. Any help is greatly appreciated.



the serial # is MADA7577M820 that final 0 might be a L, kinda hard to tell.



Thanks,

Reid

#2

It Could Be
The Voyageur:



http://www.madrivercanoe.com/content/madrivercanoe.com/assets/page/1988/page%2019.jpg



It seems to be the only boat that fits into the 17’ range from the old specs website. The only problem is that according to the specs it isn’t made of royalex. Humm, interesting!



http://www.madrivercanoe.com/pages/index/customer_service/archived_catalogs/1988



From the HIN it’s an 82 and a Mad River. Here’s a link that may be of help or not:



http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/hin.html





Seats are easy to replace as long as the gunwales are in good shape. I have a local guy who sells them, webbed, for about 40$ or you can order them online. Ed’s is a good place:



http://www.edscanoe.com/



Wait a minute, it could be the Explorer:



http://www.madrivercanoe.com/content/madrivercanoe.com/assets/page/1988/page%208.jpg



If is just a hair over at 17’2" that is probably your boat and is royalex. I hope this helps and it would be good to know what it is. My guess is the MRE.



dougd




#3

Thanks!
Thanks for the info! I was thinking it may be an Explorer too. I thought from the serial number that it was an '82 also, but since I didn’t see an Explorer that size in the 1982 catalog I wasn’t sure. I thought maybe a Northwoods?? That is if I’m reading the serial number correctly.



The seat needing replacement is only 24" long, but after reading that site you posted a link too, it looks like it can be cut down to size.






#4

Found This
If it is a Northwoods here’s the dimensions from what other’s posted:



http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=187792



dougd

#5

1982 Royalex Explorer
Measure it again. The “A” indicates that it’s a Royalex Explorer, which would make the canoe 16’2".



Openboater

#6

16’ 2"
Just remeasured, and it is indeed 16’2". So, must be the Explorer. Thanks for the help y’all!