Had a chance to padle a mad river adventure 14 canoe yesterday. Yeah it's plastic and has three seats molded in.
It was a fun boat to paddle. I used the euro blade with it and was pretty much doing a sliding stroke as it is 33 inches wide at the water line.
It was very stable, but I could lean it well with the two chines and looked like it would be a really fun boat to throw my two kids in with me and muck around the lake.
for 500 bucks new! Yeah I know it's a bit heavy but it looks like a great recreational canoe. It just may be in my future as it gets all of us out on the water together. As it is now, the kids poop out quickly in the Kea.
Invest in skid plates if you paddle any shallow rivers at all. I know of two people who have worn holes in theirs in less than one year. On was able to return his to REI and got a refund, the other bought it from a local dealer and was not so lucky. They are now available from Mad River for poly boats and well worth the $100 investment.
I have the Adventure 16 We take ours down a fast shallow river quite often, but our river rocks are round & barely leave a mark. Cement will chew up rotomold. The only real scars on mine are from the driveway, parking lots & boat ramps; my own fault.
The multi-chined hull is great on flatwater, keeps it nice & stiff. It’ll never oilcan. This stiffness causes it to hang on submerged obstacles if you hit just right, as with an aluminum. It’ll make your butt pucker, but fairly minor side-effect after covering a few huge lakes quickly.
When I wear it out beyond repair, I’ll buy another.
Almost certainly a urethane resin, not an epoxy. Most skid plate kits use urethane resin now. Not as hard as epoxy, but more flexible and more likely to stick to unfriendly surfaces.
But if someone is convinced they will need skid plates, I recommend only ABS boats.