Yesterday I picked up what I believe is a 1998 model year explorer built in December of 1997. HIN# MADEX395L798. It appears to be fiberglass however I typically have seen fiberglass MRCs with wood gunwales and these are aluminum. I also haven’t seen a boat with the gel coat color on the inside. Was this standard for this model year for fiberglass boats? As I am new and can only post one picture I am including one of the weave for greater clarity. I can include more pictures of the actual boat with later posts.
Any information would purely be for informational purposes obviously as I already bought the boat. I grew up in Maine canoeing with my family in our Blue Hole and Tripper. This will be my first venture into a MRC. For $240 I figured I couldn’t go wrong.
Welcome to the forum. There used to be a few folks here with real expertise on subjects like this. Some of them have passed on and some just aren’t around here anymore for unknown reasons. “Old guys that know a lot about old canoes” are getting scarce. I just figured I’d pass that on since no one is chiming in.
Now, if you really want an answer, you MIGHT be able to get it from an unlikely source: the guys who own and operate a boat company called “Adirondack Guide-boat”. Last time I was aware (maybe four or five years ago), that company was operated by two guys (I seem to remember that they are brothers) who learned their boat-building skills at Mad River Canoe, before taking ownership of Adirondack Guide-Boat.
I used to work in a shop that sold MRC. It looks like your boat is a standard fiberglasss layup. The wood gunnels on the canoes were optional. It sounds like you found the more basic model with aluminum trim. It was usually plain silver but also came with a black finish. Great boat sounds like you got a great deal.
Thanks for the feedback. After some effort, I was able to track down a catalog from the 1998 model year from a separate forum and yes, it is a standard fiberglass layup. Although not as aesthetically pleasing as wood gunwales I actually prefer the aluminum ones with their lower maintenance and also weight savings.
