Mad River Independence: Boat Fraud?

As I stated in an earlier post, I was looking to buy a Mad River Independence.



On the seller’s web posting, he had pictures of the boat but they were all “action” shots and not close ups of the boat. He said that he bought the boat used in 99 (it was a 98 production model) and it had been professionally refurbished by Mad River. It is a glass boat and was painted from its light blue color to a navy blue.



The caused me to get suspicious. I asked for the serial number of the boat and he gave it to me. I called Mad River to confirm it was in fact one of their boats. What they told me surprised me…it was actually an Old Town Canoe!!



I don’t think that the seller is at fault but rather with the dealer that sold the boat to him. Do you think this is strange or it is just me?

where did the s/n come from?
Did they read the serial number directly off the hull, or did it come from a document that might not be properly related to the hull?



Can you get a picture of the boat? Some of us will be able to recognize an Independence. Can you? Are you going to buy the boat unseen?



– Mark

Too bad…
I was excited for ya. Rip-off artists abound. Hemlock Canoe has one on their site (used & demo) that looks nice.

the
boat is located only 15 minutes away from me so I’ll go check it out. I was just very surprised when I called Mad River and they said, “nope, not one of ours”



The seller is an honest guy and I know that he isn’t behind it. I’m just concerned that he bought a boat 10 years ago that was something different than he expected.



I’ll know if its an Indy when I see it

He read the serial number off of the
the bill of sale

Pnet Classified
There is a MR Indy for sale in PA. I know the person and the boat. Boat is in excellent shape, seller is a good guy of some kind of character. Location is north-central PA.