A friend of ours is selling a fiberglass Mad River Canoe in nice shape, and I’m trying to figure out if it would be a good boat for our little family to putz around in, and possibly do some camping with.
It’s 16’ 5" x 35". Serial number MAD63859M81F
Any info or advice would be appreciated. I don’t know much about canoes.
Thanks, Nate
Explorer?
I’m guessing it’s built in 81? The dimesions seem to match those of a fiberglass Explorer in the 1988 catalog.
http://www.madrivercanoe.com/content/madrivercanoe.com/assets/page/1988/page%208.jpg
Never Paddled the 'Glass, But…
But I have paddled the kevlar composite Explorer several times, albeit; it’s been a few years ago. Did a few Boundary Waters trips in one. It is faster than the Royalex Explorer, though not “Fast,” it’s not a bad paddling boat. The primary stability is good. With the shallow V hull, it tips to a point. But you can “Park” it on either side of the V. That secondary stability is excellent, and that’s a good trait to have paddling with kids. It has enough volume for late fall week long trips with 2 200+ pound guys. It was a very good, stable boat for a couple times when we couldn’t afford to be swimming! As I recall, the 'glass Mad River’s were laid up very tough. It should serve you well, IMHO. WW
should have kept my mouth shut
My friend did some investigating, and discovered it’s a Malecite, sells new for $2700, and sells used for $1000.
So he decided he’d better keep it!
Probably better that way. I can still go borrow it, but now I don’t have to store it. And buying a canoe on top of the kayak I’m shopping for would have been financially ill-advised, anyways. 
FG work on New England Mad River
canoes was very good, and very durable. I had hydrolysis blisters on a FG Mad River made in '73, but that may have been an anomaly. And when I cut the boat apart for disposal, I was impressed with how the FG laminate had stood up to rocky abuse.
Hope you are a very good friend.
Once he gets it on the water, he will be less likely to loan it out. 
(a happy Malecite owner)
He’s been out.
He and his wife have owned the canoe for decades, and used to use it a bit, but lately they only use rec kayaks with their school-age kids. (Why, I don’t know - I’d rather be in a canoe, than a barge-yak.)
He decided that maybe he owed it to his kids to keep it around, in case they have an interest as they get older. But he fully expects it to sit idle for the forseable future, and would like to see me take it out some. I think I’ll indeed take him up on that. Sounds like a fun boat to reintroduce myself to canoeing. (I haven’t been in a canoe since a 5-week wilderness trip 20 years ago.)
Valley Aquanaut
Just sent a deposit. I’ll pick it up in a week.
White hull this time, so I can hide the scratches.