whitetail, been running rivers for over 25 years now, started with a fiberglass mohawk,i n 78", good boat decent rocker but heavvvvvy. broke it in half on a log. patched it up after i got it home, and used it for another few years, sold it to a friend that used it several years.
when my interest got to whitewater i sold the mohawk and bought a 16' royalex mad river in 1984 i do not know which model. we have run many class III rivers with it and once floated the cossatot which is a class III+ that was the wildest and most fun i have had on water.
i have hunted ducks, deer, and squirrels out of it. most of its duty was floating ClassII rivers loaded to the gills with gear for 3 day float camping trips with two bubba sized adults. it responds well has good amount of rocker and a tumblehome beam for stability. these canoes are not cheap i paid 725.00 21 years and still going strong. i do not do much whitewater anymore but have a camp on a classII river here in arkansas so we do a lot of day trips in it.
do not go with the wood gunnells or bamboo seats. we have patched the gunnells several time over the years class III water and big rocks are hard on the wood (we do not always keep the sunnyside up) the bamboo seats rot after a few years.
do not go with the "poly" type plastic laminates as they will delaminate over time.
paddles are another thing you should read up on the wrong paddle will wear you out. i use different types depending on what type of water i will be floating.
hope you enjoy canoeing half as much as we have
Last edited by arky65; 08/18/05.
