Mad River Malecite??
Rick Braley
Expedition) for a very low price today (approximately ½ the cost listed
at the Mad River web site).
Looking at the information at the web site it says that it will hold 850
lbs, but it also describes it as a “weekend” canoe. I usually do 10-day
wilderness trips and don’t understand why a canoe that holds 850 lbs
would not be sufficient for such a trip. I was hoping someone out there
knows more about this canoe and could answer this question.
Also, I am concerned that it is very shallow. Many of my trips take me
across large lakes and I wonder if the shallow design would be
sufficient to keep waves out.
If anyone with experience with this canoe could e-mail I would
appreciate it.
Thanks
Rick
pmhi...@mfx.net
> I came across a store that is selling a Mad River Malecite . I usually do
> 10-day
> wilderness trips and don’t understand why a canoe that holds 850 lbs
> would not be sufficient for such a trip.
>
> Also, I am concerned that it is very shallow. Many of my trips take me
> across large lakes and I wonder if the shallow design would be
> sufficient to keep waves out.
>
> If anyone with experience with this canoe could e-mail I would
> appreciate it.
While I'm not familir w/ this particular model, you might compare its specs
w/ the Old Town Tripper & XL Tripper, both of which I would unhestaitingly
recommend for your style of canoeing.
Pete Hilton aka The Ent
--
When the government fears the people, there is liberty.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
Thomas Jefferson
Rick Braley
heavy for lengthy trips.
Chuck Duchon
I remember looking at the Malecite when I was canoe shopping a few years
ago. I eventually bought an 18' Wenonah Jensen but I really liked the
Malecite. It's more performance oriented, hence the shallow depth, and it
paddles very nicely. It's a faster hull than many "tripping" canoe. If you
pack light - think backpacking - the boat should handle it well.
I weight about 280 lbs and the Jensen has worked well, even in choppy
water - YMMV but I think the Malecite would be a great boat - especially at
a decent price.
"Rick Braley" <ronf...@videotron.ca> wrote in message
news:3BFEE7E4...@videotron.ca...
Dan V.
<ronf...@videotron.ca> wrote:
>I came across a store that is selling a Mad River Malecite (Kevlar
>Expedition) for a very low price today (approximately ½ the cost listed
>at the Mad River web site).
>
Very good price! Who has it-? If you decide not to buy it......
>Looking at the information at the web site it says that it will hold 850
Dreaming- sure it would hold that in theory, but you would not want to
actually paddle it than. One bad lean, you might be swimming.
>lbs, but it also describes it as a “weekend” canoe. I usually do 10-day
>wilderness trips and don’t understand why a canoe that holds 850 lbs
>would not be sufficient for such a trip. I was hoping someone out there
>knows more about this canoe and could answer this question.
Nice little tandem for day trips, maybe one night, if you packed
wisely. Paddled solo you would have a lot of room, but still not much
freeboard.
>
>Also, I am concerned that it is very shallow. Many of my trips take me
>across large lakes and I wonder if the shallow design would be
>sufficient to keep waves out.
>
Exactly! You would have waves washing over, the Malecite is not a
tripper, although, used solo, it would work, if you used a spray
skirt, if you were a good enough paddler.
A boat is no bargain if it will not do what you want it to do.
You do 10 day wilderness trips, and do not know what boats are used
for that? Rent boats for a few trips, many outfitters offer top of
the line boats, try a Minnesota II for starters, or if you are on
rivers look at a Sundowner or maybe a MR Freedom. For solo, maybe a
Wenonah Encounter. Bell also has makes very suitable tripping boats.
Lots of good trippers out there, the Malecite is not one of them.
-Dan
pmhi...@mfx.net
> These two Old Town canoes range from 80 to 105 lbs!!!
My XL Tripper is, admittedly, a beast on land, especially since it has a heavy-duty
aluminum & oak motor mount. But in the water it is as nimble a craft as I've owned.
Behavior in the water is the be-all and end-all of a canoe. Lengthy trips require
gear and a certain degree of sturdiness as well. My XL is rated for 1700 pounds
which is plenty for 2 people & a three-week trip. And it handles all but the
heaviest water with nary a blink. The regular Tripper is rated for 1100 pounds. And
both are nearly indestructible. (The Old Town people use the third-storey toss as
their impact testing location.) Both models are standards with guides & trappers
here in northern Maine; I have never run into anyone owning either model who
regreted it.
I can even demonstrrate in the north Maine woods - and the Allagash Waterway, too,
if you like. I'll take nearly eany excuse for a trip into the woods.
Yours in the north Maine woods (Presque Isle, actually)
Pete Hilton
Kathryn Streletzky
Malecite. I had this crazy idea that I could use it on easy whitewater, but
that was a disaster. No freeboard in combination with a hull shape that didn't
want to turn was not a good combination. I'd imagine that the hull might not
respond well laden heavily as it had a bit of a skittish nature, which made it
fun to paddle, but might not lend itself well to tripping.
- Mothra
Ken Goodrich
only 6" of freeboard. For practical use, I typically multiple the rated
load by 1/2 - 2/3 to estimate what a boat can reasonable carry. Even this
is somewhat risky as the numbers provided for some boats are grossly in
error. A good check is comparing a boat's capacity against others of
similar length and width--they should be similar or something's fishy.
I have a fiberglass Malecite and would say its maxed out at 450lbs--as
others have said, its a fast day cruiser for two or an expedition boat for a
soloist. I also have an OT Tripper and can vouch for what a nice boat it
is--once in the water. It has decent speed, is very maneuverable, and dry
while carrying 600-700lbs.
Ken G.
"Rick Braley" <ronf...@videotron.ca> wrote in message
news:3BFEE7E4...@videotron.ca...
riverman
pmhi...@mfx.net wrote in message <3C012259...@mfx.net>...
>Rick Braley wrote:
>
>> These two Old Town canoes range from 80 to 105 lbs!!!
>
>My XL Tripper is, admittedly, a beast on land, especially since it has a
heavy-duty
>aluminum & oak motor mount. But in the water it is as nimble a craft as
I've owned.
Yuppur. OT Trippers are Great Craft.
But from Mad River, the 16' Explorer is the best all-around boat I've ever
met. Great for flatwater, whitewater, tripping (solo, tandem, short or
extended trips). If this shop selling the Malechite has any Explorers for
sale, you can't go wrong with one of those.
Hey Pete: How's life is Presk Izzle these days?
riverman
(Reg. Maine Guide and well acquainted with the folks up thaya, ayup.)
pmhi...@mfx.net
>
>
> But from Mad River, the 16' Explorer is the best all-around boat I've ever
> met.
Can it tote 1500'+ in Class III waters? 16' isn't very much boat no matter who
made it. (I know; I had a 16' Lincoln I could 'wear' like a glove, and it was
a fine little craft, but I don't regret for one second getting an XL Tripper.)
> Great for flatwater, whitewater, tripping (solo, tandem, short or
> extended trips). If this shop selling the Malechite has any Explorers for
> sale, you can't go wrong with one of those.
>
> Hey Pete: How's life is Presk Izzle these days?
As Fremount, the bug sez, "Jes' fine." Actually we're coming off the driest
summer in 100yrs w/ far too many bony rivers. The grouse hunting was great
despite no beechnuts & no ash berries to speak of. Deer were mebbe on/off
since last winter was fairly hard on them and we've lost a couple more
northern yarding zones to those lumber-happy & fiber-happy yuppies known as
economic growth.
>
>
> riverman
> (Reg. Maine Guide and well acquainted with the folks up thaya, ayup.)
Your nutcase in the north Maine woods,
Pete
Rick Braley
old just fine with space for all our gear and food for a couple of weeks. Unless it
had legs and feet and knew how to use them I could not imagine going to a heavier
boat. I do a lot of portaging, and I only bring what I can portage in a single trip -
I have never been able to understand how anyone could stand doing triple the distance
to make two trips along a portage. So if I can't carry the canoe and a 60lb pack, it
would not do. I am hoping for a 40-50 lb boat.
but thanks for the information,
Rick
Pam Stalnaker
> But from Mad River, the 16' Explorer is the best all-around boat I've ever
> met. Great for flatwater, whitewater, tripping (solo, tandem, short or
> extended trips). If this shop selling the Malechite has any Explorers for
> sale, you can't go wrong with one of those.
I tried out the Malecite and the Explorer both a couple of
months ago. I was looking for a lightweight tandem for
lakes and canoe camping. I just wasn't comfortable in the
Malecite; too little freeboard even almost empty. It was a
fun paddle, but not for tripping. I ended up buying an
Explorer. So far (2 short paddles on lakes while I was
fishing), I love it. It is an all-around canoe, as riverman
says. Note I also have a 17' Penobscot, a 13' Pack, and a
17' Greenland II Folbot. They may influence what I like.
Pam in Iowa (where it looks like canoeing is over for a
while)
Fred Klingener
It has got to be one of the most beautiful boats^H^H^H^H^H things ever made.
I think that the Malecite was one of the first MR designs, and I think that
the inspiration (if not the verbatim lines) were taken from Tappan Adney's
drawings of the Malecites' birch canoes.
The Malecites didn't travel heavy.
I have an Explorer and a Courier to bash and rivertrip and pole with, but I
want a Malecite badly.
Fred
Mike McCrea
> I used to own a Mad River Independence which is the one person version of the
> Malecite.
Kathy - Your Independence was on the water every day of our 4-day
weekend of eastern shore tidal creeks. One of the guys who flew in for
this trip had but one request; that I reserve the Independence for him
to paddle.
That boat is probably why Dave could (almost) keep up with Evangelidi
;-)
Kathryn Streletzky
>Kathy - Your Independence was on the water every day of our 4-day
>weekend of eastern shore tidal creeks. One of the guys who flew in for
>this trip had but one request; that I reserve the Independence for him
>to paddle.
- Mothra
riverman
pmhi...@mfx.net wrote in message <3C01887D...@mfx.net>...
>riverman wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> But from Mad River, the 16' Explorer is the best all-around boat I've
ever
>> met.
>
>Can it tote 1500'+ in Class III waters?
Sure, but you gotta be mighty delicate about it. Course, an XL Tripper does
that better, but personally, I <hate> carrying 1500+ lbs of gear, and try to
keep my load down to about 1000 (me included). However, my BlueHole 17A can
carry well over 1500lbs in Class 3, even the accidental class 4. Nontheless,
the BH and the XL are real riverpigs when you gotta turn them *now*.
>16' isn't very much boat no matter who
>made it. (I know; I had a 16' Lincoln I could 'wear' like a glove, and it
was
>a fine little craft, but I don't regret for one second getting an XL
Tripper.)
Nor shood ja.
riverman
bolford
How ya doing? It's been months since I've been on RBP. May be a few more
after tonight.
I've still got my MR Independence and I must differ with you on the
Independence's turning ability. For a flatwater solo canoe I found it to
turn better than many of the other solos I tried at Rutabaga in Madison,
Wisconsin (their shop is right on the water). Granted, I didn't try any
of Bell canoes which they did not carry at the time. I have used the
Independence catching familiar class I-II eddies on the MetroHooch in
Atlanta and found it to perform swi... (er), quite well.
Both the Independence and the Malecite have shallow "V" hulls which give
it rather nice secondary stability without compromising too much primary
stability.
Contrary to Dan V's opinion, I think the Malecite would carry more than
enough gear for an extended trip; although the freeboard may be an issue
for some folks, if one could keep the gear below the gunwales, the boat
wouldn't catch as much wind as deeper hull designs would. I have used my
Independence on multi day trips and still had room to spare.
Enough of my rambling, I'm going to see if my old co-worker, the ex-haz
waste investigator turned photographer is lurking about this news group.
In article <20011125135627...@mb-mc.aol.com>,
kstre...@aol.com (Kathryn Streletzky) wrote:
--
Openboatjb
>enough gear for an extended trip; although the freeboard may be an issue
>for some folks,
I found that the MR Independence does not paddle well at all with a 60lb safe
in the bow, but that's another story. jb
Jeff Potter
with more freeboard would allow more heeling I would think.
But it is ELEGANT. I like mine just fine for what it's good for. Light family
action on mild water. Some stowage.
It does seem to get tippy when loaded. I have a 3-seater version and we take
friends along in the middle. Definitely only on little quiet rivers for this!
I find that with two 180-lb+ people it will oilcan badly. So then I put a cooler
under the center seat/thwart.
It really likes solo action with light loads on mild water. It turns fine on twisty
easy water...I can lean it really far, no problem.
It was fun doing swamp tests with it on a wavy lake last summer---it was hard to
swamp going solo. Doesn't lose any stability even when taking in water---you can
just lean it back up and start bailing whenever you like. It was easy to climb back
in from the water.
I don't know if I was just chicken but I felt a little dicey in it in big windy
swells out on Lk Superior with offshore wind. Maybe one sits a little tall in it
and at cruising trim it can be a little tender. It almost seems like a boat you
could fall out of...not that it would swamp. But maybe that's why big freeboard
boats of diff hull are best for big lakes...or sea kayaks. But the freeboard would
get you blown around. Paddling canoes on windy lakes make you really appreciate sea
kayaks!
--
Jeff Potter j...@outyourbackdoor.com
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