Mad River Independence Question

[Camp43]

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a used MR Independence. Can anyone with experience tell me the practical weight limit for this boat? I know the advertised specs say 700lbs I generally divide the advertised capacity by 2/3. That would make my estimate about 465lbs. Is even that overly optimistic? I weigh in about 300 and am looking for a solo boat for day trips, overnights and maybe 3-4 nights in the Adirondacks. I doubt I'll be able to test paddle the boat before I make a decision and would prefer not to bother having to resell the boat if it's not going to work for me.

Thanks

 

[bcelect]

Which one the one in Asbury or Newton? I was looking at both. Both same price, Asbury seems nicer. Never paddled one but they supposedly handle better with a load. The shallow V tends to lean to one side or the other. Otherwise they are supposedly very nice boats. Whichever one you get, I want to try it.
http://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=forum.thread&threadId=1101642&forumID=15&confID=1

 

[Camp43]

I'm going to check out the one in Newton tomorrow morning. What makes you say the one in Asbury nicer?

 

[bcelect]

It is tough to tell the true condition from a few pictures. The one in newton has the wood gunwales and it does look that there there may be a bit of rot at the stern, just give a good look.
The one in asbury has brand new aluminum gunwales, and wood seats. I guess I am partial to aluminium since I store outside and that means less maintenance. The hull looks a bit dull as he mentions but that will probably buff out. At first glance I thought the cover was a tripping cover, but it appears to be a storage/transporting cover.
Either boat is nice and I wouldn't pass either one up if I needed a great solo tripping boat. For now the prism will suit me fine, if I added to my collection without getting rid of two, the wife would kill me.

 

[Camp43]

Here's what the owner had to say about the gunnels.

"I'm the 2nd owner about 8 years, don't know exact age. I'll look for paperwork??
gunnels are excellent with ends receded a fraction at stems probably from moisture weeping out. I always used Watco oil stain on them.
Something could happen to you or boat, I'd rather not do the test paddle
the boat is built for speed & goes straight"

I have wanted to try a Prism for a while. I saw one in CT and one out by Harrisburg for sale on Craigslist.

 

[bcelect]

You can try my prism anytime

 

[bcelect]

The prism performs great loaded.

 

[gumpus]

Hey camp43, I think your estimate of 465 pounds being OK in an Indy is optimistic. I've had a bunch of solos and my current biggest capacity solo is a Swift Shearwater...a nice roomy/comfy boat a bit over 16 feet...bigger than an Indy. It's efficient range that you can see on the Swift site is 180-320 pounds...so 320 max. I've had a kid and a dog in mine and pushed that limit a bit (maybe 330/340) and the boat felt burdened and was on the edge of having sluggish handling. In other solo canoes my experience is that they can take about 280 comfortably. An Indy is a pretty big solo so my guess is that it would fit you for day paddles but that it would be fully loaded. I think it would have to be overloaded if you add a bunch of gear for multi day trips.

just my two cents