• Happy Weed Appreciation Day! 🌱🌿🌻

Pre-1996 MRC catalogs?

G

Guest

Guest
I had yet another conversation with a friend about mid-80’s Mad River designs. The Typhoon (1986 – 1994), the Cyclone (1990 - 1994), the Tempest (1986 – 1990). There are many more elder-models still kicking around from back in the sublime Vermont MRC days.

Mad River once supplied links to archived catalog pages, back into the 80’s. No longer; perhaps for corporate copyright reasons they now support catalog PDF’s only back to 2006. I have MRC catalogs back to 1996, but every model before then has become a faintly misremembered mystery.

I do not know the legality of it (maybe acceptable if privately shared?) but if someone has a collection of pre-96 MRC catalogs those scans would be a worthy resource, especially for used boat buyers in the MRC heavy north-east.

I expect Jim or Kay Henry or someone from the Vermont factory days kept copies of those old catalogs. Having the catalog specifications would be a researchable boon to vintage canoe buyers. And the 80’s catalog prose itself would be a treat.

A lot of the early Sawyer catalog pages are available as scans, and Mohawk supports at least a rudimentary boat spec archive, if not catalog woo-hoo descriptions.

https://www.mohawkcanoes.com/pages/flat-water-canoe-specs

https://www.mohawkcanoes.com/pages/whitewater-canoe-specs

I’d love to see researchable catalog scan links made available from Wenonah as well. Same company for 50+ years, how’s about links to all of those confusing J-boat numbers and 80’s oddities?
 
A member of another board has a bunch of old catalog pages that may be helpful. I’m not too active on this board but this person may be a member here as well. Public anyway, with a collection of old MRC pages: https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseactio...rname=HansSolo

Hope it helps. I found it useful when digging up specs for a newly acquired 86 MRC slipper in Kevlar and wood with custom cover (photo attached). Fit and finish are exceptional on this boat, which has a small foam core.
 

Attachments

  • photo11846.jpg
    photo11846.jpg
    798.7 KB · Views: 0
Last edited:
It’s a hard tracker and not particularly fast but rather light and uber stable. The cover helps a lot with wind, as you’d expect. For fun I prefer more lively boats. But with small kids at home to worry about, this one fits the safety bill for solo tripping.

Back to the OP I’d love to have Digital copies of old MRC catalogs. I’ve seen some nice hard copies on eBay lately.
 
I had a Kevlar MRC Pearl briefly last year. I’ll try to dig up some photos. Won at an online auction with local pickup. The advert was vague and he boat was dirty. Proved to be in excellent original condition but not the boat for me so I sold it quickly.
 
Pearl was a short constant flared hull with little rocker. Came with a fiberglass saddle instead of traditional seat. Aesthetically beautiful but only a marginal FreeStyle hull. VERY limited market so imagine very few were built. Small person’s boat. Sorry but can’t recall exact specs.... thinking it was in the 13 foot range.
 
Not mine but here is a MRC pearl in fiberglass layup that looks to be nearly new condition. Posting since it was a topic in this thread recently.
 
Not mine but here is a MRC pearl in fiberglass layup that looks to be nearly new condition. Posting since it was a topic in this thread recently.

$1650 for an oddball 1986 solo?

I wonder what the Pearl sold for new? I may need to rethink my used canoe pricing structure.

Thanks to a friend with a color printer and computer skills I now have hardcopies of the catalog pages for the Pearl, Traveler, Whistler, Minstrel and Tempest, all missing from and added to my earliest MRC catalogs. Good stuff and a fun read.

I should probably try to print this old Sawyer catalog info out before the scan links disappear.

https://bwca.com/index.cfm?fuseacti...yer Canoe Company-canoe specs & catalog pages

dang I wish Wenonah would put up links to their old catalogs through the years.
 
Back
Top