FairWeather
Well-known member
Hey all,
I’m looking for personal experiences from folks who have used/owned any of the Dave Scadden boats. Particularly interested in their durability.
Back story: I purchased a Dave Scadden XTC Pro Guide on Black Friday, mostly because of the price. I had been looking at the Flycraft Stealth, and this seemed like nearly the same boat, but quite a bit less expensive. With the sale price, I paid $1800 for it w/ free shipping.
At the time of purchase I hadn’t found much in the way of reviews online, but I also hadn’t dug too deep. It arrived mid December, I set it up, all the pieces were there, frame went together fine. Only thing I did notice is the material is thinner than I would expect for something that’s “class v whitewater rated”.
Fast forward to this week, I’m starting to plan out some summer river & lake camping/fishing trips, and figured I’d look into what folks’ have used these boats for, and the reviews I’ve found have been very mixed/mostly negative. HOWEVER, most of the negativity is about the company’s customer service, or issues with the frames showing up missing pieces, bent, holes misaligning etc. The positive reviews seem to be people who are/were perfectly happy with their boats and love them. Thing is, most of these reviews are on whitewater rafting forums, and from 10+ years ago, so not all that relevant.
I seem to have gotten lucky in dodging those issues, but I haven’t seen very much at all about experiences of the boats themselves popping or failing in other ways. That said, I’m wondering if anyone here has had experience with these boats, and what your experiences have been?
I haven’t taken the boat out on the water at all yet, and i’m teetering between selling it while it’s still “like new”, or just holding what I’ve got, given there’s not really any other equivalent options at this price point.
I’m looking for personal experiences from folks who have used/owned any of the Dave Scadden boats. Particularly interested in their durability.
Back story: I purchased a Dave Scadden XTC Pro Guide on Black Friday, mostly because of the price. I had been looking at the Flycraft Stealth, and this seemed like nearly the same boat, but quite a bit less expensive. With the sale price, I paid $1800 for it w/ free shipping.
At the time of purchase I hadn’t found much in the way of reviews online, but I also hadn’t dug too deep. It arrived mid December, I set it up, all the pieces were there, frame went together fine. Only thing I did notice is the material is thinner than I would expect for something that’s “class v whitewater rated”.
Fast forward to this week, I’m starting to plan out some summer river & lake camping/fishing trips, and figured I’d look into what folks’ have used these boats for, and the reviews I’ve found have been very mixed/mostly negative. HOWEVER, most of the negativity is about the company’s customer service, or issues with the frames showing up missing pieces, bent, holes misaligning etc. The positive reviews seem to be people who are/were perfectly happy with their boats and love them. Thing is, most of these reviews are on whitewater rafting forums, and from 10+ years ago, so not all that relevant.
I seem to have gotten lucky in dodging those issues, but I haven’t seen very much at all about experiences of the boats themselves popping or failing in other ways. That said, I’m wondering if anyone here has had experience with these boats, and what your experiences have been?
I haven’t taken the boat out on the water at all yet, and i’m teetering between selling it while it’s still “like new”, or just holding what I’ve got, given there’s not really any other equivalent options at this price point.
