Good morning and Merry Christmas!

My best friend, who spends the summer next door to me on the Yellowstone River in MT has this boat, which he uses mostly for lake fishing, but has also fished with it in the Yellowstone River, and on other rivers. I haven't used his boat myself, but since I fish with him a lot, I have some knowledge of it based on his comments and what I've seen.

Overall, I believe this is a reasonably solid, well thought out, boat. My friend, who's about 6' 2" and 175#, says he now would prefer to have a somewhat smaller boat for lake fishing (one that's a bit easier to transport, and catches less wind out on the lake), but it's okay for moderate river fishing.

I helped him assemble it when he bought it several years ago, but the instructions that came with the boat weren't especially good, and it was a pain in the "you-know-what" to get it together for the first time. A couple of the frame parts didn't quite fit together, and Scadden said "just bend them to fit". UGH! Also, the anchor for it was missing in the initial shipment, and took a few go-arounds over the telephone until it finally arrived.

I do not have first hand knowledge of Scadden's written warranty policy, and his track record for servicing his boats, but would want a good understanding of this before I would buy one of his boats.

Although Scadden lists this boat as suitable for Class IV whitewater, for a big guy like you on "heavy" water, I would personally want a boat that is somewhat larger, and with bigger oars and heavier oarlocks, but that's just my opinion. Then again, a good, larger boat would cost more.

This boat might handle big water for you okay, but I would feel better myself on a larger watercraft in significant whitewater situations. I wouldn't want to take this 10' 6" boat with 16" dia. tubes, loaded with 600#, down class IV whitewater, as Scadden shows it is capable of handling. (I've taken my 11' 3", 19" dia. tube pontoon, that is much sturdier than Scadden's boats, down Class III-IV whitewater, but wouldn't feel comfortable with a smaller boat, with smaller oars, frame, etc.)

John