I was looking at kayaks at Academy Sports, actually for exercise after congestive heart failure when I saw this canoe. What swayed me was at times having someone with me and the price. Academy's price on the Pelican 15.5 was at least $200 less than anywhere at $279. I was totally new to canoes and was wanting it to fish the banks at the landings.
I have been very pleased with it and had a lot of fun adding on to it and fishing from it. I made a transom and added a minnkota c2 trolling motor, a hummingbird depth finder and other small add ons. As for the Pelican 15.5 canoe itself, it's Ram-X like Coleman and, other than the seats, I see no problems. The seats however on the sides have a tab that folds up and bolts to the canoe. between the seat and tab is just a thin strip of plastic. what makes this bad is they don't secure the pedestal to the floor and it can move just enough to cause a tear in the thin plastic. in 3 mo. my seat was torn completely lose and I'm avg. build at 6', 185. I've ordered a new seat under warranty and added small 1 1/2 in. L's from the pedestal to the floor. there is a tube in the bottom so i didn't put a hole in the bottom.
Other than that, for the money I love the boat.
I've had a Pelican 15.5 for a couple of years now and it is great. I keep it down by the lake and use it a couple of times a week in season. I have brought it for three day excursion on the DE River, paddling in ME and the ADKS.
It's stable, I can paddle freely, fish and even bring my wife and 2 year son on it. I put Gander Mt seats with backs over the molded seats, it carries a good amount of gear and is maneuverable. I recommend it for anyone with a family or anyone who is using it for lakes and calmer rivers.