Wheelboy durability

[darreng]

The rivers out here in Wyoming have a lot of limestone and sharp granite. Boats tend to get thrashed pretty soundly with just regular use.

To make a short question long, how is the quality of the plastic in the boat? I'm tempted to throw-down full retail price for a wheelboy, but I'd like to make sure that it'll last me a few seasons.

[Sir Adam]

So far I'm not sure. The rim is flexy (to save weight I believe), but the hull (what really matters) and chines have a bit more plastic (it's thicker). The plastic feels very "slippery" to me compared to a lot of the other plastics folks use. It also feels "hard" but not "brittle". Only time will tell really, but my best-guess is it's good stuff (less likely to scratch deep or flake off). Only time will tell though. And it IS still plastic

[Larry Horne]

my wb is holding up like super good
seriously, it seems like some bitchin plastic.
no really.
dude, your gonna have to take a chance. you don't want to wait a couple of years to see how durable the plastic is, do you?
sorry, i'm playing
though they have only been around for what, two weeks, i'm sure the quality of plastic is tops. what we DO know now is it's a great design!!
the wb rocks and i can pretty much guarantee you won't getting one second hand... unless.....maybe a kayaker buys one and can't figure out how to work it? still, slim chance.
go for it!

[MARKO @ DRAKKAR]

Drakkar has a policy of keeping no secrets from our customers.

WB hull is made out of PE that is designed for kayaks by US Dow. It has really high impact resistance (down side is flex). Weldable and recycleable.

Material thickness is slightly short of 3 mm around rim and it is flexy but there is some good almost 7 mm at bottom and sides. 15 mm at ends should provide some good wear resistance. All edges have more than 7 mm... it is nature of rotomolding.

To compare these figures here is plastic sthickness on LL Space cadet rim - 3 mm, sides 3.8-4 mm, bottom 4.2 mm. ends 8-10 mm.

I hope this help...

Marko

[darreng]

Thanks for the specs, Marko.

After reading all the preliminary reviews, the boat sounds great. I'm working on some creative accounting to so I can free up some funds to buy one this winter or early spring.

[Marko]

The statement above says LL space Cadet thickness measures. LL has great plastic and great thicknesses... I dont want to say a bad word about SC.

The temperatures have dropped 20 degress to - 17 cels. in 5 days. I will go out and do some real Wheelboy beating in cold conditions. I have prepared myself with an 2.4 kg axe with a 70 cm saft, Big hammer and a 1.5 m steelpole. Ishould get one boat beatien in pieces...

It is nice to be a kayak designer ... report will follow.

[bearboater]

if you want to do a one hit test, and test resilience for common impacts, maybe the hull could find a home. should you treat it nicely after hurting it... incase it comes out unscathed. only a possibility.
just an offer
-isaac

[Marko @ drakkar]

HI¨

We done all serious testing well before hull was released in the market. Some less serious testing was done too throwing hulls filled with water from 6 meters to concrete etc.

If it does not broke in normal condotions will last in cold. I was really interested to see how this plastic performs in really cold conditons. I have seen many kayaks brake in cold. Pyranhas especially. Taking your kayak to dowing some snow kayakking and running some nice little jumps on snow is the ultimate test of cold impact strenght.

The kayak did get light damage but nothing serious. I had to guit test prematuraly because the axe broke (old woodsaft) and I got cold ...

[Marko @ drakkar]

HI

I forgot to add 1 fact on durabilty. We use normal high heat tecnology and aluminium molds. That results significantly better plastic quality than the low heat tecnology and glass molds.

The mould price difference is huge. Alu molds are like over 20 times more expensive.