Royalex is dead?

[Sneau_X]

From my experience the Twintex 12' or less solo canoe are pretty awesome and tough. I don't know what the 16' and 17' Twintex are now, I've never paddle them since they've change the lay-up / spec of them a few years ago. It would be interesting to get some feedback from paddler that did experience them, hopefully someone biased, not a staff, designer or groupie of Esquif, to get a fair review. My opinion the Twintex solo from Esquif are the second best thing after Royalex.

If I'd be a billionaire I wouldn't purchase the ABS factory, I'd purchase all the Royalex canoe I could find and sale them in 2years and double up my money.

[busterblue]

I thought the problem with Twintex was that it's difficult to repair.

(Einar, kudos on firing up Staircase! Wish I had been there this year.)

[Einar]

You would'a loved it!

Staircase

[Peter K.]

Twin-Tex is a good material for a boat that is going to be used for trips where an equipment casualty will only be an inconvenience. Smallish cracks can be acceptably field repaired with duct tape and eventually fixed with a factory repair (but say good-bye to the boat for a couple of months). However, I don't think it is suitable for expedition boats where you could have a long, long walk out. I just got back from a trip on the Ashuapmushuan where the Twin-Tex tandem boat in our party was wrapped on the first day. It had a foot long tear on one side of the hull and an 18" tear on the other. These were sealed up with duct tape over Rec-Repair (which did not adhere). We got down the river, but I think one more good wack would have broken the boat in half. Until there is a field repair for this material I would not trust it for a trip where a broken boat would result in serious consequences.

[Bob P]

I certainly hope that someone picks up the Royalex production quickly. You can't just switch over a Royalex mold to a new material without major line changes. Maybe current Royalex users can put together a consortium to buy out Polyone. In the end though, there will probably be a price increase.

Or Kaz could start making composite replacements for everyone.

[Craig Smerda]

From Esquif:

"Some of you may have seen the article written by Kaydi Pyette of Rapid Media recently concerning ‪Royalex‬, Esquif has secured enough Royalex for our 2014 production including an anticipated increased demand. Esquif is working on and is very confident about a long term solution."

[ezwater]

Of course, if all canoes were 9 feet long or shorter, they might as well be rotationally molded poly, as it would be stiff enough and light enough.

[Sneau_X]

Has Craig mentioned this will not affect any canoe manufacture for the next 2-3 years. Wenonah, Swift, Scott, Nova Craft, Mad River and Old Town can all stock on some Royalex. This will be a very expensive investment for them as they need to pay net 30 for some sheet they will have to carry for 2 years. The unfortunate thing is there is a shelves life for the RX sheet and its almost impossible to vacuum form them when they get to old. Because some of the RX sheet could be use for several models as well as its easier to store 20 sheets on a skid versus 20 shape hull, this will also make it a challenge for the manufactures to administrate all this.

[TheKrikkitWars]

If the demand is sufficient, and we as consumers are willing to pay enough to make it profitable for both the canoe and polymer companies to make a profit, then another supplier will arise.

If not, then I guess it's only fair that the product becomes obsolete... perhaps it will inspire some innovation in the field of canoe materials, twintex and tepex are both composites that can be moulded in the same manner as royalex and have broadly simmilar characteristics (if not better), and if field/home repair is an important quality (as decided by the market) then I'm sure the techniques or material could be adapted.

[cheajack]

If the demand is sufficient, and we as consumers are willing to pay enough to make it profitable for both the canoe and polymer companies to make a profit, then another supplier will arise.

If not, then I guess it's only fair that the product becomes obsolete... perhaps it will inspire some innovation in the field of canoe materials, twintex and tepex are both composites that can be moulded in the same manner as royalex and have broadly simmilar characteristics (if not better), and if field/home repair is an important quality (as decided by the market) then I'm sure the techniques or material could be adapted.

_________________

Spoken like John Maynard Keynes

[mahyongg]

- Laminates still have potential, the Clipper vipers have proven that, although I won't bet on them hitting a sharp rock sideways full of water (or rotating on one, which nearly penetrates my R84 spark, but just leaves a deep pointy dent..).
- as to my knowledge, no single canoe has ever been built using the latest & greatest laminate materials in terms of durability & weight combined, so there's still some potential there, too, even if that means they could be quite expensive..
- Twintex breaks on sharp, pointy impacts because its glassfibre inside a polypropylene, meaning if the fibre is extended over its possible impact strenght, it will be apart forever, repairs are only possible with equipment that can vacuum-form another sheet on top of it, making it heavier with every repair. reinforcements work, but it will always be a tradeoff between reinforcing it more and weight ;D
- what we'd need would be a material that has some "give" although being stiff overall. I can't really see anything but a composite similar to the royalex construction (several layers of different stuff, that is) having those properties. We'll see if anyone can make that work. Why not? Someone invented RX as well and ABS isn't even the "best" plastic out there..

Cheers,

Jan

[Trex]

Let's make the outer layer Teflon if we're coming up with a new Royalex type material..

[DougB]

Isn't the biggest issue with a glass boat the abrasion? How about a glass boat with a thin PE skin/skid plate on the hull that can be repaired/replaced?

I've taken my last twin tex wound. Every time I loaded the Zephyr I'd end up with twintex fibers in my forearms.

[Dave.E]

Return of the grumman!

[mahyongg]

Thin skin of something sounds great, but IMHO abrasion is not really the worst problem laminates have that's why I never really thought much about it. OK of course impact aside, then that's the next thing you gotta worry about, so it's definitely an issue that has to be accounted for. There are abrasion resistant materials that can be mixed into a coating, like aluminum powder (hard) or graphite (slides). If it would be something that could be reapplied easily, that would be it.. basically like a gelcoat, just not as hard and flakey-offey ;D