C-Forum

So, just bought a mint 2012 used Esquif L'Edge. Looks awesome, can't wait...coming from an Outrage x, going to be a bit of adjustment. My local canoe school guy and his instructor are shitting all over the L' Edge, telling me it will all but for sure crack. Just wondering how prevalent the cracking problem really is... Cheers.

It's not guarenteed but cracks are pretty common in the heavy (red and green) l'edges.

Your local canoe school guy has never shat all over the L'edge. You asked for advice/feedback on boats, many different boats and feedback given based on his own experience. He owns 3 L'edges and loves the boat. All 3 of them have cracked. All 3 of been been welded very successful. He also knows of several others that have. The L'edge is a great boat for what it is designed for. Original models did have some issues with cracking. But the issue of cracked boats is more a nature of how the boat is paddled. If one boof rocks and rocks slides, creeks etc there is a good chance of it cracking. If you paddle grade 2-3 water and go around all the rocks then probably will never crack it.

I believe the advice was if you get one of the older l'edges be prepared for it to crack and be ready to weld it.
He did say he had not heard of L'edge Lite cracking but he had no experience with it.

Would your Local Canoe School guy buy another L'edge- sure would either model.

If you ask for advice on boats but dont like the message then dont ask.

A quick search of this forum will reveal numerous posts and topics on cracking L'edges. The short answer is yes, the older models appear to be more prone to cracking than other plastic hulls.

I owned a red 2011. It cracked. It welded up fine and life went on. There were 3 other boats in my area at the time, all of them developed cracks.

I have the lite now. Still liking it and crack free.

Uhh, ok. I'm not interested in responding to personal bullying remarks. If anyone has any experiences both pros and cons how there L'Edges are holding up, I'd love to hear from you.

Lol, I didn't realize who the local canoe instructor was. What Trevor said is exactly right. The new ones are better. Just google it.

Thanks...yes, speaking in third person is confusing... Really just trying to gauge the % of L'Edge users that boats have cracked for my own curiosity, not a comparison with the Lite...since I bought the original...

If you already own one, then who cares. Paddle the crap out of it ,and fix it if it breaks. Or buy a Blackfly. Either way, Rock on!-M-

I have never had a boat made of any material royalex,plastic, aluminum, wood canvas, fiberglass, kevlar NOT make it off of the of a river trip, either day or extended trip. Nor have a seen any plastic boats being left on a river bank anywhere. they all make it to the take out. Duct tape does wonders as well as Blue skin or other similar products. Many of the cracks in many different boats I have seen are not even patched on the river.

@MagicMike. That's good advice...was thinking of trying to find a L'Edge Lite, but it's always a challenge to get boats up here. I'm goddamn drooling at the prospect of getting out in this thing. Thanks for the insight. Surfs up!!

Yeah Dude, nothing lasts for ever. We're all in this to have fun, right.? 2000 years ago we'd be riding logs down, and once they rotted we'd be hollowing out a new one. -M-

magicmike wrote:Yeah Dude, nothing lasts for ever. We're all in this to have fun, right.? 2000 years ago we'd be riding logs down, and once they rotted we'd be hollowing out a new one. -M-

The Romans has some pretty good boats that were far advanced over logs.

Anyway, I have been reading the responses. The boat in question is a Polyethylene material. Does anyone know what specific type? Some older Dagger Cascades, the ones that cracked around the rim, were cross linked, if I remember.

The person who made the point about material longevity and paddling style is spot on. The way I learned to paddle was to avoid the rocks. Not that it matters, but the new school is to actually aim at them, right?

My first boat was a 14' Blue Hole Sunburst, pretty much worn out when I got it. I put in a Percepton saddle and paddled the Little River in the Smokys quit a bit. I remember the day that saddle finally punched through the hull. My engineer friend Matt McCloud patched that thing with some type of webbing and black goo that sufficed until I got the famous burgundy sunburst 2.

You should see my old, very old Viper 12, slathered up with whatever was lying around the shop floor and loaned out to all comers; just paddle it and bring home the airbags if you wreck it.
I got tired of others having too much fun so now i use it for rock s and roll s. Nothing lasts forever but it's amazing how many miles you can get out of it if you don't care, just have fun. Kinda like a first car.
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Esquif PE is not crosslinked--which makes it easier to weld should it crack. My wife and I cracked our Esquif Preludes (which I'm pretty sure use the same PE as the L'edges) last fall after 3 and 5 years of use respectively. Hers cracked under the seat and mine cracked under one of the knees. They have been welded and we've been paddling them all winter.

A newly purchased Prelude with a 2008 date of manufacturer cracked third time out. Esquif was great about the warranty and sent us out a new hull to replace it.

Yukon wrote:If you ask for advice on boats but dont like the message then dont ask.

Seems to me that your honesty might be inferred differently by those of us with loads of WW experience in PE boats who accept occasionally having to get one welded as part of the game, than by relative beginners who thinks a bit of damage is going to be the end of the world, or even some relatively experienced boaters who are hung up on the cost of their gear, or are obsessive about keeping them looking perfect.
Any time you are running WW you have opportunities to split, hole, wrap or lose your boat - you could wrap your boat on your first trip out and break it in 2, but if you think like that you'll never get any paddling done.

Even amongst my experienced sea kayaking friends there were some who thought I was insane when the first thing I did after getting my new £3.5k Carbon/Kevlar sea kayak home was a drill a 20mm hole in the side to fit an electric pump. After 15 years of patching and repairing an increasingly heavy fibreglass sea kayak that I paid £200 for, I don;t even flinch at that kind of thing - if it has to be done, it has to be done.

I don't really like kayak creek boats, but I'm getting too old, fat and fragile to keep running creeks in kayak playboats so I had to get one for those days when it's too hard for my skill level in the Ocoee. Was I going to spend much money on a boat I was going to hate? hades no! I bought my mate's old burn which already had 5 welds in the bottom - 4 I've had re-welded already, the other one is leaking now so as soon as I can be bothered stripping the seat out again I'll have to get that done. It's just part of the game

Anyway, I hope the OP is feeling more upbeat about his choice of boat now - it might split, but it's not the end of the world.