Ze Zephyr

[ncdavid]

That's an accurate review. Great boat. Call the folks at NOC and try to buy one. They don't carry the boat. They told me that they would no longer sell the boat due to repair/service issues.

If someone really wants one, make me an offer.

[cheajack]

I have seen several Zephyrs crack on both sides of the stern in the chine from very light hits. They all seem to crack in exactly the same place. I think when the original batches were molded energy was stored in the stern bends like a spring. the addition of just a little more energy in the form of a rock hit caused the things to "explode" if you will accept that term. When I took mine to Eli's Dad to repair he had a yard full of them most all of them cracked on both sides in the same place. When he repaired mine he added a lot of cloth around the cracks to strengthen the stern. It is my understanding (some Esquif insiders chime in please) that subsequent to the series of serial numbers ending in 06 that additional material has been added to the stern.

[philcanoe]

Just saying ...

... it was introduced in (late) 2005 and subsequently Esquif has not prodcued another twintex design.

[Kris]

Hi, I can make the twin tex very good, I have make already 3 Zephyr's

https://picasaweb.google.com/canoeadven ... ember52011

Regards Kris

[cheajack]

The Esquif website says that the Mistral 17.5 ( a flat water/touring boat?) is made from the "improved Twin-Tex laminate".

[Kris]

In the Nederlands is a factory he make twin tex with cork in between for absorbing the impacts

[Longboatin]

I really, really like the zephyr. If you run a bulkheal setup it would be ok I guess, but with pdestal an straps the hull oilcans horribly. The one I tried out, I could make it oilcan by lifting my legs in the straps.
Ill take a royalex version or glass.

[TheKrikkitWars]

What is the difference between the Twin Tex used in the Zephyr and the T form used in the Taureau? I always thought they were made out of the same thing.

IIRC T-form is a proprietary form of poly[propene] (i.e. Polypropylene) which shares more in common with rotomoulded HDPE (as used in the Prelude, Spanishfly and L'Edge) than with any composite material.

If anyone owns a Sweet helmet, the tepex shell material is similar to twintex, but uses a more flexible matrix for increased toughness.

[pfunked07]

i really appreciate all of the posts. thank you all for shedding light on the zephyr and its twin-tex material. I do not doubt that it is a good boat.

I think though that because this is a beginner boat that I need to look elsewhere due to the material. Maybe a second boat.

[sbroam]

I like mine, but I do tend to baby it - someone here suggested a long time ago to treat it like a glass boat. It's a little less fragile than that, but still. I don't see any cracks in mine and its weathered low water abrasion fairly well, except for getting the fibgerglass fuzzies/itchies. I've got a pedestal in mine and it does flex a bit - i used "goop" to reglue the anchors and so far, so good. I'm planning on giving it wood gunwales when I get another piece of ash and some time (this makes three boats in the queue for new bones...)

As a design, it's a good boat for intermediates and probably aggressive beginners - it has some edge, but not bad. It's not a high performance boat like a full on slalom craft, but then again a boat that won't spank you can be nice on challenging runs. The weight is one of it's big draws for me. I took mine to slalom nats and was surprised that it was the only one. I don't think it held me back and it's probably the boat I'll take when the Nats are on the Nat.