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and my old Blue Hole is still my favorite boat. It may last another 13 years and it is the "new" thinner Royalex. If I am the average customer, canoe companies may all go out of business because I try every ones boats, buy the one I really like, hopefully used, and keep it forever.

I suggest we have a Royal Ex Craig sticky so he has a place to post without being annoyed by recurring topics.

some usefull info in here :
http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/forum/ ... post183308

in short more or less:
UK importer of mad river telling us that:
1 in an ideal world royalex boats should not be paddlled hard before they are 1 or 2 years out of the mold.
2 mad river has been sloppy with quality control in the past , but has stepped up to make sure that they build good baots.

Speaking from experience I bought a new mad river Outrage x last year stared using it everything scratched it. Removing it from the celler against the door jam or wall (field stone) would scratch it. I had an operation last year and did not use it again to this year. Big difference still scratchs but not removing it from cellar or dragging it around. Their is also a different feel to it it feel stiffer. I can tell because I just pick up a new caption to set up tandem just putting it in the cellar it got all scratched up by just brushing the wall. I also know both these boat were made to order. That is why I am in no rush to outfit the caption

It would appear there is some truth to needing to let a new boat age before starting the beating up process.

Case-in-point, a recently purchased Bell Ocoee.

To be fair, this information is second-hand but I consider it to be reliable hearsay.

While messing with outfitting a fairly hot-off-the-mold hull a friend knelt in the boat to check out the saddle he was building and his knees left dents in the hull which stayed. He called Bell and was told that yes, you need to let it age for a few months.

Truth or fiction, dunno, just sayin'.

Ken Dubel

Ghost of Orson Welles---- "We sell no boat before its time !"

definately the old royalex boats were the best i had a ocoee i bought when they came out and it lasted up to about 4 years ago. the new boats on the market today under heavy paddling the bottoms will be in very bad shape in say no more the 5 years, with the cost of the canoes at what they are today it will run you 1800 US dollars by the time you buy the boat and outfit it or buy it outfitted. I bought a Bell Ocoee and i am a big fan of the Ocoee but the Bell Version the deck plates are smaller I've done broke one of them boats aint what they use to be for sure

I like the Esquifs layup from the ones I've seen. Seems the delaminated vinyl on my Encore is thicker than the whole sheet on some of the mfgs. boats these days. Maybe beating a dead horse, but I appreciate the info about different sheet thicknesses. I was WONDERING why some canoes just felt cheap lately, while the Esquifs feel solid.

mattm, the vinyl layer contributes almost nothing to hull strength. It is there as an ablation layer, to wear away with use; and to protect the ABS structural layer from UV. Thicker vinyl means more to wear away, but it also means more weight.

It's like using thicker earplugs so you don't hear Smerda barking that Royalex discussions should be consigned to a sticky.

I just took delivery of some new Royalex canoes in August, on the hottest day of the summer, all nicely wrapped in bubble wrap. Being incredibly busy it took a few days to get them all unloaded and unwrapped. by which time one had developed some interesting oil canning and deformity, you can see where the ropes were holding it to the trailer. I am now experimenting with the heat gun to see if i can get the worst of it out.

royalex is ok for canoes over 10 ft also... nothing beats the feel of plastic ramming into a rock on a class 4-5 creek at high speed....

ezwater wrote:mattm, the vinyl layer contributes almost nothing to hull strength. It is there as an ablation layer, to wear away with use; and to protect the ABS structural layer from UV. Thicker vinyl means more to wear away, but it also means more weight.

It's like using thicker earplugs so you don't hear Smerda barking that Royalex discussions should be consigned to a sticky.

Yeah, I know. Repaired my Daggers, Whitesell, and Swift enough times to know what's what. Just implying some of the new canoes sheets are "sheeeit" compared to the old barges; especially when you look at a price tag pushing 2k.
My Swift Dumoine, primary poling boat is in Royalite, which is surprisingly tough. Seems "slicker", more resistant to scratching. Not sure how the new royalite (R-87???) is holding up.

Hi the PE is not what it was in the past, see link

https://picasaweb.google.com/canoeadven ... 8070485682

Kris -

I'm getting nothing but "Sorry, that page was not found." from your picture links.

I hope it will work now

https://picasaweb.google.com/canoeadven ... 8070485682