Last Royalex Boat; What Would It Be and Why?

[Jim Krueger]

Blue Hole gets my vote too for tandem, Dagger Prophet for solo.

Worthlessly Yours
Jim

[Roger]

Anybody want a Mad River ME? Can pick up a '87 model that might need some new wood gunnels for $600 or maybe a bit less.

I'm at ALF.

[Deuce]

Wow. This is the next best thing to sitting around a campfire and hearing all you guys talk about this. Outstanding. Just might have to compile the comments into a newsletter article. I started a thread over on Pnet too and it's been a great discussion. Someone emailed me asking for the article but there was no email address shown. Seemed kind of odd and I wasn't comfortable responding, but I'll post the article in hopes that if that was a real person he or she will see it here. http://www.plasticsnews.com/article/201 ... eplacement#" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Shep]

I haven't spent nearly enough time in one, but I have to say the Dagger Ocoee may be the most capable, adaptable solo ww boat ever made.The variety of stuff I've seen people do in that hull is just stupefying.

That said, I think the thing we may miss the most, because it really can't be replaced, are the big 17'-class trippers that you can load down with hundreds of pounds of gear. You can do that in a composite boat, sure, but will you really have the confidence to run a class III rapid in that loaded boat? I wouldn't, even with one built like a tank. We used Esquif Prospectuer 17's on a 21-day no-resupply expedition I did a couple of years ago. Each boat had two paddlers, four packs, and extra items like helmets, spare paddles, and snack buckets. There is nothing yet that can come close to replacing royalex for these "long-haul 18 wheeler"-type boats.

Shep

[Larry Pearce]

Thanks to Dave Reid for his kind words about side surfing the wave hole below Tappan Falls on Middle Fork Salmon with Gayle Felton in the bow. What Dave didn't say is that the only reason we ended up sideways in that hole was because I failed to set the proper angle when we peeled out of a very small eddy on river right. The move that Gayle and I had agreed on ahead of time was a ferry across the river to the eddy on river left where the most of the rest of the group had gathered. We got blown out of that eddy and straight into the wave hole. It may have looked like a purposeful move, but we were just trying to survive my mistake.

[okieboater]

Good try, Larry, I am sticking to my version of that great day on a great river run!

I knew you guys were setting up, knew where I should eddy out and was prepared to pickup swimmers, saw the entire thing close up and personal, doubt if the others saw what I did as you guys were way down deep in that massive wave hole hidden from downstream view.

Many boaters would have been panic stricken, you and Miss Gayle both did text book brace moves in perfect timing.

Looked like it was planned to me.

I'm thinking you two were having fun!!!!!

[Prairie Tater]

Congress should bail out the Royalex industry!

Seriously, I wish that I knew more about this material. I'm wondering if it can be remolded. For example: If you had an old Buffalo canoe that had the bow bashed in, and you wanted to take the undamaged part and make a smaller canoe such as an Ocoee, could it be done? I realize that you would have to have a mold. And you would need to uniformly heat the material. I guess the big question is: Can the material be heated a second time without hurting it?

[Eric Esche]

For what you paddle, I would recommend a Mad River Courier as a solo boat (if you can find one) due to its capacity, handing, forgiveness, and flexibilty.

If you decide to do more whitewater, and want a shorter boat length, I would recommend a Dagger Genesis, again for it's capacity, handling, forgiveness and flexibility.

If you want another solo/tandem, I would recommend a TwoBrothersCanoe Arkota while you can still get one. They handle well, are forgiving, and a quality boat.

If you ever see a 17' Mad River Northwoods, it is a good handling tandem canoe that is way faster than you might suspect and will carry a large load at any water level. I was not using mine and sold it to Susan's cousin which I sort of regret now. You do not HAVE to go fast in it, but if you want to cover miles, you can do so with out having to work hard to do it. Mary's parting comment on our last trip with it was that we should have set the shuttle for 30 miles instead of 21 as the day ended too early.

There are a few others out there I would be tempted by that I will let you know if I see them come up for sale.

Eric Esche

[okieboater]

Prairie Tater,

Don't know much about plastic.

But, have had a few new Royalex canoes and a bunch of old ones, my experience tells me once Royalex has dried out, it is gone. Seems to me that keeping a Royalex canoe out of the sun makes it last a lot longer.

I have big time cracked really old Royalex canoes on the water and looked at the layers of material. Looked pretty brittle to me. Bent relatively new royalex canoes around rocks and they popped out and worked for years but did show a crease mark.

By the way JB Weld came to the rescue and finished out the float when we cracked the bottom on sharp rocks.

[dthrasher]

You folks just reminded me of the story of the Blue Hole Repair Kit. In 1981, my Red Blue Hole (OCA317) was starting to look pretty bad and I began to wonder if there was any way to make it look new again like it did when I bought it in 1974. I had met Roy Guinn, one of the owners of the Blue Hole Company, on a previous whitewater trip to Tennessee (Steve Cavender and I had fetched his son out of imminent danger after he ran Potters Falls, missed his role, and was about to fall over the next drop - Hall's Falls? I don't remember but it looked deathly - upside down). We were planning a trip East to paddle, so I called Roy and asked him if there was something he could do to make my canoe look better. He replied in the affirmative and invited us to stop by the factory and he would take care of it. When we got to the factory in beautiful downtown Sunbright TN, we went inside, found Roy, and he told me to take the canoe off our trailer and set it on the ground and he would be right there with his "Blue Hole Repair Kit". We complied and waited anxiously to see what type of contraption this might be (I even thought that it might be some type of portable heat press that could remove all the dents and dings and make the canoe look brand new!). Anyway, Roy finally walked around the side of the building dragging a log that was perhaps 8" in diameter and 5' long. He subsequently took the log and started beating the holy _____ out of my canoe. It quickly became evident that he was a master with that log. While my canoe did not look new as I had dreamed that it might, it did end up looking a whole lot better. Over the many years since then, I have taught many a fellow paddler how to use a Blue Hole Repair Kit. Those kits are handy (you can find one just about anywhere) and they are proof positive that Royalex Boats, and especially Blue Holes, are the absolute toughest and best there is.

[tomOzarkVideo]

While I only pick up the T-grip for camping and rec boating, I am VERY saddened about Royalex.. My first boat was a Mad River Adventure (Roto-poly.) I still have it. It's tough, but weighs 75lbs dry on the 14' boat. Replacing it will be much more of a task now..

As far as re-heating the material; No sir. The foam in the core of the boat is spent after its initial bake.

Crummy coincidence, as we are finally done buying kayaks and wanted to replace my canoe in late 14.

[Prairie Tater]

"As far as re-heating the material; No sir. The foam in the core of the boat is spent after its initial bake."

That's what I figured, Tom. Guess I was just dreaming. This is truely the end of an era and I'm feeling much older today.

[Prairie Tater]

Just tought I'd post this Novacraft vid which shows how the material is shaped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwASNzmI ... aEGd6sFAvw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[BHK Okie]

Anyone have an opinion on a Mohawk 17' Nova ? I know it's not really a whitewater boat , just looking for a little input . Yes , it's Rolex

[Fish]

I bought an Old Town Appalachian a while back, and I've been happy with it. I think it's nearly the perfect balance between a family/gear-hauler for tripping and handling reasonably well in class 2-3 water. Have a central saddle + seats in it, and at 16' it's a very versatile boat for tandem or some solo as well. With 2 kids on the seats and me in the saddle in some easy whitewater, it's a lot of fun! If I wanted one for pure whitewater running or just wanted a solo boat, I'd get something else, but if you gotta have one canoe to do it all...

My other choice would maybe be Caption, so I'll second that vote as well.

- Bill