(Stanley!)GrayRock Royalex Canoe info? Update w/pics

[arkansmay]

Hello everyone. I'm a new member and I am eager to get myself and family into the paddle sports...While I have many questions, this one is first on my list:

In my search for a quality used 16 foot royalex boat, I came across a purple "GrayRock" brand canoe, bought from a rental agency for a great price. The brand/logo decal is very faded and worn and tough to read. The hull, other than being somewhat oxidized and faded, is in fantastic shape with no patches, thinning, or major gouging anywhere. The man that sold me the boat said that this was manufactured just down the road from Jasper, AR where Buffalo brand canoes are/(were?) made but that is all the info I was able to get.

The hull shape is a flattish bottom with a fairly high bow peak. It has ash seats with nylon webbing, aluminum thwarts and vinyl gunnels. I would like to brighten up the hull and re oil the wooden seat parts, among some other things but any info the group here might provide about this canoe would be greatly appreciated, such as what "type" of shape the boat has as far as lineage in design, mold origin etc.

Thanks!

In my reply below I have updated info with some lousy foggy phone pics

[Canoe_Codger]

Someone will be along shortly to help with the I.D. of the maker, but it would help greatly to see a picture of it I am sure. As well as a few measurements like center depth and width. The HIN number should identify maker, model and date.

As far as "brightening the hull", just clean it very well with mean green or some such, rinse well and apply 303 Aerospace Protectant. This will restore appearance as well as can be expected. Not much can be done about sun fadeing of the outer plastic material. But the 303 will add uv protection and help "revive" the color somewhat.

This is an old Blue Hole Sunburst II that I renovated last year as an example, before and after.

[arkansmay]

Well upon closer inspection there is this maker's stamp inside the hull:

Stanley Canoes
Marble Falls, AR

The boat is 16ft long, 36" wide at the gunnel in the middle with what seems to be (difficult to measure) 32" floor, 12-1/2" deep walls. It seems to have barely perceptible rocker when upright on the horses and a flat bottom. Aside from some sloppy skidplates it has a decent hull with no actual repairs and it's solid all the way through with the royalex in pretty good shape.

Took it out to Pigeon Creek on Lake Norfork yesterday to try it out and it seemed to be a fairly tank-ish brute, suitable for utility and pleasure floats, loaded with gear and beer. It did have a decent enough glide once you got her going, and steering was not too difficult. Felt ultra stable as we took some windy waves and wakes from ski-boats in the area.
I'm a novice paddler so these are rookie observations, but all in all I'm happy with the deal I got on this canoe, with royalex boats becoming more expensive and short in supply.

I would love to be able to contact the maker and get some original decals for her after getting rid of the oxidation and applying some UV protectant. I plan on keeping the utilitarian aluminum thwarts, but perhaps dropping the seats another inch to sit just a tad lower in the boat.

If anyone has any info in this brand and and particular boat mold I'd love to hear it. Thanks!

[Canoe_Codger]

Nice! Looks like a very good place to start with an easy refurbishing. It looks to me to be a variation of the old "Warsaw Rocket" design (think Blue Hole OCA and Buffalo Canoes). Built like a tank is right. Not a canoe designed for finesse, but for durability.

I still have no clue about that manufacturer name. Might have been made for a merchant by Buffalo Canoes? The vinyl gunnels, web seats and molded composite deck caps are modern furniture. Suggests to me that these canoes were built in the not too distant past. Not everyone can afford the molds, ovens and Royalex sheets to draw canoe hulls for a small quantity of canoes. It is a major investment as Louis Shaw and Gary Gordon can tell you. Again suggesting that this canoe was made FOR the named merchant, not BY them. Perhaps one of them will see this and respond shortly.

Seat drops are easy enough. I did that to the Sunburst referenced above. I used aluminum plate drops, but if you want to stay with wood, wooden trusses and hardware are not expensive or hard to install.



ETA: I find listings for STANLEY CANOE & KAYAK INC., owned by DONALD R. STANLEY, HCR 73 BOX 185, MARBLE FALLS, AR 72648 as an Arkansas corporation filed 05/02/1997, now revoked. A subsequent search shows "RAZORBACK CANOE RENTAL", same address and same principal owner.

[paddledog]

I think "Stanley" is an off shoot of Buffalo canoes.
I bought 6 off an outfitter many years ago.
It is the same mold as the Buffalo only not Roylex,
but instead ABS plastic.
Sold to outfitters as a cheaper alternative to the Buffalo.

Mine didn't hold up too well but they had been abused as rentals.
Also all mine were white, with plastic gunnels.

[arkansmay]

Yes, I like the boat overall, but I have to say the more I look at those deck end caps, the more they hurt my eyeballs- They will need replaced as well with something else...

It is a royalex boat, this was guaranteed by the outfitter that sold me the thing who is honest and knows his stuff, and I can tell the difference as well. It's also evidenced by the color difference between layers that you can see in the thinner abraded spots and scratches, not to mention the relative light weight of the thing.

[Randy Dodson]

Gray Rock canoes, later called Stanley canoes were made in Marble Falls. I believe they moved at some point east of Jasper on the Hasty Cutoff. I may be wrong but I don't think they've been in business for a while.

Their royalex canoes were similar to a Buffalo but not the exact same hull design. They didn't have the tall recurved stems. You pretty much pegged it right about what they're good for. They've got a lot of primary stability, not much secondary stability. Good Boat for floating easy Ozark streams, with or without a heavy load. Not a performance oriented canoe, but then neither is the Buffalo. If I found a great deal on one, I'd buy it. Always hated those aluminum caps on the deck plates.

I visited with Don Stanley for an hour or so many years ago. If I remember right, he'd had some kind of tie with Buffalo Canoes but I don't remember exactly what it was.

Disclaimer: Take everything I've said with a grain of salt. My memory is fuzzy about all of this. I don't even remember if Mr. Stanley's name was Don, it just seems like it was.

[arkansmay]

Thanks for the replies guys! If anyone wants to point me in a direction to help with those fugly end plates, I'm all ears. I've done some googling on the matter but have not come up with much...

[bransonbronco]

I purchased a used Stanley last winter with the exact same stamp on the inside. This is not a Royalex canoe. It is an ABS canoe. Very nice canoe, seems they almost exactly copied the Old Town Discovery 159 (I have owned one and they float the same). Mine also has W.B.O. branded into the inside (belive it is from a canoe rental). Any help figuring out what this stands for would be greatly appreciated! Mine also has plastic molded seats. Someone painted it yellow (what were they thinking!). I am planing on gently sanding off the paint, and repainting it. any advice on paint to use would also be greatly appreciated! I will include pictures, when I can figure out how to send them from my phone lol!

[Prairie Tater]

Royalex = ABS

Royalex is a composite material, comprising an outer layer of vinyl and hard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic (ABS) and an inner layer of ABS foam. The layers are bonded by heat treatment.

You might find some useful info here:
http://www.paddling.net/message/showThr ... 71#1507373" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There used to be a paddling shop here in Springfield, Mo. (River Maddness) that sold some Greyrocks. I think it was pretty much the same hull as the Buffalo/Blue Hole, except, to me, it seemed like it had less freeboard. It seemed to be shallower.

I visited their plant twice. It was on the Hasty access road if I remember correctly. I bought a pair of gunnels from them.

I ordered some special Royalex spraypaint one time to paint one of my Royalex canoes. It was fairly expensive and really didn't work that great. The Krylon Fusion would probably work just as well. The only other thing I can say is go easy on the sanding. That outer layer of vinyl is thin. You might try some laquer thinner first to remove the old paint. I use it to remove old contact cement from my canoes.

Terry P.

[okieboater]

Sorry, I do not have anything to add to this thread about GrayRock Canoes.

What this thread really impresses me with is the depth of knowledge about anything related to canoes (boating in general) the members of this community have and share.

This is the first place I go to for information on boating and it never failed to help me and others looking for information to find it.

Way to go guys and thanks for sharing.

[troglobitting]

The Gray Rock canoe was built by Don Stanley for several years. I am the current owner of the original Gray Rock canoe factory, actually an old poultry brooder house. He moved the factory in the 90s to a new metal building on the north side of Hwy 74 east of Jasper and west of the Hasty Cutoff Road. He has not produced any canoes in over a 15 years to my knowledge. The last time I drove by the new factory, what appears to be the canoe mold was lying out front. I have not seen Don in a couple of years, but if I see him, I will let him know he has created a good mystery for folks on the web. Good paddling!

[dgilchrist]

I bought a Stanley Grayrock Canoe from Don back around 1997. It's been a great canoe fishing the Kings and War Eagle rivers over the years. Mine is red with the Walnut gunnels he offered.

In fact - I need to replace one of the gunnels. Does anyone have an idea how to find replacements since this thread seems to indicate Stanley is no longer operating?

[David C]

Bransonbronco- I believe WBO would be White-Buffalo Outfitters located across the river where the Buffalo meets the White

[Sparky]

Passed by the old Stanley factory (on 74 near Hasty cutoff) yesterday. It's for sale, yes this can be yours!

Brent