Replacement for Royalex ?

[okieboater]

http://www.rapidmedia.com/canoeing/cate ... -test.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I found a Nova Craft Prospector 15 heavy duty royalex canoe used and purchased it last year.

The boat looks brand new.

After a long float last year on the Lewis and Clark MO river section up in MT in a 17 ft Old Town, I started thinking about a larger tripping canoe but most folks with a royalex Old Town tripper want to keep them.

After watching these boaters do things that make me cringe in pain just watching, I think my next canoe will be from up North out of this new Nova Craft material.

[Owl]

It looks like the demise of Royalex may actually have advanced canoe design and construction.

More information on the new material here:

http://www.innegratech.com/applications/sport_marine/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mike Gardner]

It seems that Nova Craft has one already and thermoforms the Supernova the Mosie, and the most popular OC1 of all time the Ocoee out of their stuff called T-Formex. They also have an Innegra and basalt fiber (yes the rock basalt) layup called Tuffstuff which looks interesting. D Jackson had a playboat layed up for him out of the Tuffstuff so must be "tuff" stuff

[pblanc]

Nova Craft does not mold the Ocoee or Moisie out of anything.

T-formex was the name proposed for a new laminated thermoplastic material which Esquif Canoe had hoped to develop (or direct the development of) which would serve as a replacement for Royalex that could be used with the existing male molds that were used for that process. Nova Craft would have obtained the material from Esquif, or with their blessing.

The effort failed and Esquif Canoe ceased operations this Monday and liquidated their assets. How big a part T-formex played in the demise of Esquif is unclear, but what is clear is that there won't be any thermoplastic replacement for Royalex, at least at this time, and probably not ever.