Replacement for Royalex?

[fishinwrench]

5 minutes ago, Greasy B said:

Not until have a replacement.   

Well hurry up before you put more scratches on it.  ?

[moguy1973]

3 hours ago, Chief Grey Bear said:

Spot on! 

Sometimes I still have to slow mine down. I'm not a sightseer. I'm there to fish. Yes I take in all the beauty that surrounds me but that comes in a very close second. 

And really at the end of the day how much heavier are they? And what does it matter? I'm not carrying it around on my shoulders all day. I'm sitting in a very comfortably with my cushioned seats enjoying the day. And I don't pack light either I take everything I want.

I just never found the love affair attraction to Royalex. There are suitable materials out there just as worthy if not more. 

I think that their lightness lends them to being able to haul them easier on top of vehicles and that might be part of their attractiveness.  Lifting a 56lb Royalex Penobscot 16 on top of an SUV is a lot easier than a 91lb poly Discovery 169.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I guess it all depends on how short you are. 

 

[fishinwrench]

You're only lifting half of it at a time.  Who can't lift 40 pounds?  My 130lb. daughter can load a Disco 169 on our Suburban for crying out loud !

[MOPanfisher]

What is an excellent condition discovery 169 in Royalex worth.  I have one a buddy wants to buy.

[Al Agnew]

No such animal.  The Discovery canoes are only made in the polylink material.  Don't know what you have, but it either ain't Royalex or ain't a Disco.

The poly canoes are considerably heavier than Royaleuverx or T-Formex, and when you're carrying the thing to or from the water at difficult accesses, you'll appreciate the difference.  Plus, not all rack systems are designed for lifting one end at a time.  Poly canoes are more difficult to repair than Royalex...don't know if that's the case with T-Formex.  Poly canoes are perfectly serviceable, but as I've gotten older I appreciate light weight canoes more and more.  

As for speed, that depends upon the design, not the material.  Glass and kevlar canoes can be designed to be the fastest, because they can be shaped into much sharper entry lines than any of the plastics.  However, such canoes as the Old Town Penobscot and Wenonah Spirit II are faster than most any of the poly canoes.  

"Speed" is actually a function of good tracking ability.  The more of your power stroke that goes into making the canoe go fast instead of turning it, the faster it will be, all other things being equal.  And if you don't think that's an advantage in a fishing canoe, you don't fish the way I do in the places I do.  For one thing, many Ozark streams have long, dead pools now and then (or like the Bourbeuse, all the time) which are practically worthless for fishing in warmer weather.  I want to be able to get through the dead water as quickly as possible with the least amount of effort.  But sometimes even more important to the angler, the same characteristics that make a canoe glide smoothly and easily forward in slack water makes it easier to slow or stop in fast water, with a longer period of time before the current speeds it up again.  And also makes it easier and quicker to paddle upstream if you're not doing a downstream float trip.  And makes it easier to hold a ferry angle.

The trade-off is that "fast" canoes are not as maneuverable.  In my opinion, though, easy maneuverability is a little overrated on the typical Ozark stream.  The other trade-off is that fast canoes tend to be narrower for their length, which makes them feel a little tippier.  You get used to it, and the good ones are designed so that final stability, the actual resistance to flipping, is unaffected by the width of the canoe.

But Royalex, and I assume the T-Formex, canoes are not the fastest designs out there.  They are compromises, and the ones I like best are compromises that lean slightly toward good tracking ability.

In solo canoes, the Old Town 119 leans toward maneuverability at the expense of tracking ability...you darned near need and double bladed paddle to keep the thing going straight when you're wanting to get somewhere.  The Wenonah Vagabond leans a bit toward tracking ability, which is why it's my favorite solo.  My glass Oscodas lean quite a bit farther toward tracking ability (thus speed), and I'm in one of them when I'm floating the Bourbeuse or lower Big River, where I know I'm going to encounter a lot of slow water. 

 

[MOPanfisher]

I guess I just assumed it was royalex, but it is an Old Town Dicovery 169, bought new in 2002.  

[Gavin]

I'm sure that you could get 50-70% of current retail easilly on Craigslist if it's in good to very good condition. 

 

[ness]

Yeah, I'm with Al. Gimme light and durable. 

That 'only lifting half' crap sounds better when you're reading it than when you're wrestling with a boat. 

I'm not buying a trailer or a pickup anytime soon. So, it's going on top of an SUV. About 60 pounds is all I want to jack with.

 

[fishinwrench]

I don't carry mine, I drag it with one hand, loaded.  Over grass, over gravel, over rocks.   It doesn't care so why should I?   

It's a canoe !