Replacement for Royalex?

[Al Agnew]

I've been known to do the same...and when I did it at the Kingston access on Mineral Fork, I ended up having to do some serious repairs on the bottom of the canoe--which brings up that other advantage to Royalex...easier to repair

At our land on the Meramec, my take-out is up a ditch with 15 ft. high, steep sidesat', then up the side of the ditch (loose dirt/mud) to a flat area where I can get to in the truck.  Try dragging a heavy canoe up that.  My latest idea involves some brush clearing to form a path, about 75 feet of good rope, and dragging the thing up the side of the ditch with the truck...and that's a 45 pound canoe!

[Flysmallie]

Actually the poly canoes are really simple to repair if you know what you are doing. It's basic plastic repair, not rocket science. 

[fishinwrench]

Not only that, they really are not expensive.  If you just throw 5.00 in a jar everytime you use it then you'll be able to buy a new one before you tear it up.

[ness]

8 minutes ago, Flysmallie said:

Actually the poly canoes are really simple to repair if you know what you are doing. It's basic plastic repair, not rocket science. 

Yeah, the pomade and Saran Wrap patches work great. Personally, I'm a Dapper Dan man. Three alternating layers and a few minutes with the blow drier and you're good for another hundred miles. Six layers if you're a canoe dragger, like you-know-who. 

[ness]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Not only that, they really are not expensive.  If you just throw 5.00 in a jar everytime you use it then you'll be able to buy a new one before you tear it up.

Ehh, Dapper Dan is cheap. Four trips by the jar and you're  golden. 

[fishinwrench]

Ump my HAIR ! 

[Chief Grey Bear]

7 hours ago, ness said:

Yeah, the pomade and Saran Wrap patches work great. Personally, I'm a Dapper Dan man. Three alternating layers and a few minutes with the blow drier and you're good for another hundred miles. Six layers if you're a canoe dragger, like you-know-who. 

 

7 hours ago, ness said:

Ehh, Dapper Dan is cheap. Four trips by the jar and you're  golden. 

What's with this JoeD transgenderformation??

[Chief Grey Bear]

It's not rocket science an long as you know what you are doing and you have the right to product to do the repair. 

Here is the before, during, and after photos. The after photo was taken over a year after the repair. It has held up with excellent results! 

I have to give a huge shout out to Ronnie for doing this repair for me. If it wasn't for him I don't know what I would've done. You just can't use anything on these canoes to repair them. 

And as you can tell I use my canoes. They are a tool. They are not showpieces. 

[Flysmallie]

Well that repair doesn't look any better than what it did.  What a jacked up mess that was to begin with. I haven't seen the layers separate that bad before. 

All I'm saying is there are products out there that make it pretty simple. Are they expensive? Depends on what you call expensive, I personally think 1,800 for a canoe is nuts. Plus you always have plastic welding. It's not hard either. People have been repairing plastics for a long time and most of those applications are much more critical than a boat. 

[Al Agnew]

Well, anybody who fishes with me knows I don't baby my canoes, either.  

Yeah, the new material is expensive compared to the poly canoes.  I've never paid more than about $800 for a canoe, myself, but I bought my last Royalex one just as the news was coming out, and the dealer hadn't marked it up yet   But if the weight and the better paddling design is important enough to you, I guess you'd look at it like, okay, I'm paying $1800 for this canoe but I'm going to have it for at least 10 years, probably a lot longer.  $180 or less per year doesn't sound as bad.  With what most liveries charge to rent a canoe for a day these days, that's about three or four rental trips per year...of course, though, you still have to pay the shuttle fees.