Check out http://easyriderkayaks.com/royalex_canoes.htm
What kind of hull construction is recommended that would meet or exceed the structural properties of Royalex? Or is it not feasible for the home-builder?
Hopefully you won't say the K-word (kevlar). Pain in the butt to work with from what I hear.
Royalex equivilant?
MSJ,
Royalex,Royalite, R-84 and others are attempts to use plastics on high end boats. From the little I know of this technology it hasn't caught the fancy of hard core paddlers. Glass/Kevlar/carbon fiber cost more but offer far lighter hulls. In my opinion, both stitch and glue and strip built boats ,if well built, are comparable to any of these laminates. They're stiffer, can be built lighter or heavier to suit your needs and are readily repairable.
The plastic skinned boats I've seen will wear their dings and gouges forever. Trying to repair this stuff borders on voodoo. Some can be glued some can't and some only responds to plastic welding.
My S&G "Yare" is 16 ft. long and weighs 35lb. with all the hardwear and padding. The only Eddyline boat in that weight class is only 12 ft. long. "Yare" is not the worlds greatest kayak but I'll be able to throw it around till I'm 75 years old and it's so easy to paddle I can keep up with the kids.
Charlie
"Wood is good"
"Low tech is the best tech"
Royalex,Royalite, R-84 and others are attempts to use plastics on high end boats. From the little I know of this technology it hasn't caught the fancy of hard core paddlers. Glass/Kevlar/carbon fiber cost more but offer far lighter hulls. In my opinion, both stitch and glue and strip built boats ,if well built, are comparable to any of these laminates. They're stiffer, can be built lighter or heavier to suit your needs and are readily repairable.
The plastic skinned boats I've seen will wear their dings and gouges forever. Trying to repair this stuff borders on voodoo. Some can be glued some can't and some only responds to plastic welding.
My S&G "Yare" is 16 ft. long and weighs 35lb. with all the hardwear and padding. The only Eddyline boat in that weight class is only 12 ft. long. "Yare" is not the worlds greatest kayak but I'll be able to throw it around till I'm 75 years old and it's so easy to paddle I can keep up with the kids.
Charlie
"Wood is good"
"Low tech is the best tech"
-
anonymous
I have gone back and forth on whether to even get into this one 
ABS is good stuff for certain things, and I think canoes and kayaks are probably a good such implementation. ABS however has some less than desireable attributes, depending on exactly what ABS it is (and unfortunately, there are many flavors of ABS) - it becomes brittle in the cold, breaks down under UV, normal plastic type behaviour.
Vangaurd (I believe but don't kill me if I am wrong) built a series of boats with thermoformed ABS sheets. They took sheets of abs, thermoformed it around a mold added some glass in stress points, shot expanding foam into and declared it a boat. They were light and from what I have heard rather resilient. But no where near the strength you get from glass and I believe stiffness was a factor when attempting to pull against rig tension (talking out of my booty here because I have no first hand experience, just some cursory conversations with folks who had owned them).
It does not surprise me that you can use epoxy, I would even be willing to bet you could use polyester to patch it. The mek should be able to react with it well enough to get a reasonable bond. I have some ABS (GE cycolac and Intac) shells here from engineering work done in the past, I should give that a shot........
ABS is good stuff for certain things, and I think canoes and kayaks are probably a good such implementation. ABS however has some less than desireable attributes, depending on exactly what ABS it is (and unfortunately, there are many flavors of ABS) - it becomes brittle in the cold, breaks down under UV, normal plastic type behaviour.
Vangaurd (I believe but don't kill me if I am wrong) built a series of boats with thermoformed ABS sheets. They took sheets of abs, thermoformed it around a mold added some glass in stress points, shot expanding foam into and declared it a boat. They were light and from what I have heard rather resilient. But no where near the strength you get from glass and I believe stiffness was a factor when attempting to pull against rig tension (talking out of my booty here because I have no first hand experience, just some cursory conversations with folks who had owned them).
It does not surprise me that you can use epoxy, I would even be willing to bet you could use polyester to patch it. The mek should be able to react with it well enough to get a reasonable bond. I have some ABS (GE cycolac and Intac) shells here from engineering work done in the past, I should give that a shot........
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