riverman wrote:
Steve Cramer wrote:
Amongst a very learned treatise on canoe materials, riverman wrote:
Some boats,
like Coleman, use a very thin layup of ABS to save weight, and aluminum
tubes to help it keep its shape. This is bad.

Colemans are/were made of RAM-X polyethylene, not ABS, which is a
different material altogether. The second sentence is correct.

Steve

You are correct, sir; Colemans are not ABS. I should have saved Coleman
for the treatise on Poly boats. There is also the entire constraint of
which materials are naturally buoyant or not, as well as which ones can
be molded with sharper angles, and also which ones offer the best
puncture resistance.

Meanwhile, what do you guys think of this whole Horizon/Woodsman deal?
It sounds like MR is looking to dump a bunch of Horizon-16s on the
market under the radar. Anyone got any industry contacts to find out
what's up? Sounds to me like CW generated a bunch of hulls that had a
high percentage of blems, so they dumped the whole lot on the market
under a false brand to avoid tarnishing the MR repuation. Maybe they
learned from their Explorer growing pains.


--riverman

I think I am going to go and look one over thoughly...If it looks good
I am going to pick one up...
Will let you know what I find.

On Jan 15, 12:51 am, wrote:
riverman wrote:
Steve Cramer wrote:
Amongst a very learned treatise on canoe materials, riverman wrote:
Some boats,
like Coleman, use a very thin layup of ABS to save weight, and aluminum
tubes to help it keep its shape. This is bad.

Colemans are/were made of RAM-X polyethylene, not ABS, which is a
different material altogether. The second sentence is correct.

Steve

You are correct, sir; Colemans are not ABS. I should have saved Coleman
for the treatise on Poly boats. There is also the entire constraint of
which materials are naturally buoyant or not, as well as which ones can
be molded with sharper angles, and also which ones offer the best
puncture resistance.

Meanwhile, what do you guys think of this whole Horizon/Woodsman deal?
It sounds like MR is looking to dump a bunch of Horizon-16s on the
market under the radar. Anyone got any industry contacts to find out
what's up? Sounds to me like CW generated a bunch of hulls that had a
high percentage of blems, so they dumped the whole lot on the market
under a false brand to avoid tarnishing the MR repuation. Maybe they
learned from their Explorer growing pains.

--riverman

I think I am going to go and look one over thoughly...If it looks good
I am going to pick one up...
Will let you know what I find.


I bought one of the Woodman canoes from Dick's. I didn't look it over
well enough in the store and found a defect in the Royalex when I got
it home. I've talked with the Confluence customer service people and
they say the defect, a 3 x 5 inch depression in the Royalex, was
caused by a misaligned "foot" that helps to form the stem. They claim
that this is cosmetic, and not covered by the warranty. I have seen
three other Woodman canoes with the same defect so I think they are
Mad River seconds. Shame on Dick's sporting goods and Confluence
Water Sports.

Please let me know if you have seen the same thing so I can use the
info in small claims court if it goes that far. Photographs would be
great.

Thanks.

Robert Harris