My preference is Roylex Old Town 20 Tripper or 18.5 Penobscot. No longer made. Much to the horror of New England Old Town's longest boat is 17'. A Maine legend dies. We do mainly whitewater multiday trips.
Looking for other suggestions, knowing I like the above boats. Roylex alternatives?
Has anyone experience with Quebec's Esquif -Mistral 17.5 boat in the innovative twintex material?
All suggestions appreciated.
Stay away from TwinTex
I don’t have any personal experience with TwinTex, but several people on this forum that do have repeatedly and strongly advised against the material. If you google this site for TwinTex, you’ll find those posts.
In a nutshell, the material is not repairable unlike Royalex or composite canoes. Also, early Mistrals have a balsa wood core that can soak up water through cracks in the hull, causing delamination that cannot be repaired.
Wait for T- Formex?
Esquif has pioneered T-Formex and will be marketing boats soon with that layup. It seems to have potential, at least from their promotional material. They plan to offer it to other canoe mfrs.
If it pans out then you may be able get something like a Wenonah Minnesota II with that layup in a year or so. Until that happens, you are stuck with glass or composite layups. The Minnesota II would be a good boat to consider as a replacement for the big OT Tripper regardless of layup. I always found the Tripper to be a bit of a barge.