In my case
the weight was the critical factor. My wife and I are in our mid-60’s and would like to continue paddling for at least the next ten years. 40lb composites are a lot easier for us to manage than 60lb poly ones. We also test paddled a lot of boats and both of us thought the composite boats were a little more responsive.
Most of the current locations where we paddle are relatively “benign” - New Jersey on south is mostly sand so the composites are fine, but we are thinking of buying a couple of boats to leave up in Nova Scotia where we go every summer and with the very rocky shores up where we have land, we’ll probably buy poly boats.
If you could get either
If you could get either a poly or composite in every model I would most likely go poly. Even if say one was 50lbs and the poly in at 65lbs(big kayaks 17+)or smaller 40lbs verse say 55lbs. Lower cost and no worry about coming onto shore line and just paddling straight into shore with rocks.
Example: When I go out onto say lake Ontario were we usually land there are small rocks like gravel. When I take the Fiberglass kayak I paddle up close then jump out while still in the water and pick my almost 18 foot kayak up and carry it onto shore. When out with my 16 foot plastic I just paddle straight up onto shore like everyone else who has a plastic kayak. Much easier to do.
Question for the PRO’s about composite kayaks verse plastic about reparability, sure you can repair composite in the field if you had too BUT who has actually put a whole in a plastic kayak while out paddling? I have never seen it happen? What would you have to hit to punch a whole in one? NOT talking thermoformed plastic as I have seen two crack open on rocks.
weight
I kinda like the extra weight of a poly canoe. A heavier canoe gets a better ‘bite’ on the water verses a lighter one. The wind wont blow it around as easy.
Imagine if you paddled to your favorite camp spot, pull the canoe onto shore for the evening, and a strong breeze comes along. That pricy 45 lb kevlar is gonna fly like a kite.
Dont kid yourself
that poly boat will too. I lost a 70 lb Grumman once.
Bite is an odd term. In this case the weight difference between poly and lighter is maybe 20 lbs. Calculate the displacement difference of a 16 foot poly hull and the same kevlar hull according to Archimedes principle ( that is if you have a nice program to do this) and the hull sunk difference will be miniscule. For the 15 foot Rapid Fire solo the two inch displacement is 130 lbs. The 3 inch 201 lbs. And that is a narrow boat about half the volume of a typical 16 foot tripper. Id wager the “bite” would be a tenth of an inch or less.
And portaging a BWCA trip is certainly nicer with an ultra light.
Heavy canoes “bite” seriously.
ok, so i had a brain fart moment
poly for exploring
– Last Updated: Dec-20-14 6:54 PM EST –
2ww kayaks: poly, 2 ww crossover kayak: poly, 1 canoe: poly, so my whole hard boat fleet is poly
cheap, durable and unfortunately heavy. I'm a plastic kind a guy, even my kayak paddle is plastic (werner rio) but there are certainly many places I don't go with my poly because its heavy to carry, especially the canoe. I do abuse my boats by tossin' them over the hill (they know their own way to the river), I nail a few rocks on purpose (or at least that's what I tell folks) when paddling, and seal launch occasionally. Uncharacteristically I didn't drag my kayak up the ramp today because one of my paddlin' buds was real nice and grabbed an end, otherwise I would have dragged it all the way back to the van.