I hope this isn’t too sensative a subject, if it is please say so.
As I look at the price of thermoformed kayaks from Eddyline, Delta and Seaward they seem to be close (within about 10%)to the price of fiberglass kayaks while the thermoformed from Hurricane and Enlightened seem to be significantly less than the other thermoformed, almost $1000 less.
Can anyone help me understand this significant price difference between the various TF boats?
Also, is it generally more effective to just add the extra 10% to the cost of one of the higher priced TF and just go for a fiberglass model as there seems to be a wider choice of those compared to thermoformed?
It sems that with their specials you could get a QCC for almost the same price as say a Fathom.
Thanks a lot
If you’ve got the extra 10%
I’d definately go w/the fiberglass. Alot of choice and alot of sweet boats out there in FG (I only wish I had that kinda cash).
started out looking
at TF because of the perfomance advantage over RM and had the idea they were going to be significantly less expensive than FG (and some are).
But as I looked at some of the upper end TF I thought the price was getting about the same as FG. Then I thought if I’m going to spend $2500 for TF just go for glass.
It’s a vicious cycle!
I think it comes down to what type boat
you are looking for.
If QCC could make a 700 out of plastic that weighed the same as their composite, I sure as heck would be the owner of one.
Especially the way that I abuse a boat!
I think that you are absolutely right though.
When I look at the cost of the higher end poly boats, I don’t know why anyone would buy one.
Cheers,
JackL
quantity
To answer your question on why the spread in pricing on ABS boats, it is all about quantity. Hurricane’s parent company is a plastic manufacturer so their raw material comes to them cheaper than all the other boat companies working in plastics. I cannot speak for Enlightened.
Differences
Between TF and comosite is mainly toughness of th material. Composites also ted to be lighter, especially if you go by atual weight instead of what some of the TF makers claim. Aside from that, size up the bots individually. Design may be more imprtant than material for some paddlers. TF is a cheaper manufacturing proces, but you pay according to demand.
Cost difference between TF boats is company overhed, outfitting and accessories, design and perceived value.
Manufacturing
It's surprizing that there's only a 10% difference in price between thermoformed and fiberglas.
It's possible that Eddyline is not using the same plastic for termoforming as other manufacturers.
As far as I understand, one advantage of thermoformed is that it is much cheaper to manufacture than fiberglas.
Having a termoformed kayak should provide a kayak at the midpoint of poly plastic and composite. Thermoform also looks like composite. Thus, a termoformed kayak allows the company to capture the market that doesn't want a "cheap" plastic boat but doesn't want to pay compisite prices.
Indeed, some companies (maybe, only Perception) no longer sell composite boats, I suspect, because that end of the market has a lot of competition.