Royalex? Curious if anyone can help me identify what this boat is made of

Advice
#1

Continuing the discussion from identify Fglass or Royalex on pictures:

Can anyone tell if this MRC is made from Royalex

#2

Link doesn’t work.

#3

I’m trying to upload some pics lol, sorry I’m new…

#4

Screenshot_20200724-094309_Photos
Screenshot_20200724-094309_Photos1080Ă—2280 685 KB

#5

Screenshot_20200724-094133_Facebook
Screenshot_20200724-094133_Facebook1080Ă—2280 806 KB

#6

Screenshot_20200724-094116_Facebook
Screenshot_20200724-094116_Facebook1080Ă—2280 847 KB

#7

I don’t think it’s RX based on the gunnels, but the interior color is similar to an RX boat. A close up a gunnel taken from above, and a close up of the scratches on the exterior bottom would help.

1 Like
#8

I am pretty sure that it is composite but the photos don’t allow me to say with certainty. But you can easily determine if it is Royalex or not if you have the boat in front of you or if you have additional photos. Does the boat have flotation chambers built into the ends? If it does, it is composite. Royalex boats have inherent flotation due to the foam core. Composite boats have a specific gravity greater than one unless they have supplemental flotation in the form of air bags, foam, or air-filled or foam-containing tanks.

MRC did sell Royalex boats with wood gunwales. But on the Royalex boats the gunwales were “sandwiched” with the hull visible between the inwale and outwale so it was very easy to look at the hull and see if there was a foam core in the center. On their composite boats the outwale was kerfed with a small wood lip covering the hull. I don’t see any hull material visible between the inwale and the outwale but it is always possible that someone re-railed a Royalex boat with kerfed outwales.

The photo of the hull bottom is also much more suggestive of a gel coated surface rather than a Royalex surface. I think I might see the very beginning of a float tank on one of the photos at the extreme top edge but the photo cuts it off.

So far all of the above reasons I am about 80% sure it is composite, and almost certainly fiberglass. MRC usually left the interior sides of their Kevlar composite boats natural with the honey-colored aramid fabric showing. They frequently did paint a grey football shaped area on the interior of the hull floor. Fiberglass boats were fully painted on the hull interiors since fiberglass is translucent when wetted out and looks pretty crappy if unpainted.