What year was your demo? Both Eddyline and Delta have advanced beyond their early designs, as has Hurricane. I’ve owned an Eddyline and a Delta simultaneously and compared the decks and bottom side by side on the ground (referring to the current generation). I don’t think there is a significant difference in the material. “Flimsy and cheap” is not at all an accurate characterization of Deltas, and you will be surprised at how soft and thin an Eddyline bottom feels out of the water.
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circa 2014 after Delta stopped using inset cockpit rims. That feature in Eddylines seems to add a dimension of stiffness Deltas no longer have. I have a Delta 15.5 expedition with the inset rim and the newer models do not compare in strength ahead of the cockpit. I’ll stick with “flimsy and cheap.”
The first kayaks my wife and I bought - over a dozen years ago - were thermoformed WS models. Both developed cracks at the chines and separation at the hull to deck joints within a year and the paddle shop and WS graciously comped us what we had paid for the boats against anything else the shop carried. WS discontinued that line of thermoformed boats the next year, so I assume we weren’t the only ones who had these problems.
We broke surface ice a few times with those boats but never really paddled in super cold water. Thinking back on this we did make fairly frequent use of an EZ Dock system at one of our local lakes and I now think these boats may not be capable of handling the stresses that an adult’s weight can put on them without being fully supported by water on such systems.
Even though we now paddle fiberglass/aramid kayaks we still avoid those hard, plastic docking systems.
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The early models of the EZ Dock systems, or “roller ramps of death” as most of our Club members call them, are not safe to use with any composite kayak and can cause extensive hull damage. They are really only safe to use with rotomolded kayaks.
Later models of the EZ Dock system are available without the rollers.
We have avoided them ever since our early experiences but what you say makes sense.
The reason that many EZ Dock systems were first installed is that they were the first kayak launching system to be ADA certified. Many jurisdictions installed these to comply with ADA requirements without surveying owners of composite boats and before complaints began to come in.
Although thermoformed boats are fairly tough, I wouldn’t recommend using them of these ramps on a cold day.
I wonder if my CD Solstice is more likely to crack open in the middle of a cold lake since I punched through the garage door with it, something new to worry about.
The Solstice is kevlar I think. If you have taken it out with no issues and don’t see damage, I’d “guess” it would not crack open : ).
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