Old Town Scout

[kerry]

Picked up an Old Town Scout from Craigslist for a friend last night for $200. Needs a deck and one gunwale was cracked. Spliced in a piece of aluminum angle today and got the gunwale repaired. I'll have to call Old Town for a deck. I've seen lots of cross linked polyethylene boats before but have never worked on them. That stuff is really tough. Much tougher than royalex. You can tell the difference when drilling the material for rivets. The Scout is the cross-linked version of the royalex Appalachian. (no longer produced I wonder why not?) Very nice hull design for all round paddling and river tripping.
Took me a while to figure out what the boat was. No markings on it at all and it was filthy from sitting under a pine tree. I thought the material was Royalex at first and the boat a 16' Dagger Legend.

 

[KEENO]

Great find Kerry....

I've had a few Crosslinked Dagger Kayaks over the years and they are extremely tough, but degrade quickly in the sun due to UV exposure. The poly boats definitely weren't as tough and showed wear easily, but were repairable (plastic welding) & recyclable when their usable life was up. Both having their advantages & not so much, I guess.

Both materials considered, I always like the crosslinked material boats the best and they felt like paddling an armored car on the river.

Regardless, I know the Scout will get many miles in your care. Enjoy!

KEENO

 

[kerry]

Deck was only $30 and installation was easy. Needed a second person to spread the gunwales when I popped it on. A new gunwale would only have been $40 but due to length can't be shipped by UPS or USPS so need to be purchased at a dealer where I presume gunwales are shipped with canoe orders. It's surprisingly light for a polyethylene canoe.