Did Gazelle Canoes ever make a royalex boat?

[cuwi]

I am going to look at a canoe tomorrow, the seller claims it is constructed of royalex. All I can find online is that gazelle is a company out of maine that made various fiberglass products including canoes. can anyone help me determine if if this canoe is made of royalex?

here is another thread I started with some takes on the matter as well as some other historical threads about gazelle I could find:

What is this gazelle canoe made of? Royalex?

Looking at a canoe to purchase and the seller claims the hull is royalex/oltonar. Manufacturer is Gazelle, with which my research shows they only made fiberglass boats. Can anyone help me out?

forums.paddling.com

older posts not by me:

https://forums.paddling.com/t/gazelle-canoe-advice/44316/12

https://www.maineflyfish.com/forums/index.php?/topic/22139-gazelle-canoe/

https://www.city-data.com/forum/maine/1281749-gazelle-canoes-2.html

 

[cuwi]

here are some photos, the HIN is GPP501850384

 

[Benson Gray]

This canoe certainly looks like a Royalex or ABS canoe. The differences between fiberglass and ABS are reasonably obvious when you see it in person. Uniroyal sold bare canoe hulls to many different builders over the years so this could easily be one of those. These were occasionally called a "Warsaw Rocket." A search here for that term will provide lots of other information. Good luck,

Benson

 

[MGC]

It is quite obviously Royalex as can be easily seen in the interior shots. Quite a few canoe manufacturers got on the Royalex band wagon back in the 80"s. It is/was a top notch product for canoe hulls.
The rails, decks and seats are riveted in place and look very much like Old Town parts.
The hull shape also looks a bit Old Townish.
It seems to be in decent shape. If it is, it really does not matter how it's branded. What matters is how it paddles.
Hopefully those seats, decks and rails are crack free. Original replacement parts for these vintage canoes are very hard to find.

 

[Todd Bradshaw]

Warsaw Rocket hulls were molded by Uniroyal in Warsaw, Indiana and sold to just about anybody (or any canoe company) that wanted them. The factory seconds with minor cosmetic problems were a really good deal as well. Those hollow rotomolded seats were foam filled to increase flotation. Wendall Tremblay from Old Town once told me that the molds to make them cost $8K each (1974 money) so they only made two sizes and wherever they met the sides was where they would go in a boat. Before those, Old Town just used rigid vinyl or ABS plank seats with rolled edges and some manufacturers used cane or snowshoe rawhide-filled wooden framed seats. Wooden gunwales could be used, and decks were sometimes as simple as a flat triangle of Royalex screwed to the top of the gunwales (Mad River). So, just about any part can be replaced one way or another if needed. The bottoms of the stems are the most likely place for serious abrasion damage on Royalex canoes, sometimes through the outer vinyl skin, through the ABS structural layers and all the way down into the foam core. This can be repaired using Kevlar felt and flexible epoxy, but it is something that some folks wouldn't really want to get into.

The "Rocket" part of the name was basically a joke, as the hulls were pretty slow and unresponsive as canoes go. When Old Town brought out the Penobscot model it was the first Royalex boat that really handled nicely. Mad River brought out a 17' V-bottom Royalex boat which was also a good one and consistently did really well in canoe sailing competitions. Then there was the 17'2" Old Town Tripper - 15" deep, slightly rockered and popular for whitewater and canoe tripping.

 

[cuwi]

Wow great information thank you. How long were these Warsaw rockets being produced? The HIN says this boat was made in 1984. Was initial still pumping out these hulls and selling them to canoe builders?

 

[Benson Gray]

How long were these Warsaw rockets being produced?

The information at the link below indicates that Uniroyal didn't sell the Warsaw, Indiana factory until 2000 so it seems likely that Gazelle could have purchased some in the early 1980s.

The details at https://www.usps.org/national/safety/HIN/HIN.pdf indicate that the last four characters of that HIN may be C384 which would indicate that it was made in October, 1983 for the 1984 model year.

Benson

Royalex - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[cuwi]

Does anyone know the dimensions of these Warsaw rockets? I’m going to look at the canoe today and can measure it to try to determine whether it is that or some rebranded old town tripper hull as someone else suggested on another thread.

 

[Benson Gray]

These were being sold by Rivers & Gilman in the 1960s as 'Indian Brand Canoes' in the catalog below. The dimensions may have changed slightly by the 1980s.

Benson

 

[cuwi]

So I did end up getting this canoe. It is definitely royalex. About 82 lbs. it is approximately 16.5’ long and 37” wide and about 12 in deep. I suspect it is one of the “Warsaw rocket” hulls. Pretty much the exact specs as the picture shared above, It is in what I think is remarkable shape for being 40 years old. I think it was a decent deal at $200. I hope to learn more about gazelle canoes and how many royalex boats they actually made. Thanks for all the information everybody.

 

[cuwi]

Interesting reply from another thread, does anyone know any more about rivers-Gilman or Canadian brand royalex canoes?

“ Gazelle did sell a 16ft and 17ft royalex canoe for a while.

I bought one this summer thinking it was an old town tripper. The 16ft model was called the sagamo and the 17ft was called the sagamore. The specs for the 17ft one are something like 17ft long, 37in wide and 12in deep in the middle. As far as I can tell the hulls were made by the Rivers-Gilman or Indian Brand canoe company and given wooden thwarts and carry handles. The seller may also be mistaken on the length as you have to measure from the outside edge of the bulbous ends to get the 17ft measure.

What makes me sure this isn’t fiberglass is that it doesn’t look like any of the gazelle or Rivers-Gilman fiberglass boats of the era. You can typically see the cloth pattern whether chopped or laid and there are usually float tanks and internal structures especially on chopped glass boats to provide structural rigidity.

Mine weighs about 85lbs and will be getting wooden seats. It’s extremely stable, turns well for a boat it’s size and weighs significantly less than a comparably sized Old Town in the three layer poly.

If you can get a decent price on it I’d highly suggest it as a family/tandem camping or fishing canoe. It can be a bit much to handle solo when the wind picks up and doesn’t like to heel over as well as other boats due to its wide flat bottom but I really enjoy mine.”

 

[Benson Gray]

does anyone know any more about rivers-Gilman or Canadian brand royalex canoes?

The description of the 16 foot long Indian Brand Sanamo model is attached below. Let me knwo if this doesn't answer your question.

Benson