Bell Merlin II

[Tracker]

I'm not looking for a canoe but this just popped up locally. Don't see many nice canoes for sale in my area so....
Guy says it's Kevlar Crystal, It's garage kept and only used a few times. It does have one small scratch, not bad but through the finish.
He wants $1,000 looks like a nice boat but would like to hear others opinions. I only ever owned royalex. I like flat water tripping, easy streams/rivers.

Thanks for any info.

 

[yellowcanoe]

Year? The last two numbers on the HIN tell all. It is a nice boat but IMO the price is high. I got a UL Merlin II back around 2000 for 1100 and it was new. Crystal Kev is an older layup.

 

[Tracker]

 

[yellowcanoe]

It was made before 02 for sure; that she bought new in 02 is not answering the question. The seat is cane not rattan. Its a sweet general purpose solo.. I bought new in 01 and the boat was a 1998 model.

More info from Charlies post here http://www.paddling.net/message/showThread.html?fid=advice&tid=1227389#1228255 I think he would not mind me citing it.
The seller is not wildly overpriced but its at least a fourteen year old boat and IMO there is a little bargaining room.

 

[Tracker]

He sent me this then.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Didn't think kev. crystal had gelcoat, hence the crystal, the ones that I have seen are quite translucent. I thought it was the white gold versions that had gelcoat though could be wrong and this could be one of those special order options. I would happily pay $1000 for it but then solo boats are a rarity within 500 miles of Winnipeg.

 

[Guest]

I liked the merlin II enough that I owned 2 of them-not at the same time. Both mine were kev krystal and had gelcoat. It's a real fragile layup and gets spiderweb cracks in the gelcoat easy. They aren't supposed to hurt strength, but I didn't like them. It's a nice easy somewhat fast lake crurser with a touch of maneuverability with decent capacity. I was never good enough to freestyle it, but I'm sure YC could. It paddles a lot like a Hemlock peregrine and is similar in size if that helps.
Good luck,Turtle

 

[yellowcanoe]

02 it is.. I linked to Charlies layup description in a post above.

Kev-Krystal, later Kev Lite, is a two layer "Tweed" hull with aramide quarters, foam core and sometimes ribs and tweed foam covers. Early versions had, usually, clear gel but could be special ordered in opaque shades. Later versions are skin coated.

Its less hard tracking than a Peregrine so its more friendly in small twisty spaces.

Tweed refers to 75 percent Kevlar 49 and 25 percent Kevlar 29. My understanding Kev29 does not resist twisting as well as 49.. But is superior in the bulletproof department. Is your canoe going to get shot at??

 

[Guest]

My lovely wife used to say the material looked like snakeskin.
Turtle