This is a timely post for me because I made a run yesterday that should have been a 3 hr easy trip and turned into a 7+ hr ordeal with some serious boat abuse. Dad paddled his royalex Mad River Guide, and I paddled my previously new Clipper 14 Prospector. The stream we paddled is remote, gets little use, recently experienced significant flooding, and we knew there were a couple of “shut ins” sections with class II rock gardens. We did not expect the water to be so low given the gauge readings, and the shuts ins turned into extremely technical class II alternating between high pin potential and absolute scrape fests. There were also tons of downed trees and strainers to scrape over and through. In the non WW sections of riffles, I lost count of how many times I got out of the boat to minimize scraping/dragging (still ended up scraping a LOT). I beat the snot out of my Clipper and can now confidently compare Kevlar Duraflex to IXP, and to Swift’s epoxy “beefy” expedition Kevlar (extra layer of innegra), as well as t formex and royalex.
Firstly, t-formex to me seems significantly softer than royalex and less stiff. It dents easier and scratches deeper in my experience. Dad dragged his Guide over stuff yesterday that would have made ugly scratches/gouges/dents in my old Wenonah P15 (t formex). T-formex does slide over rocks pretty easily and can take quite an impact, but I do think it being softer makes it easier to wrap in addition to showing more damage. Just my opinion.
Similarly, I now think Duraflex is stiffer and harder than IXP or Expedition Kevlar. I think the resin specifically is harder in the Duraflex, and they somehow have the outermost fiberglass layer closer to the surface for better abrasion resistance, but it will still flex enough when you slide over a big rock. The softer IXP and Swift resins scratch deeper, taking more resin with each scratch. I have scratched into the innegra fabric on my IXP Phoenix with much less severe conditions than the Clipper took yesterday and all of the Clipper scratches are way, way shallower because they immediately run into 6oz S-glass which helps you skate over the rocks easier. I also missed a quick technical turn where I should have transitioned into a ferry, but my hesitation caused the current to grab me and slam me bow first into a large downstream rock very hard (picture of the rock garden and the type of rocks below, from the bottom looking upstream). The Clipper barely shows a mark (pictured). I had a similar experience on the Buffalo last spring in my Phoenix and while the impact was similar, the softer Phoenix layup shows more damage.
I think the Swift is very similar to the IXP, but the epoxy may be slightly harder than the IXP vinylester resin for slightly more scratch resistance. I haven’t scratched fully into the fabric of the Swift yet, but it also hasn’t seen the same level of abuse. All three are plenty stiff, but I do feel like the clipper being a little harder/stiffer, and having more layers of cloth in general, would take more force to wrap, and would fair better afterwards. The thwarts are also thicker and stiffer aluminum as well vs Northstar.
Clipper after yesterday:
Clipper showing S-glass pattern near surface abrasion:
Phoenix showing bow impact location, hard to see but went through fabric in places. This is right after 303 application.
Clipper showing similar bow impact location:
Swift epoxy Exp. Kevlar scratches:
Clipper mentioned they looked into innegra at one time and still have some on hand, but their testing didn’t show any improvement over their Duraflex so it wasn’t worth the added cost to them.
The tradeoff of course is weight. I now firmly believe Clipper makes the toughest composite boats out there. They are definitely not the lightest. I carried it about 100 yds in one place yesterday and it is not a light boat fully outfitted.
All things considered, all three layups are very tough and very capable. For my uses with its added stiffness and abrasion resistance, the Duraflex is proving the best, but for wraps/pins I think all three are likely capable of being paddled out of a bad spot as well as a t formex boat in most cases. I think the swift “could” be the worst there because the mat or ribs could break or delaminate, whereas that isn’t an issue with the IXP or Duraflex. Every pin and river/situation is different though and there are of course situations where a royalex boat or any other layup won’t survive. But a good “tough” composite layup is pretty great these days.
