Spark durability

ian123 · Post by **ian123** » Mon May 02, 2011 4:24 pm

I've done a forum search on the spark and people seem to think the boat is fragile. Has anyone actually wrecked one? What was it?? Abrasion? Impact? Pin??

djutzi · Post by **djutzi** » Mon May 02, 2011 5:36 pm

never heard of or seen one wrecked...but then again most people who paddle them are fairly skilled, and in some cases only use them for slalom racing.

my club has had one in our rental fleet for the past 3 years and the only notable damage is a chipped deck plate. granted its been paddled primarily on the higher water runs in the Ottawa region.

Dan

scott curtis · Post by **scott curtis** » Mon May 02, 2011 6:31 pm

alot of people love the spark.It's not PE, so think about putting a layer of abs on the bottom.. it will look realy pretty too.

kx250guy · Post by **kx250guy** » Tue May 03, 2011 12:35 am

sorry to say, it will be like any royalex canoe these days. Since its a race boat type design, your body weight will have a big effect on durability,.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:23 am

I have been VERY pleased with the durability of my Spark. It has held up better than some of my Royalex boats. I do try to paddle it well, but I also weigh 185 - 190 pounds and I do not go easy on it (for example- paddled it in the Taylorville section of the Beaver River, see http://www.americanwhitewater.org/conte ... l/id/2612/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzgvHrPZkso&NR=1).

Last year I took it down a little local creek and at one point I tried to jump on a wave. I did not realize it was being formed by an old piece of an I-beam that I hit pretty hard on the end of the beam. The camo skin held up well.

ezwater · Post by **ezwater** » Tue May 03, 2011 2:31 am

For those that don't know, the Spark is made of Royalite. The two layers of ABS around foam are the same materials as Royalex, but the vinyl skin is replaced by R84 which is stiff enough on its own that the thickness and weight of the ABS layers can be somewhat reduced.

Royalite blanks can be ordered to be just as strong as Royalex, and sometimes I guess they are, but then the weight savings is less. Or, a light but adequately stiff boat can be made of Royalite, but without reaching the strength of a heavier Royalex boat. Of course, Royalex boats also differ in weight and strength, depending on what sort of blanks were ordered from Spartech.

Usually there are complaints about the R84 surface of Royalite abrading more or scratching easier than Royalex. I can't speak to that.

Seems to me like a very smart company like Esquif will have ordered Royalite blanks that are strong enough for the Spark to be used for slalom and river running, but maybe not for serious creeking. Does that make sense?

dafriend · Post by **dafriend** » Thu May 12, 2011 4:55 am

My Spark lasted four years. During that time it was stapled, folded and mutilated. Well... not really mutilated until the very end. It saw a lot of water and held up well. Took punches without complaint and generally lasted much longer than other boats I've similarly abused.

Bottom wore very thin toward the end and started to delaminate. What did it in was a momentary broach between a couple rocks dropping sideways into a well formed hole. Boat about 2 inches too long for the opening. Gunwales and thwarts gave way in all sorts of interesting ways.

In short, it's plenty durable. Ride it hard and put it away wet.

cheajack · Post by **cheajack** » Thu May 12, 2011 11:28 am

While not as eloquent as dafriend and certainly no great slalom paddler, I abuse my Spark with the same abandon as my Ocoee and it seems to be taking it well. I couldn't miss even half the rocks in a river if I tried.

marclamenace · Post by **marclamenace** » Thu May 12, 2011 1:05 pm

The spark is light and fast for sure, some of the light weight is also due to much smaller twarts on the boat too. Happy to hear it seems to hold up pretty well for most people, one of my friends has the camouflage material peeling off on its but he's not being smooth with it and patching with abs layers seems to do fine. Does anyone know if that camou layer is the R84 itself or something else? I've heard it is some kind of a sticker they put on it does that makes sense?

Shep · Post by **Shep** » Thu May 12, 2011 2:44 pm

I would expect it to be the R84 itself. Since a LOT of canoes are used for hunting these days, it makes sense for the royalex manufacturer(s?) to provide camo-patterned material to canoe maunfacturers.

Shep

kabuki_blaze · Post by **kabuki_blaze** » Fri May 13, 2011 1:34 am

Not to hijack the thread, but what is the weight limit for a spark? Any thoughts on paddler size and performance?

2opnboat1 · Post by **2opnboat1** » Fri May 13, 2011 2:59 am

just remember that the outside layers of r lite and royalex are for color and uv protection only. If it peels you can paint it and not loose any strength.

scott curtis · Post by **scott curtis** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:28 pm

You can buy ten lbs. of camofauge lego's online for 10 bucks

dafriend · Post by **dafriend** » Wed May 25, 2011 3:33 am

kabuki_blaze wrote:Not to hijack the thread, but what is the weight limit for a spark? Any thoughts on paddler size and performance?

I weigh-in at 215 (+/- a few) and the Spark handles that load well.

Dave

Eli · Post by **Eli** » Sat May 28, 2011 4:44 pm

I've creeked mine pretty hard and it took the abuse longer than I expected (it freewheels nicely). I've had to replace the gunnels a few times, but the hull held up for quite a while. I'd say it's like any abs boat...the rotomold is more durable, but the Spark's design is a lot of fun to paddle!

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