Hi All,

What is the general consensus between the quality of the pre-ORC Bell's vs the ORC built Bell's? I am buying a 2010 Black/Gold Magic and was curious if the quality fell off when ORC took over. I plan on buying it anyway since Magics are hard to come by down here and it looks like a nice canoe. I was just curious mainly.

I read some things here and there that said quality fell off a bit especially the early ORC boats but could not find anything too definitive.

Thanks,

Surfman

No direct experience with ORC era Bells but I think ORC bit off more than it could chew in that building the Bells was more involved and required more skills than they initially assumed and their people generally didn't have them. I noticed a lot more "seconds" for sale during the ORC era. But my feeling is if the boat looks good and there are no obvious flaws it probably is good.

I think Magics are hard to come by in general.

I think the boats sold that were sold as first rate were for the most part just fine, but as the previous poster noted they had a large percentage of 2nd rate blem boats and those could range from hardly noticeable in flaw to absolutely horrendous. Buying used makes it hard to know if it was a blem or not. Maybe someone with more knowledge could weigh in on if they marked the blems or not. I would go over the whole boat with a sharp eye on the fabric itself, most of the issues were in the layup, delaminating, patching more serious mistakes , excess epoxy in areas and roughness. Is it a gelcoated blackgold? The gelcoats can hide layup issues, if its black fabric it would be easy to see imperfections if you pay close attention to the fabrics weave pattern. Even if its a blem and it has a few flwas it could still be a great boat, they generally function 100% and for a boat headed up to rock infested waters who really cares about minor cosmetic flaws. The concern for me would be making sure I didn't overpay for a cherry hull to find out its not so perfect. I wish I could have found a nice blem or used boat when I bought my SR Carbontec.... those first few scratches hurt bad...... Lucky for me I made up for it by getting my like new early 2000's almond gelcoated and wood trimmed Magic for about $400 all said and done :)

Thanks for the info. I do plan to look over the boat really good and barring any major issues I am going to buy it. From the pictures I really don't anticipate anything major and Magics are hard to come by in TX.

It does have a fair amount of scratches on it but seller said none of them were through to the carbon and all were superficial. I own a graphite Sandpiper and a black kevlar Prism so I know how black boats show scratches so I am not too worried about the scratches.

I am fairly certain this one is skim coated and I read most later Black Gold Bell's were skim coated unless specifically ordered with a clear gel. It also has the newer style air tanks (I prefer the old style) and mold line that runs gunwale to gunwale rather than bow to stern like the older models.

I have been wanting a Magic for a while so I am pretty excited about it.

Thanks again,

Surfman

I bought an "ORC" blem Bell Northwind in Madison in 2008. The blem had to do with a couple ripples in the fabric on the inside....I would not have really noticed it until the dealer showed me. I bought it new (black gold layup with ash gunwales) for $2600 instead of listed price around $3200. I think it was around 2008. Still have it. It has been on trips totalling 1000+ miles to date and still going strong, but with lots of scratches I like to call battle scars....

I would think a thorough visual inspection would let you know it there are any potential issues with the canoe your planning to buy....

I would not buy anything ORC labeled as Bell. Stock they had that was produced when Ted was still in charge of the line, yes, but how do you know when that ended? That company had no clue what they were doing when it came to canoes. You want a Magic? Buy a new one from Northstar.

When Ted owned Bell he never sold "blems", all firsts.
ORC sold "blems".
CB