|
Boundary Waters Quetico Forum Gear Forum What Sawyer canoe is this? |
Author
Text
06/24/2020 10:47AM
Most likely it's a Sport 16. I expect that it paddles nicely and it looks to be in excellent condition. But it also sounds like the seller is trying to use the word Kevlar to inflate the price. GoldenGlass was the inexpensive lay-up and may have had a little Kevlar in it. You might ask about the weight. 63 pounds is pretty heavy even for a fiberglass boat and the picture of the flotation tank makes it looks like an inexpensive construction. If it's a 42 pound Kevlar boat as indicated in the catalog then maybe it's worth $1000 or close to it, otherwise it's worth whatever you want to pay for a 63 pound fiberglass boat. Scruffy and even decent ones pop up for $300-400 pretty regularly.
Sawyer catalog
Sawyer catalog
06/24/2020 02:12PM
The picture that was posted of the label on the flotation compartment makes me think that it's a fiberglass chopper gun layup rather than a cloth layup. In a chopper gun layup strands chopped up strands of fiberglass are sprayed onto a mold. I think that Sawyer's Goldenglass layup was an interior layer of Kevlar cloth and an exterior layer of Fiberglass cloth, Bell did the same thing with their White Gold layup. IMHO the random strands that you can see in the pic don't look at all like a nice flat woven piece of Kevlar. As justpaddlin said, the actual weight will tell the story, I'd bet the farm that it's chopped fiberglass.
06/25/2020 09:51PM
This message has had HTML content edited out of it.
The Sawyer brand canoes were never a "chopper gun" construction. Depending on the era, (i.e., 70's, 80's, or beyond), the Sawyer brand were E-glass and/or S-glass with Kevlar reinforcements in critical areas of the hull as shown below. The final interior layer often used woven roving to stiffen the hull.
Some of those old 70's Sawyer used a lot of cloth. I had a Kevlar reinforced fiberglass Sawyer Charger that weighed a ton, but it was tough as nails. As far as hull weight, the listed weights were just an average and were often exaggerated by most all canoe manufacturers.
Sawyer generally used fiberglass mat for the flotation tanks, which gives the picture above the appearance of a chopper gun construction due to the loose fiberglass strands. Even the "budget" Oscoda line used rolled mat and fiberglass roving for hull construction.
Most likely a Sport 16, but at 1,000, it's way overpriced in my opinion, even if it's in mint condition. Especially when you consider that canoe is around 40-years old.
Hans Solo
fraxinus: "The picture that was posted of the label on the flotation compartment makes me think that it's a fiberglass chopper gun layup rather than a cloth layup. In a chopper gun layup strands chopped up strands of fiberglass are sprayed onto a mold. I think that Sawyer's Goldenglass layup was an interior layer of Kevlar cloth and an exterior layer of Fiberglass cloth, Bell did the same thing with their White Gold layup. IMHO the random strands that you can see in the pic don't look at all like a nice flat woven piece of Kevlar. As justpaddlin said, the actual weight will tell the story, I'd bet the farm that it's chopped fiberglass. "
The Sawyer brand canoes were never a "chopper gun" construction. Depending on the era, (i.e., 70's, 80's, or beyond), the Sawyer brand were E-glass and/or S-glass with Kevlar reinforcements in critical areas of the hull as shown below. The final interior layer often used woven roving to stiffen the hull.
Some of those old 70's Sawyer used a lot of cloth. I had a Kevlar reinforced fiberglass Sawyer Charger that weighed a ton, but it was tough as nails. As far as hull weight, the listed weights were just an average and were often exaggerated by most all canoe manufacturers.
Sawyer generally used fiberglass mat for the flotation tanks, which gives the picture above the appearance of a chopper gun construction due to the loose fiberglass strands. Even the "budget" Oscoda line used rolled mat and fiberglass roving for hull construction.
Most likely a Sport 16, but at 1,000, it's way overpriced in my opinion, even if it's in mint condition. Especially when you consider that canoe is around 40-years old.
Hans Solo
Water reflects not only clouds and trees and cliffs, but all the infinite variations of mind and spirit we bring to it. – Sigurd Olson
Subscribe to Thread
Become a member of the bwca.com community to subscribe to thread and get email updates when new posts are added. Sign up Here