Royalex is a composite material, comprising an outer layer of Vinyl and hard acrylonitrile butadiene styrene plastic (ABS) and an inner layer of ABS foam. The layers are bonded by heat treatment.
Royalex is used for the manufacture of canoe hulls. Royalex is lighter, more resistant to uv damage from sunlight, is more rigid, and has greater structural memory than non-composite plastics used for this purpose, such as polyethylene. It is also quieter, faster, and more user friendly in cold or hot conditions than aluminium. The flipside to this is that you will pay more for Royalex than for aluminium canoes or canoes made from traditionally molded or roto-molded polyethylene hulls.
It is heavier, and less suited for high-performance paddling than fiber-reinforced composites, such as fiberglass, kevlar, or graphite. The exception here is whitewater canoes, where Royalex is the material of choice for performance boats.
Royalex was developed by the Uniroyal company.
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