Canoe Anatomy: Materials - Oltonar / Royalex®
- Lightweight
- Excellent Strength and toughness
- Moderate cost
- High impact and abrasion resistance
- High structural memory and resilience
Oltonar is Old Town's exclusive version of Uniroyal's Royalex®, a multi-laminate composed of ABS, ABS foam and crosslinked vinyl. We were one of the first manufacturers to use Royalex® in canoes, and our Oltonar laminate has evolved to include extra layers of ABS and ABS foam for added strength in critical stress areas. In fact, each of our Oltonar models has a Royalex® sheet tailored to fit its specific design and intended use.
Old Town still uses an exclusive vacuum forming method developed by Lew Gilman in the 1970s. Oltonar starts out as a flat sheet, which is heated in an oven. During heating, the core expands, forming closed-cell flotation within the hull. At the proper temperature, the sheet is removed and placed on a platform, the mold is lowered on top of it, and the sheet is vacuum-drawn into the hull shape.
Our long experience with Oltonar allows us to incorporate subtle differences that translate to superior performance, like varying the density of the laminate to save weight here or add strength there. The innovative and exacting forming method works in conjunction with skillfully designed molds for consistent quality and finer, more subtle design lines.
Oltonar's unique molecular configuration has much to do with resiliency: an Oltonar canoe can be folded in half by a bridge abutment or boulder, and then return to its normal shape with minimum hull distortion. With its light weight, it is often the choice of recreational and whitewater enthusiasts.