Was the Mad River Eclipse made in both Royalex and Royalite?
How would you tell the difference between the two?

The Mad River Eclipse, the Royalex version of the Malecite, was at different times made in both standard Royalex (2001 – 2002) and in Royalex Lite (1996 – 2000).

Mad River’s Royalex Lite was simply a “lighter weight version of our genuine Royalex”, “Less heavily reinforced than standard Royalex”.

Other manufacturers “R-light” or “R-84” incorporated an acrylic outer skin instead of the usual vinyl for weight savings. The acrylic skin was less abrasion resistant that vinyl, but faded less in UV exposure.

Royalex Lite canoes were more prone to oil canning in waves.

If the HIN is a 2000 (ends in 00) it might have been produced in either material.

EDIT: I do not know of a visual way to tell the difference. Possibly the weight; the Royalex Lite Eclipse had a speced weight of 61 lbs. I don’t have a speced weight on the standard Royalex Eclipse, but it should be at least several pounds heavier.

Just found out the canoe is a 1997 with aluminum rails, it was stored in a garage. Is this still prone to “cold cracks”? Is this the regular Royalex?

If you scroll to the bottom of this link and click “Chronology of Canoe Production” it will show that the Eclipse Royalex Lite (RL) was in production from 1996 to 2000, and the Eclipse in standard Royalex was made only in 2001 – 2002.

https://www.madrivercanoe.com/us/custom ... d-catalogs

A 1997 Eclipse is Royalex Lite. I verified that with paper copies of old MRC catalogs from my files.

Although any gunwale material on Royalex canoes can lead to cold cracks the “usual suspects” are Royalex canoes with wood gunwales/screws. Royalex Lite/thinner RX doesn’t help.

See this thread, repeated cold cracks with R-light & aluminum gunwales.

https://myccr.com/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=39795

See this for more MRC information about cold cracks

https://www.madrivercanoe.com/us/experi ... 20moisture).