We are sure that may of you who have read at least a couple of the reviews we post on the site will know. We just don’t grade or recommend cheap kayak options that much! It’s not that we think that you should go all in on an expensive kayak your first time around. We actually get the fact that you won’t want to be spending top dollar on something you don’t already know you like.
Our main argument is that if you buy a cheaper boat you typically don’t get the full experience. This leads people away from kayaking. The boat we got today we have to admit we got from Walmart. We know that is very far off from are usual way of doing things. Before we got it though we had hear people had had trouble with the shipping process.
source: kayaksandpaddles.co.uk
As the boat came incomplete when they got it shipped in. We really didn’t have high hopes with this boat. So we didn’t want to have to spend our time with returns or anything like that! The boat in question is the Sun Dolphin Bali SS 10-Foot Sit-on top Kayak. Here are some of our experiences after sometime on the water with it!
About The Product
The Sun Dolphin Bali SS 10-Foot Sit-on top Kayak is a rare breed of kayak. That may not necessarily be a good thing! Sun Dolphin calls it a sit on top because the cockpit is not inclosed. In reality though it doesn’t even come with an actual seat. Which means you are sitting on the kayak the entire time.
It does have a back rest. These come standard in the less expensive Sun Dolphin boats and are actually not that uncomfortable. This boat does have some cool accessories so that you may carry gear or other things. It comes with a Portable Accessory Carrier which is a dry storage unit that you can take out from the back and attach to the kayak.
Leaving you with more storage space on the back of the boat. It can also be used to help you stabilize yourself on the boat. The boat doesn’t have great balance so adding more weight is not exactly the best idea! Being able to float your cargo beside you helps that out a bit.
Key Features
What We Like
We liked the amount of storage room on this boat. You can really carry basically anything with you. The portable carrier is a cool feature so that you can still carry your things not feel crowded on the boat! The thigh pads and backrest are reasonably comfortable.
You actually have enough room in the deck to be able to adjust a seat if you happen to have one from another boat. It also has space at the sides that can be adapted as rod holders. So that you can comfortably fish on this boat. For the price these happen to be good assets.
If we were grading another type of boat we may not have been so kind.
source: kayaksandpaddles.co.uk
What We Do Not Like
Wow! Where do we start with this one! For starters the boat just doesn’t ride well! It is tough to get it to go in a straight line, even for the more experienced users. We always advise to stay away from boats that cannot be controlled. Especially if you are a less experienced kayaker. This is exactly what we were talking about in the beginning of the review.
New users tend to buy cheaper products and they end up leaving because they don’t like the experience. In this case we would rather advise you to look for an inflatable option or something in the same price range that you can feel safe in.
With this boat you are going to have trouble controlling it you and won’t find your balance easily. Those are 2 of the most important things you absolutely need to have on boat. Otherwise you could potentially be out there risking your personal safety. Overall we just did not like this boat at all what else can we really say!
Where To Buy
If you are keen on buying this boat don’t worry we won’t try and stop you! We will however give you a couple tips so that you can at least get a full boat! We don’t recommend buying online! We usually do with these types of kayaks, but in this case we read one too many customer complaints.
About them not getting everything that they essentially paid for. If you do go the online route then be ready to call up the manufacturer. There we really have no complaints the guys at Sun Dolphin are very kind and will ship you any missing pieces. We just don’t see why you would take the risk of your kayak not coming fully stacked.
There are plenty of retailers out there including possibly your local walmart.
source: amazon.com
Conclusion
The Sun Dolphin Bali SS 10-Foot Sit-on top Kayak is probably the boat that we have been the toughest on in our entire review section. We had actually really liked other Sun Dolphin lines so we were really surprised about how badly this boat performed.
We had a good number of guys try this one out and the overall consensus was that no one felt comfortable recommending this boat. We actually cringed at the idea that parents would buy this boat for their kids. As it could potentially endanger them.
If you are plan is to take this boat to a lake and just literally sit there fishing for hours on end you may not have a problem. That would be the only reasonable use we could find for it. As it is relatively wide and you can store a good amount of gear. Yet even in those conditions we couldn’t guarantee you wouldn’t flip at the slightest movement. In our opinion if you are looking at this boat don’t take the risk look elsewhere!
Our Rating
