Sun Dolphin Camino 8 SS Kayak ReviewSaltwater Fishing Kayak

Features

 

Sometimes it’s perfectly normal to what to go Kayaking yourself. In recent times, kayaking has sort of becoming this communal task that you need some form of extra gear or companionship for, well not anymore. This ultralight Kayak comes with everything you need for a personal retreat into nature. With its dedicated graduated footrest, fully adjustable seats, and most importantly, size, you are promised an adventure unlike any other.

• It comes with a comfortable dedicated, grippy handle for easy transportation
• It comes with graduated footrests for a long and relatively comfortable trip.
• Large and open cockpit
• Dedicated storage facilities
• Square stern translates to increased stability
• Fully adjustable seats with extra padding

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Specifications

 

Length: 8 foot

Width: 31 1/2 inches or 80cm

Weight: 40 lbs

Weight Capacity: 225 pounds

Material: Rugged UV-stabilized Fortiflex High-Density Polyethylene

Warranty: Limited Lifetime Warranty

Included accessories: kayak

User Experience

Usability

This recreational kayak, it isn’t meant for much more. And as such it comes with features to promote and ensure a pleasant user experience. Its unique shape makes all the difference in the water. The rowboat design goes a long way to providing the sort of stability and control needed for long term journeys. All 8 feet of its relatively compact hull is super easy to handle and control.

This lightweight kayak was designed for the recluse. It’s a one-person kayak with amazing control and it is relatively easy to transport. It is perfect for you if you are looking for a little escape from it all.

Stability

This kayak comes with several oddities and this necessarily does not translate into a bad thing. Aside from its exceptionally shaped stern, there is nothing surprisingly odd about the shape of this Kayak. It comes with a square stern that can sometimes translate into a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it.

The kayak comes with the conventional kayak bow and all the other things that are usually found in front of a kayak, but its square stern tends to put people off. Its peculiar shape is actually what gives this boat most of its stability.

Its overall shape is quite similar to a rowboat and it looks and sometimes performs like one. The extra real estate at the back changes the kayak from the conventional oval shape to a more triangular shape which allows you to cut through the water at a reasonable pace and still maintain stability.

This singular design choice takes half of the stress of kayaking off. You can focus less on stability and simply enjoy the journey rather than fighting to keep balance.

This departure from the traditional kayak design and shape doesn’t come without some compromise. The shape of the stern reduces the overall performance of the Kayak in more fast-flowing waters. Although there are no drawbacks stated by the makers of the kayak, first-hand use has revealed that it fishtails quite a bit when the current speeds up.

You could paddle faster if you are bent on faster travel but the kayak is simply not just designed for that kind of use. You can, however, paddle constantly to correct yourself on the water.  That aside, this kayak is exceptional and you shouldn’t come into any problem with control and stability.

Control

This kayak is a bit on the smaller side. As we said, it is smaller than the average kayak and this translates to a lot of things moving forward. Numerous advantages can be attributed to its almost novel size. This kayak is just about 8 feet in length which is minuscule when compared to the standard 12 feet of other recreational kayaks. The kayak also follows with a small width of about 30 inches, six inches below the standard 36 inches found on most kayaks. It’s about 12 inches in depth and weighs about 40 pounds.

The muted appearance of this kayak doesn’t come with its advantages. The most notable being the increased handling or control of the entire Kayak whilst in the water. With you gently nestled in the cockpit and the size of the kayak but a fraction of what it formerly was, a single row could be significantly more effective and greatly affect its trajectory now that you are in a much smaller kayak.

You might also be interested in: Ocean Kayak Zest Two SOT Review

Storage

This Kayak isn’t exactly big, to begin with. It is more of a recreational, slow-paced kayak than a fast-paced oval kayak that can handle white water rafting. This small kayak comes with a reasonable storage space that will definitely allow you to take quite a few things with you if they aren’t too large. The storage space isn’t exactly large nor is it small neither. It’s just large enough to carry the bare essentials and nothing else.

Comfort

When we talk comfort, there are quite a few comfortable kayaks out there, but none of them are quite as unique and mobile as the Sun Dolphin. This kayak comes with an adjustable seat, graduated feet rests, and most importantly a high backrest for that long, lonesome retreat into nature that I was talking about.

We think its adjustable seat is the most important feature of the entire Kayak. Granted its minute size and stability are great perks, but the backrest and fully adjustable seat just do it for us. Most times kayaking can quickly turn from this fun-filled adventure to an agonizing journey where you can’t seem to sit comfortably as you paddle downstream. Eventually, you spend the entire journey splashing, constantly adjusting in the water, and end up almost drowning a few times. The fully adjustable seat makes the entire experience infinitely more pleasant. The adjustable seat allows you to shift and adjust until it feels just right and the backrest ensures that you go hours without needing rest.

After you are done adjusting your seat, you can then lay back and rest your feet literally. This kayak comes with dedicated graduated footrests that suspend your feet in the air so that they don’t feel tired as you paddle. With these feet rest you won’t get uncomfortable during your trips to the great outdoors.

A spacious cockpit

Most kayak manufacturers assume that kayakers like feeling their jackets rub against the edges of the cockpit as they paddle downstream, Sun Dolphin, however, isn’t that presumptuous. This kayak comes with enough room to make movement whilst kayaking possible. You no longer feel like you are glued to a spot while you are on the water and that is simply refreshing.  This small single person kayak can support up to 225lbs.

Color options

This strange-looking kayak comes in three different colors; tangerine, ocean, and plain red. All the colors cover up the entire kayak and they aren’t as horrible or as uninteresting as they sound.

Portability

With an overall weight of around 40 pounds and a length of around 8 feet, moving this kayak should pose no real challenge. It’s light enough to be casually thrown on your shoulder and it’s small enough to fit in the car or on the hood. It comes with a single ergonomic carry handle, so actually lifting it shouldn’t be an issue. You should be able to set it into the water by yourself and it shouldn’t take up much space in your storage unit or home.

Overall Rating

 

Price: 100% – With an overall price of under $300, I think it is safe to say that you are definitely getting the best bang for your bucks. It’s relatively easy to handle, transport and it comes with phenomenal control. it really might be worth every penny.

Material: 100% – It would be easy to think that such an amazing kayak would have to come with some unforgivable compromise, well they don’t. this little kayak is completely made of top of the line polyethylene. A strong and durable material that all kayaks that are worth anything come in.

Design 80% – The design of this kayak isn’t the most stylish or conventional but it still holds its own quite nicely against the more expensive and conventional-looking kayaks. It is not so bad that you can’t simply stand it, neither is it great enough to make you look forward to your kayaking trips.

Overall: 90% –This kayak gives you a little bit of everything. It provides balance, stability, and follows it up with a lot of comforts. Granted it’s a little bare, but the other features more than makeup for this considerably.

Globo Surf Overview

This kayak might come in an unconventional shape and is not the only one of its kind but it stands tall above the rest and with good reason. It comes with one of the best prices to performance ratings in its entire category and its design is simply out of this world.  Other kayaks are just as oddly shaped and confusing as the dolphin, but none quite seem to measure up. So, here are a few reasons to go with this kayak if you are still having doubts.  The kayak is tested and trusted by several users and has proven to be an invaluable addition to their outdoor kayaking equipment. It weighs about 40 pounds and comes with an ergonomically designed handle so transportation shouldn’t pose much of a challenge. It’s incredibly comfortable because of its dedicated backrest and fully adjustable seat. It’s also incredibly easy to control and very durable. It’s stable on the water because of its square bow and the graduated footrest literally sweeps you off your feet. It is perfect for you if you are looking for a one-person kayak that is easy to transport, cheap, and easy to control and maneuver. It is relatively inexpensive and is worth every buck.

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