Journey 10 SS Sit On Top Fishing Kayak
FEATURES:
- Two flush mount rod holders
- One swivel rod holder
- Large, comfortable seating area with adjustable padded seat
- Open cockpit allows the easiest of entry
- Adjustable foot braces
- Self-bailing
- Storage compartments
- P.A.C. (Portable Accessory Carrier) can be used as extra storage
- Shock cord deck rigging
- Protective thigh pads
Overview of the SunDolphin Journey 10 SS Fishing Kayak
Well, it’s the 19th of February and it’s going to be 70 degrees today, so I figured I’d take the new Sun Dolphin Journey kayak out. Test it out and see how well it does. My other kayaks are sit-in kayaks, this is my first sit on top, so going to see how it does. Haven’t had it out yet.
Several kind of cool features to this one. This one, of course, has the dry box container in here, which you can open up here. The cool thing about this one is, this actually comes out and you could do as a pull behind, behind the kayak and it floats, so you can tie it off.
Then it opens that whole compartment there. You have the two fish holders. You notice the holes for drainage. This one has a little dry compartment here, which is kind of cool. It does state, though, it’s not completely dry. So what I’ll probably do is take these screws out and I’ll put some kind of marine sealant around there to make it completely dry.
Drink holder, you have a rod holder here, which I have a attachment in the back. That will fit in there and you can hold your rods. Another water bottle containment. You have your foot rest here, which you can move. Have your drain plug here. So pretty cool. This here, you have storage here.
So we’re going to take it out and see.
Okay, so I took the Journey 10 SS kayak out for about three hours. My overall impression of it is really good. I really, really liked it. I researched this thing online, it did get some pretty bad reviews, it also got some really good reviews. So I wasn’t really sure what to think about it.
The stability of it was really, really good. I did like the openness of it. Where my sitting kayaks, I was kind of limited on my movements inside the kayak. But the stability was awesome, I really liked how sturdy it was. I didn’t think it would glide through the water as well as my other kayaks, because they kind of have a V bottom, V bottom to them, this is more flat. But it tread in the water really, really good. It did want to steer a little bit to the left when I was in the water, but it wasn’t hard to handle at all.
The rod holders, here in the front, was really nice, I really liked it. This compartment here, I told you it was … They said that it’s not waterproof, you can tell. It’s almost like a live well. There’s so much water in it. The thing about this one, though, is my butt got extremely wet. You can see all the water.
It is the middle of February, it’s about 65 degrees. Even though it was pretty nice today, it did get a little chili. So I think I’m going to get some of those scupper plugs, I think that’s what they call them. You can get … you can plug up these holes. In the summer time, it wouldn’t be bad. It would actually keep pretty cool. But I think I’m going to get some of those plugs. Especially for the spring.
With the stability, it was a little bit more stable, so it was easier to get to my packs back here, which was kind of nice. What else about it?
I did like the storage compartments here on the side. It was really nice. So like I said, overall, I thought it was a … It’s really a great kayak for the price of it. I would highly recommend it. Like I said, I got this kayak on sale, I had some coupons. I got it at Walmart.
For a beginning kayaker, I would probably give this thing 8 out of 10. Like I said, I really, really like it.
Sun Dolphin Journey 10 SS Review
All right. What we have here is the SunDolphin Journey SS. This is a 10-foot Sit-On top kayak. I purchased this one at Walmart. I’m just going to go over a few features with it here, and then we’ll post another video about the modifications I’m going to make to it to kind of customize it.
First off, we’ll start off up here in the front. You have a carry handle. That’s what this is. Drain plug in the front. Some bungee tie-downs for storage. A good place for sticking a life jacket. As you can see, you got adjustable foot pegs on each side. Here in the middle you got a water bottle holder, a swivel mount rod holder that comes with it.
Another little compartment right here for just putting whatever you want, maybe a drink. Who knows? You can carry two of them if you want. You got padded knee grips on the side. Pretty thick and heavy rubberized stuff for putting gear behind. It doesn’t come out real easy. There’s one of those on each side.
Here in the middle you have a storage container. Right now I just have some regular stuff in there, but that’ll be one of the mods we make is waterproofing it because no matter what they tell you, this is not 100% watertight. Adjustable straps on the seat back. You got scupper holes in it. It’s self-bailing kayak. We got some scupper plugs to put in there.
Each side has a holder. I got mine for a amazing deal. I got it for $225 at Walmart (Check price on Amazon here) because it’s missing the one bungee cord, which I can cut the ends off of an actual bungee cord, run it through those holes and fix it for about 25 cents, so I wasn’t going to pass that deal up.
You have two, one right there, one right there, built-in rod holders. Another storage thing back here. More bungee straps holding it down. This one, take and put the lid back on it and get it out of the way here. Tighten it down. If you want, this one actually comes out and can be used as a tow-behind. Now this one is completely enclosed. It is watertight. The only thing you might do is actually watertight that lid opening. It has a carry handle. Just goes behind it like such.
You’ve got to forgive the camera work, but you can run that handle through there and use it as a tow-behind to carry whatever gear and then you got another big storage area right there.
And then, of course, there’s another drain plug here in the back. You’ve got a lot of options. You can put stuff in here, use those bungee straps to hold it down. All in all, you’ve got three rod holders, two closed storage compartments, knee pads. I’ll show you over here. It did come with this paddle. It just holds it right onto the side there. No big deal. And like I said, we’re going to do some modifications to it. Nothing major, just very minor, just to kind of personalize it. Stickers, of course, and we’ll post that in another video.
