Winter 2017, around November, after the long (and nice) 2017 Summer season, and long looking at Soul website, i decided that it would be great to have some custom made kayaks and SUP for myself, I like what I can find on the market but with some little changes i thought i will get the perfect kayaks and SUP, so, chat with Corran that was really helpful and fast designing what i wanted, I got 3 fantastic plans for, one River Runner, Dagger Axiom style but longer and with more rocker and volume, one Creeker, following Soul Chaos Monkey design but with some more volume and a great flatwater cruising SUP.
So, till now, all great! Very exited, i could not wait to get my new toys!
Let's have a look at the river runner!
Looks great!
Now let's check the creeker!
Fantastic!
And now the SUP!!
Veeery cool!!!!
And now thinking....it's a lot of money...i will need to wait a long time to get them....will they really be so good....prepayment.....
But yes i could not resist, i did the order!
And i transfer the money to Corran Addison account, 4.550 USD, after this and waiting around 6 months i paid the shipping and the customs (the boats comes from China), 1.450 UK Pounds, than 750 Euro to get the kayaks outfitted from Eurotank tha did a great job (the kayaks comes empty, no outfitting), and some other 150 Euro to get them all at home, well, a lot of money but i was still happy to get something really special and if you consider the cost of a single production plastic boat, these are not really so expensive (ok, all listed prices are ex VAT).
After long waiting...i got the boats!! And here is where the tragedy begins.
SUP arrived broken, no assistance from Soul
Creeker arrived broken, no assistance from Soul
Ok, Soul say that i should check the boats before accepting them so this is not their problem anymore, unfortunately this was not possible because from China 3 different carriers and companies handled them before they has been delivered to me but ok, this is Soul policy and it looks we need to accept it, and we do, even if for such expensive and exclusive stuff i expected a different customer service from them, at least the shipping should be insured or they should inform us that is was not, so we could ask for it.
Please note, that the main problem is not that the boats/SUP arrived broken, i got them repaired, what is unaccettable, is the build quality of the products, and even if Corran/Soul is trying to say that this is how they should be, i can not accept it, because it's not, and i can not use them, and...he did not even see how they are because they arrived direct from China to us.
Maybe, some other Soul Custom kayaks are ok but these are not at all.
Please note, that the main problem is not that the boats/SUP arrived broken, i got them repaired, what is unaccettable, is the build quality of the products, and even if Corran/Soul is trying to say that this is how they should be, i can not accept it, because it's not, and i can not use them, and...he did not even see how they are because they arrived direct from China to us.
Maybe, some other Soul Custom kayaks are ok but these are not at all.
I sent the creeker and the SUP to repair and now....they are not broken anymore..but........
1) The SUP has oil canning all the way on the hull and on the sides, the carbon is so thin and bad attached to the foam core that it brakes just gently pushing with a finger, the inside foam is the worst and cheapest quality, full of air, there is no padding on the standing area, Corran said that it should be in the package and that i will need to glue it myself...strange...ok...but there was nothing in, so..no pad, board brakes just looking at it.
Nothing to do with it, 'll need to throw it away, from Soul, no assistance, they said this is as it must be.
2) The Creeker, broken from transport, can you immagine it on a creek? Quality construction is so poor that it can maybe survive class 3 if there are no rocks around. No more comments, please have a look at the pictures.
oil canning all the way on the hull
really poor finish inside, never seen a composite kayak as bad as this one
is this a cockpit?
no comment
find a surface on the deck without oil canning if you can
So again nothing to do with this kayak, now repaired but not something to paddle on WW. What to do? Throw away this as well? No help from Soul, Corran say that this is how the product should be.
3) The river runner, the only boat that luckily survived the transport is a collection of oil canning and natural bents. The cockpit is made in a way that will never hold a spraydeck in place and the general construction quality is something all the composite experts that have seen it was just crying about. Have a look....
Again a nosense tool, and again same answer from Corran Addison, Soul owner, this is how the boat should be.
Please note that only the outfittings are from Dragorossi and that it is the only properly made and installed part of the boats.
So thank you very much Soul and Corran Addison for the good products and the great after market assistance.
As it might be not so clear and easy to understand from the pictures how the boats and SUP are in real, i would like to inform who is interested that the 2 kayaks and the SUP will be at disposat at our base Alpin Action in Trnovo ob Soci 26/a, you are all invited to give them a check for all the 2019 season, 15th of March to the end of October.
Pietro Linda
