The sib itself was far more impressive in real life once inflated than we thought it would be, and with the Suzuki on its back really impressed my son who was busy taking photographs with his phone to show his mates.
At least something woke him up!
The V really is more pronounced than any pictures or video shows, and the overall quality to us with no knowledge of sibs was still reassuring.
The floor was a lot more rubbery and almost sticky to touch (at least when dry), so perhaps our concerns of the dog sliding around everywhere were unfounded.
But since we got him (he was a rescue dog from Spain) he has always had a weird habit of frantically digging nonstop to make a bed if he is stressed, even on the lounge vinyl! So a rug of some sort for him might still be on the cards.
It also seemed to be really level and comfortable to stand on, but will see once in the water how it feels.
The rest of the sib tubes, cones etc seemed to be of equal quality to the floor in our opinion, although a few minor marks and dents form folding as expected (see pics)
On putting on the OB we did expect the balance of weight to be in our favour, but we were amazed at just how much lighter the sib became to handle and move around 1 handed (although only in the garden admittedly)
I am sure the under-bow metal D ring could be made more comfortable to grip or you could rig a better handle to clip on. But if there are 2 moving it using the side grab handles, they were very comfortable to hold for any size hand.
For those having to go a further distance, a bow trolley (like a few shown on the forum) would make it even easier, although always something else to deal with.
If the wheels do hold out better than Steves, I see no issues at all moving the set up a reasonable distance over half decent ground, particularly as there will always be at least two of us, and if the dog is there, at least three. Of courses over sand, rocks, or a greasy slipway underfoot it won’t be so easy, but I was really pleasantly surprised.
So now the perceived negatives, and of course this coming from someone who has no previous knowledge of a sib, and this was our first unboxing/pack away trial.
It really is a big heavy beast to move, especially while still in its box. Even now when it’s in a bag, we still struggled to move it, but is possible, and I had few injuries that were certainly a handicap on the day!
The extra thick material the Volaire is made of (depending what part of the excel website you read) is probably its own worst enemy in some ways. It obviously adds to the weight, and we also found it very hard to fold the cones to keep the package to a minimum length to put in the bag. The Excel Volaire logo is also at the cone/transom folding part which probably doesn’t help.
This was our first time trying to pack it down and we are hopeful it will become easier to pack as the material perhaps softens and we get used to doing it. But it would be interesting to see how the other Excel owners find this?
The bag was adequate, but I think I would upgrade to something more substantial with stronger tie straps later, which I think would help moving it around easier as well. On a lighter sib the bag might be ok.
We did notice a few small bubbles like bits etc under the seams but I guess this would be quite normal with most sibs
One negative particular to ours rib was there were lots of little shards of drilled metal all over the inside of the sib, presumably from drilling the transom and box section for the wheel brackets.
More than likely, these would not have harmed the sib, and some too small to do the any real harm to us. But some of the larger ones could have been quite nasty, and after my recent list of injuries, we took the precaution of vacuuming the inside after picking out all the larger pieces
.
There were small bits here and there that were slightly dented (where the metal brackets pushed against when folded I think which didnt dissapear when blown up) but we have now folded bubble wrap and towels in to protect the tubes. Also the metal brackets werent finished very well with a few sharp bits and also on the bolt ends.
But as said earlier overall we are really impressed, and cant wait to get the big beast wet
these wheels will be to handle once at the water though. So that might be an interesting experience we cannot really practice in advance.
spy-sea-one
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