FIRST IMPRESSIONS
I got a chance to paddle the P&H Delphin during a trip to Nova Scotia to the Bay of Fundy. It's a very maneuverable and responsive kayak well suited for play in surf and swell like conditions. It's also durable and well suited for rock gardening in tight spaces where you can be confident it will resist hard scuffs and bumps.
SPECIFICATIONS
DELPHIN 155 | DELPHIN 150 | |
LENGTH / WIDTH | 15FT 9IN (480CM) | 15FT (457CM) |
WIDTH | 22.5IN (57CM) | 21.5IN (55CM) |
WEIGHT / CAPACITY | 58.4lb (26.5KG) | 55lb(24.9KG) |
MAX PADDLER WEIGHT | 275lb (125KG) | 230lb(105KG) |
STERN / BOW HATCHES | 13gal (49L) / 17.2gal (65L) | 12.5gal (47L) / 17.2gal (65L) |
FRONT DAY HATCH | 1.05gal (4L) | 1.05gal (4L) |
NUMBER OF HATCHES | 4 | 3 |
MATERIAL | CORE LITE X8 | CORE LITE X8 |
CARGO CAPACITY
The Delphin has limited capacity. You won't be taking this boat on an extended expedition, unless you have a other high capacity kayaks to carry additional gear. the oval hatch in the stern lets you store long items like tent poles, while smaller compact items can fit in the bow hatch. I would note that the water tightness of the hatches aren't 100%, so make sure that you bag your gear with dry bags and maybe have a sponge or two to mop up things. The front day hatch isn't very big, but will hold a few snacks and a tube of sunscreen. The smaller Delphin 150 does not have a rear day hatch.
SPEED AND TRACKING
This is not a fast boat that you will be using to cover long distances. If you don't have the skegg down the boat will wabble from side to side on the forward stroke, but once you put it down, it will track straight. On strong winds, however, you might find that the boat will still weather cock even with the skegg down.
MANUVERABILITY AND SURFING
The Delphin is a very responsive play boat. It has a lot of front rocker, a wide flat hull under the cockpit and sharp chines allow for a lot of edging before you need use the paddle for support.
The surf zone is the ideal use for this kayak, it accelerates quickly on to the wave, and you can quickly make the 90 degree turn to get yourself into position.
You will also find that the Delphin is much stiffer and when compared to a rotomolded plastic boat which makes it more responsive when surfing.
The YouTube Videos below from Kayak Experience & Kajakkguiden are a good demonstration of the P&H in action on the surf zone.
COMFORT
The seat on the P&H is well padded and comfortable, and the hip pads have ratches for a tight fit. Seating in the cockpit leaves you with the feeling that kayak has become an extension of yourself, and you have complete awareness of where the bow and stern are at all times. The foot pegs are also easy to adjust while sitting in the cockpit.
ROLLING
I found that the Delphin is a little more difficult to roll than most touring boats. The sharp chines and very flat bottom mean that the rolling motion isn't continuously smooth, and you have to get past a tipping point to get through for the kayak to then fall in place upright by itself. This means that you have to be very deliberate about keeping your head low especially at the beginning of the roll. The roll feels effortless when you get it right, but you won't get through even a quarter of the way when you get it wrong. There's no cheating your way through the last couple of inches with poor technique.
The YouTube videos below from Machester M4t shows how to roll a Delphin 155
SKEGG
I found that the skegg system on the Delphin to be very easy to use had no issues with deployment and retraction. The YouTube video below from Kayak 41 North describes how it works.
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