Solstice by Swimline Sportster 3-Person Runabout

I bought this boat to be a dinghy for my 29 foot cruiser. I do not have much space to store it, so I wanted something I could easily inflate and deflate. So far, this boat has met that objective. I have not had it in water yet, but I can say that it was easy to inflate and the provided pump works well. Probably only took me 20 minutes to set the entire boat up. It is difficult if the material is cold, however, so you will want to let it warm up so it is more plyable. I looked at several boats in this class including West Marine RU-260, but I did not see much difference in quality. Actually, this boat seems to have a better floor system than the RU-260 as it uses aluminum slats versus smaller wood slats for the RU-260. I think this will work well as a tender boat to just shuttle people short distances which is what I intend to use it for. Haven't had it on the water yet, but so far so good. I will be using it with a small 2.6hp motor which mounts easily to it. One complaint, the inflation order for inflating the sections of the boat was not numbered as it was supposed to be. Therefore, I had to call the company, but they said that it really does not matter what order, but you probably want to inflate the side compartments first. Overall good value for the money.

I bought this to shuttle myself to the shore when I am anchoring my 27 ft sailboat. The dingy is great because it is very compact when deflated, and can be easily inflated on the deck of my boat. The oars do take some getting use to, but once you do it is easy to get around. I ended up also getting a 3.3 HP mercury 2-stroke outboard for it. When I am at full throttle I think it can go about 5 knots. One thing I would say about it though is that it really is a 2 person, and I don't see how I could fit a 3rd person on it. I now use the boat for crabbing during the summer as well as shuttling people to shore. Haven't had any problems with leaks yet.

This item arrived promptly and the quality of the boat seems very good. The included foot pump has a hole in the bellows. We inflated the boat using another pump and the boat seems to be holding air fine, at least initially. Will continue to monitor the boat over the next couple of days to ensure it is still holding air. We would like to have the pump replaced without having to return the boat. I will update the review pending resolution of the pump issue.

The bow section does not hold air I have not had a chance to find the leak yet. I'ts too big to send back.

The quality was better than I expected

I had to return it all 3 air chambers had very slow leaks non the less they all leaked. The stitching that ataches the bottom to the sides was falling apart right out of the box.

Awesome it works great when I was done with it I fold it easy and put it in my cabin love it!!

Inflated the boat in my basement no problem hold air just fine. Can't wait to take in out Monday.

I got this boat at a reasonable price ($650). At first glance it s well made, inflated extremely fast with the supplied pump and it s pretty light (23kg). I haven't used it yet but I will update my review once I take it out on the water. The floor is not inflatable therefore standing up might pose a challenge, it has 3 aluminum planks but not sure if it will stabilize the floor enough to stand on it. I bought this boat as I will be fishing alone ( plenty of space for one person) at 2 ppl it will get tight. the advantage of the flat bottom is that you can go anywhere, even in few inches of water. So far I'm pretty happy with the purchase. UPDATE: I have finally taken the boat on the water with a 55lbs electric motor and I'm pretty impressed. Even though I was sceptical about the possibility of standing on the floor, I was wrong after all. I actually managed to stand up and fish from standing position! Not the most stable floor but if there are no waves and you position your feet the right way on the aluminium planks it's feasible. The only downside I can think of is that the bench is a bit far from the transom so its a bit hard to control the motor. Still like the boat due to its lightness (can carry it by myself no problem, but not a long distance). 2021... after a lot of use and abuse still working :)

Delivered intact promptly. Did a thorough unpack and checked off all parts, and did a trial assembly and left inflated for a couple of days with no appreciable loss of air. Quality, relative to the excellent price, is exceptionally good, and I have found no flaws. Four stars only because it’s impossible to use it because of the freeze up. If it does the job of yacht tender, which I have no doubt it will, it will be a five star.

So far we are pretty happy with it, most impressed with how quickly we got it!

There are only 2 floor boards. Makes it very uncomfortable. There is No keel line. It has a flat bottom. Very unstable. I advise to pay more for something better and more complete.

It looks good, but the material its made from is too thin, I've only used it 4 times and already had to patch 2 puncture holes. The inflatable i owned before was made of very heavy duty material, not like this one. This is another example of made in China crap.