Sea Eagle?

dee87

Recruit
Joined
Jan 27, 2017
Messages
1
I was interested in purchasing a sea eagle 285fpb to fish the local harbors and lakes in socal. And some cruising around. I was able to find a pro package for 780 and bought a local torqeedo 1003 for 1000. Any owners on here? Im looking for something light weight with standing capabilities and quick setup/takedown that will fit in my toyota prius or mitsubishi outlander. I live in an apartment so i like the portability of the sea eagle. Reading on this forum, seems people don't like the sea eagle too much. Is it mainly because of price or are there better options?

Thank you
 
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Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
Welcome to Iboats,

Do you intend to buy a inflatable or a alum deck Sib ? A 285 Sib is a very short one, huge water drag, would advise go tad larger to at least a 320, roomier, bit wider, will enjoy it more.

Happy Boating
 

alanfox55

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
476
Good timing you asking about Sea Eagle as I was about to post an update on my experience with my SR 14. You can find the original thread under Sea Eagle SR 14 + Mercury 30 hp last post being April 2016. For awhile me and Sea Rider had an on going argument about the the build quality of Sea Eagle boats. He taking the position that people should not purchase them because they fell apart and in general they were junk. I took the position that even if they did fall apart during or even after the three year warranty period their customer service was so good that they would replace the boat with a new one. I now have to agree with Sea Rider.

I've owned two Sib's both being Sea Eagles. The first one was an 8ft tender I used with just a trolling motor. For three years me and a buddy had fun going up and down our slow moving river. We were not in a hurry to do anything so the set up worked fine for us. At the three year mark right at the end of warranty things started to come unglued and falling off along with air leaks. At the beginning of the fourth year everything had come unglued and fallen off,it would not hold air and worse of all the transom had come completely unglued. Needless to say I was pretty mad so called customer service. To their credit they offered to give me all the money I had in the tender towards another Sea Eagle boat of my choosing. I decided to go from their smallest boat to their largest and supposedly toughest boat, the SR 14.

I had become disabled and my income had dropped a lot so it was going to take me awhile to set the boat up just how I wanted it but I was willing to wait. First purchase was a high quality cover I got here at iboats. Then a friend gave me a trailer so right away the boat was inflated,on a trailer,under a cover and kept in the shade. Jump ahead to the 2 1/2 year mark and the boat was all set up and ready to go as soon as I took care of some engine issues. Jump ahead to the three year plus one month mark and I had to make a 180 mile move with the boat on it's trailer. I had never felt good about traveling down the interstate with the boat only having two tow rings to hold the front end down and boat on the trailer so I had added two high quality d rings using good Clifton adhesive. Good thing I did because one of the tow rings came unglued and fell off but thankfully the other tow ring plus the two I had added held. Shortly after parking the boat though the other tow ring fell off.

Again I called customer service but this time what I got was a bad attitude. After explaining all that had happened the man came back with "What Exactly Do You Want Us To Do"? Deciding not to give the guy a piece of my mind I just told him to send me two new tow rings and I would glue them on myself. Well they took a very long time to send them and the ones that they sent were unusable junk.

Jump ahead to the four year mark and again everything has come unglued plus four small air leaks I just got done patching. Thankfully the transom still looks solid but time will tell. So to wrap this story up I have always taken good care of this boat,always kept it clean,treated,under a cover and 20151013_190329 (1280x720).jpgCroped Sea Eagle.JPGin the shade.In fact it still looks like new but again just like the first one by the forth year it's falling apart. Bottom line I for one will never buy another Sea Eagle anything.

Long story I know but something I wanted to get off my chest.
 

Sea Rider

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 20, 2008
Messages
12,345
Alan, sad to hear bad news regarding your inflatables. Is not that have issues with Sea Eagle as never have owned or will own one myself. Frineds of mine have own some, as mentioned didn't last very long, the ones with plastic deck cracked at second year, useless asking warranty living so far away from USA. To me the lifespan of any inflatable has to deal with the quality glue used to assemble it, european costly ones are much better holding parts in counterpart to asian ones which lasts way less.

Add more UV radiation, higher sun temperatures poorly inflation and you have it. Against that mean cocktail very little can be done Laugh when seeing there on line propganada of the elderly boater punching a side tube with a hammer and saying "it's tough". Wanted to get it off my chest is equivalent to our wanted to get the nail out...LOL!!

Which other brand inflatable do you plan to go after, boating is priceless relax along fun.

Happy Boating
 

alanfox55

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 17, 2011
Messages
476
Thanks Sea Rider. Thankfully the boat is still usable so until it's not I plan on keeping it.

Mod EDIT: Alan, not your topic or about your new boat
 
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ronaldj

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
655
The reason why sea eagle gets no love from serious boaters is that they require far to much maintenance.
The issue is the type of glue they use and the construction method
The pvc they use is questionable also depending on the model

You really want welded seams as opposed to glued seams

With all that said there are quality boats that fit your requirements.
First you are going to find that a 285 boat is just too small
To be safe you need at least 3 meters (10 feet)
I believe your outboard is the equivalent of 2 1/2 hp
Your outboard means you need something along the lines of a Kaboat
A 12 foot weighs about 50 pounds and a 14 foot about 60 pounds

Zodiac/Achilles make a Compact Rib that is either 3 or 310
It weighs about 90 pounds and has a folding transom.
The boat is made for people with no storage
Not sure how it would run with that small an outboard

No matter what you use
If you are in SoCal you will need UV spray to protect your boat
 

mrdrh99

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Feb 1, 2013
Messages
756
My complaint about sea eagle is the price! I have owned both a sea eagle and a Saturn and the quality was comparable, had the sea eagle not been obtained used for a very good price I would have never gotten it.
 
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