Sea Eagle SR14 RIK + 30hp Mercury Two Stroke

alanfox55

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I thought I would start this thread detailing my experiences with inflatables in general and my Sea Eagle SR14 in particular. This is my second boat,the first being an 8ft Sea Eagle yacht tender with a small trolling motor then a 1972 Johnson 6hp. My SR14 has yet to be in the water,but I do expect to be ready to use it by this May,so my experiences with it will be limited to updates and mods getting it set up to use. This thread is in no way meant to advise anyone of anything,I don't have enough experience to do that,my only intent is to chronicle what I've done so that it might help a few people,especially those just starting out,along the way.
 

Sea Rider

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Is that model the one that comes with plastic/resin floorboards and don't use side joiners to lock in place the final assembled deck ?

Happy Boating
 

alanfox55

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The beginning.
I started my boating life off with an 8ft Sea Eagle yacht tender and a small trolling motor that looked like it might of been made in the 1960's. I knew nothing about boating or outboard motors and even less about inflatable boats. I'm not sure why I chose a Sea Eagle,maybe that and Zodiac was the only brands I knew of,but I was looking for something small that I could handle by myself so that's why I chose that particular model. It was 2008 and I lived along the Guadalupe river near San Antonio. There was plenty of fish in the river to fish for and when the hot Texas summer got too hot a nice shady spot for swimming could be found. That boat was just small enough to fit into the back of my full size Dodge pickup with enough room left for all my gear. That summer the creek where I would normally launch from was dried up but I was able to drive down that creek to the edge of the river and launch so it worked out anyways. For the next two years I only had the same small sears trolling motor to go up and down that river but it worked fine for what I was doing. It was slow yes but where I went the river was slow,the motor was easy to handle and would go all day. I did finally purchase an outboard motor,a 1972 6hp Johnson I got for $300. The guy I bought it from said it worked the last time he used it. He didn't say how long ago that was and I didn't ask but that was good enough for me. I didn't know anything about outboards,how to go about buying a used outboard or the things you should do after you purchase a used motor number one probably being to change the impeller. Still from the time I brought that motor home to when I sold it three years later that motor would start first time every time and run good all day long. I never changed the impeller,never did anything before putting it away for the winter and nothing before I used it for the first time in the spring. I used whatever two stroke oil that was available and never treated my gas. I would never treat the motor I have now like that and I wouldn't have that old Johnson ether except I didn't know better. Still the fact remains that motor just kept on going regardless...pretty amazing. That motor could not get that boat to plane no matter what. Ends up it wasn't the motors fault,that boat was not intended to plane only to slowly transport people to and from their bigger boat
 

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alanfox55

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Is that model the one that comes with plastic/resin floorboards and don't use side joiners to lock in place the final assembled deck ?

Happy Boating

The SR14 has plastic floorboards and the yacht tender had an inflatable floor. The SR14 does have joiners but the yacht tender did not. I know there use to be an issue with cracked floors and I called them about it. They said the cracks were caused by the front board brace but they changed the design and claim they have no problems with them anymore. I do think the plastic is way to slippery even without being wet but I think I have taken care of that issue with some SeaDeck flooring...read next thread.
 

alanfox55

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This is the SeaDeck floor covering I mentioned above. It's a kind of rubber sheathing with sticky on the back and small nubs on the top. It's suppose to be not slippery when wet and from how it feels I wouldn't expect it to be. I bought a sheet of it that was 77in by 39in for $140. I cut about 2in off and it fit perfect. In the pics it is not installed but just laid in to see the fit and how it looks. It comes in almost any color anyone would want,this is aqua camo. I'll update when I get it installed. I expect it to be a good addition to the boat.I have a bow bag so with that the length of the sheet was perfect.
 

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Sea Rider

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Sorry to spoil the party for some SE sibbers, but this is something you must be aware of or if a newbie plans buying a SE brand as first sib..The hollow plastic floorboard set is the worst part of the whole sib, bow floorboard with time and sun tends to harden and break in the portion adjacent to the keel's air valve. It's a real shame that SE has sacrificed floor strenght and rigidity for lightweight and portability as a strong selling point.

This is the third local SE with same issue in just 2 summers, If the whole floorboard set would have been made of kevlar or carbon fiber would be a different story. Plastic floorboards are not far superior as stated by SE compared to traditional wooden or alum floor panels. As they come, are not proper for choppy seas, in which keel smashes heavily under bow panel, just calm coastal seas, rivers, lakes and that's it.

If you plan buying SE sibs better ask if wooden or alum floor panels are available, no matter if they're heavier compared to, sib will perform much better. A 2 stroke 30 HP engine is about 52 Kg, re inflate well that sib to min 3.0 PSI once resting on water for some minutes, transom/tubes needs the best rigidity to handle that weight specially if going full power.

If the extra skint coating layer seen on pics is an extra reinforcement, does not work as expected. The front bow panel should be plain compact, not a hallow one which inevitably will break on the short or medium run, bad design. SE should test better their sibs prior market launge...

Pics speaks for themselves....

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P1220231.JPG

P1220232.JPG

Happy Boating
 
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alanfox55

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Thanks for the info. If I have a problem I'll be looking for an aluminum floor which I believe I've seen already. Sea Eagle does stand behind their stuff and probably would replace whatever floorboard broke which would not really be the answer if they continued to break. By the way I will only be using mine on inland lakes.
 

alanfox55

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The SR14
I used the 8ft yacht tender for 3 years without any problems then stored it for a year. When I took it out of storage and inflated it I started running into problems right away...it was coming unglued and leaking air. I called Sea Eagle and they had me send them some pictures. They called me back and said this boat was a year past warranty but to their credit also said they would give me all the money I had in it towards any of their boats. I chose to go from their smallest to largest boat,the SR14 and they shipped it to me for free. When I received it I got it inflated to have a look see...wow so much more room! I decided to keep the boat inflated rather then store it so I laid down some blocks with boards to get it off the ground and put a tarp over it. Every so often I would pull the tarp,especially if there was a chance for condensation,vacuum any dirt and treat the pvc then lay back and think about how I was going to proceed to set it up for the water. My income was not what it was so getting it set up could take a little while. Not so bad a thing because I would use the time for study and research about boating,inflatables and outboard motors. This forum,YouTube and a factory service manual for the motor I chose was invaluable for my research. Next up setting up the boat for use.
 

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Sea Rider

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If possible and with room it's much better to leave a sib inflated to min 2 PSI than to deflate, fold and store for x number of years. You can leave that inflatable lying vertical against a wall. Years back was about to order a SE 380 sib through the net, lucky me didn't order it, some friends that did so now are repenting, ungluing issues, cracked floors, sorry, it's one of the bunch with a warranty.

Happy Boating
 
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alanfox55

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Yeah thanks wish I knew that at the time. It's amazing how much I didn't know back then. One thing about getting the bigger boat it gave me a reason to start doing research and study. This forum,YouTube and a service manual have been invaluable knowledge sources though not the only ones and I still have lots to learn but isn't that part of the fun?
 

alanfox55

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The motor.
This boat is rated for a 40hp motor but has a limit of 175lbs. Looking at new motors I found out I was not going to find a 40hp that was that light so it was going to have to be used. Using Nada as a source I found out that the older the motor generally the lighter it was but there was a limit to how old I wanted to go. I settled on late 90's early 2000 as the oldest because even a 2000 model would still be getting close to the twenty year mark. Seems as though what I was reading was that a two stroke outboard motor would last a very long time if it was cared for so there were plenty of good ones out there to be had if I took the right steps to insure I was getting a good one.

I still would keep a look out for a 40hp but a 30hp is probably what I would have to settle for. Ends up the 30hp I ended up with was just about as good as a 40hp. While looking at 30hp motors I found that most of them were about 500cc and weighed in the 120 to 130lb range...very light compared to new ones. Looking on YouTube I found a 40hp mercury that I thought was one of the best looking motors I had seen. A little research and I found out it was a 2cly two stroke made between 1992 and 2002 I believe and the weight could be very close to what I could use but most of them would probably be to heavy. Further research and I found the same motor was made in a 30hp and even the heaviest motor would work. This 30hp is a large 30hp of about 650cc. Reading on the forum found that most opinions was that you would feel very little difference between the 30 and 40 because even though the hp was down because they were the same size motor,both 650cc,the rest of the power numbers would be about the same...just what I needed.

In my search I called a friend in Wisconsin and told him what I was looking for. He said he had a friend who had a 30hp Mercury he was using but that he wanted to sell it and get a new one. He would send some pictures and get back to me. Ends up the motor was exactly what I was looking for. It was a 1997 and from the pictures it looked brand new. He said the owner really took care of his stuff and he assured him it was in very good running condition. The price was good and he said he would ship it to me for $300 so I took a chance and bought it. He had a factory pallet he mounted it to,shrink wrapped it really good then put cardboard around it...a really nice job. Man that motor looked even better than it did in the pictures but how would it run. I got it mounted,turned on the water,pumped in some gas,crossed my fingers then turned the key,in a split second that motor fired up and was running good...big smile on my face,yeah I done good. Next getting it mounted and putting in a steering console,helm and steering wheel.
 

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alanfox55

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I was successful obtaining the the kind of motor and in the condition I was looking for but then I was faced with a couple of additional problems. My boat has a 15in transom but the motor has a 20in shaft so I needed to find a way to lift the motor about 5in. From my research here and on the forum and what I saw on YouTube I decided on a Jack Plate. One guy on YouTube had a Zodiac rated for 30hp but used a 50hp by doing a couple of simple modifications. I would never use a motor that was over rated for the boat but he didn't seem to have any issues so more power to him. I assume he was using a long shaft motor on a short shaft transom too because he was also using a jack plate. It was a two piece non-adjustable jack plate I'm also going to assume he chose because of it's light weight. I chose to go with the same jack plate not so much to save on weight but because how inexpensive it was. After receiving the jack plate and doing research on how to mount it and the motor I decided I needed to have some one else do the work. The work was not cheap but after seeing the good job that was done I think I made the correct decision.I now think I should of went with an adjustable jack plate.Mounting would've been less expensive and in the end I would've had something I could adjust with just a wrench. As it is to move the motor up or down I have to unbolt the motor. Since my boat with this set up has yet to be in the water I don't know of what issues might come up from using a jack plate but because the motor HP and weight is below what the transom is rated for I don't expect any problems...we shall see.
 

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Looks very nice, enjoy and waiting for your results in telhe water. Looks like a bit to much weight in the back. I would move the gas tank to the bow
 

alanfox55

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Yep thanks.This boat is not set up for the water yet, going to be a little while before I'm done with everything. In the pic your seeing two tanks and a battery box that I just put in there to get them out of my way. Before I put anything in the front I have to put down some SeaDek flooring. I got some straps connected to patches so I will be able to glue straps to the flooring to hold down gas tanks,batteries,tackle box,cooler and such...pretty cool I think. I think I paid $4 a piece for the straps. I'll post a full story on the flooring and straps when I get it done. I have a lot of things I'm going to be doing to this boat in the next couple of months and is why I started this thread.
 

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alanfox55

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Here's the straps I referred to above. You can see they are short so if you were going to use them as is you would have to use two,one end going on the object being held down and the other end to the spot it's being held to. You can also see a longer one which will allow you to use only one strap to hold down one or more items. The longer strap I added myself. I got a cover from Iboats and along with it I also got a strap kit.It came free with the cover but you can get them separate which I think cost $20 so they're pretty cheap. I didn't need all the straps so the extra ones I'm using as hold downs where needed. I could also use them for securing to the tubes by adding a couple of d-rings.
 

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alanfox55

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The other issue I had to deal with was this was a remote motor so I was going to have to get a steering console,helm,steering wheel and control box. I decided on a Uflex console along with all the other items which went on easily and fit perfectly. I chose it because it was relatively inexpensive,easy to install and took up little room. Because the console is made out of just one bar it has been easy to connect items to it like gauges easily. This week I hooked up the controls and so far I've been happy with the Uflex console.
 

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Sea Rider

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If you need to adjust engine height +,- is it a fixed move to next hole issue or can play with engine height whatever you want ? About the guy using a 50 HP on a sib rated for max 30, depending on how well are all its tubes inflated to will have in the short or medium run transom ungluing issues and rear cracked plastic floorboards, much sooner if sib is old....A friend of mine has same sib with just a 2 strokes 25 HP yam and both transom holders are becoming apart, very bad music.. a pity.he doesn't believe in pressure gauges.

Happy Boating
 

alanfox55

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It has extra holes above and below where I have it mounted so I have plenty of room for adjustment. It's just that I can't just use a wrench to adjust it I have to unbolt the motor then lift or lower it. It's not something I expect to have to do but if I do at lest I don't have to drill new holes in the transom to do it.

The guy on YouTube has a Zodiac Futura MK 1 with a double aluminium floor. How old are the Sea Eagles with cracked floor boards? Mine is a 2013 and I talked to Sea Eagle about issues with the floors and they said they had a problem but that it's been addressed and they don't any more...we shall see.

When I got my first trailer the floor boards sat on the bunks. It looked fine without a motor but after mounting the motor and going down the road 40 miles I got home and found the rear boards very stressed and bending but didn't crack. After adjusting the bunks under the tubes the floor straightened out and everything has been fine but again we shall see.
 

Sea Rider

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The main issue is excessive sun radiation punishment which will harden and crack floors specially if sib will live exposed to the elements or moored without a thick cover. If combo will live sheltered after use, no issues.

Happy Boating
 

alanfox55

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Oh OK thanks. Yeah I've always had a cover on my boat knowing all to well the destructiveness of a hot sun...I've lived in south Texas the last five years. I just got a nice boat cover from Iboats I'm very happy with. It was custom made for my make and model of boat,fits perfectly and includes a support pole with vent. Then I'll get the SeaDeck flooring down and I shouldn't have to worry about any sun damage. In the picture of the flooring it shows the front board not covered but I have a bag for that. I estimate that once I get the flooring cut I'll have enough material to cover the whole floor.
 

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