I've previously owned two other Sea Eagle boats, including a sport runabout that we cruised around the North Sea and tributaries with excellent results. Poor salt water resistance but otherwise exceptional in both cases. THE GOOD - The SE9 is a less expensive boat but more suitable for a couple now in their mid-sixties. The boat is easily manageable and can be stored in a large suitcase, which works better than the included bag. It is spacious given its size. The floor is rigid and a pleasant surprise. It is fast to prepare for launch. We paired it with a Suzuki 2.5 outboard (29lbs) and the motor mount is a clever design and surprisingly rock solid. If a smaller engine was made it would be more than adequate. The boat will do about 4 mph beyond which more throttle is a waste of time and fuel. At idle it moves along at 2 mph. Was excellent for fishing although my opinion of the inflatable seats without backs is not good. (The inflatable kayak seats might be more comfortable).THE NOT-SO-GOOD - Quality control seems not to match our experiences over the years. Most annoying are the mounts for the oars. The plastic is more like soft rubber and after three times rescuing oars from the glass smooth water we gave up stowing them on the mounts. One of the spring buttons on the motor mount disappeared into the tubing and had to be coaxed back out with a screwdriver. I can see this being replaced with a pin in the near future. The retaining elastic for the upper pins was a farce -- frayed and ragged out of the box. The "transom" for the motor may position the mounting screws on the motor perilously close to the air chamber and the screws on the Suzuki are cheap and sharp. Be sure to mount it as high as possible. It is solid and handles the engine fine. The optional aluminum seat plank is best not purchased. At only 8 inches and resting on the rather flimsy inflatable tubes it sinks down and shifts a great deal and isn't very comfortable. A better arrangement would be to make your own with the aft portion actually resting on the rear inflatable chamber. The fishing seat isn't very comfortable for long periods at the tiller. The canopy is very fiddly and was missing parts, which made it even more fiddly. Because the boat flexes a great deal the use of non-elastic nylon straps to position it doesn't give very good results. Best to use bungee cords or rubber straps on the aft portion to keep the canopy taut or maybe just buy some umbrellas and sun cream. The actual cover is quite small and only effective if the sun is directly overhead. Finally, communication from Sea Eagle was a bit hit or miss. Shipping dates kept changing and after ten days I chased it up, but couldn't get any of their phones to answer. I finally spoke to a person when I called their fire and rescue boat dept. A few days later it did ship and arrive. Same trouble getting someone to arrange to complete the order for the missing parts. It could be they are incredibly busy...or not. It isn't fair to compare this with SE's sport runabouts which cost three times as much and are far more robust. The negatives are relatively minor and I don't think anyone will be disappointed by the SE9.SUGGESTIONS: The kit includes an electric high speed inflator which, unfortunately, has such a short cord as to be very awkward. It also includes a very good foot pump to finish inflation. If you have battery powered tools then consider buying an inflator that runs on them. Craftsman makes one for $79. A $10 adapter will allow you to use the high pressure side to finish inflation (keep an eye on pressure and on the inflation gage provided by SE). Well worth it.
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