I love this channel, thanks for the videos. Straightforward and insightful. I searched for tiny pump2x and watched that video. And wow, now your reviewing the kayak on our wish list! Awesome Sea Shepard t shirt; the world is a vampire :)
I bought the solo 393 last July. Love it. I have several other Sea Eagles, and one is from 2009 used almost 500 times, never patched! Instead of using the time consuming to install foot pedals, I rest my feet on the edge of the molded on the kayak pedal holders. Seems to work perfectly fine for me, and reasonably comfortable. I wouldn't even think of installing the pedals unless I was in a race, or planning a 10 mile+ paddle trip. I've never used the skeg yet. I'm very happy with how it tracks without it. Kayak Cliff mentioned the same thing. I love that there is nothing on the bottom to hit a rock unless your in less than 6 inches of water. With no skeg attached, I can paddle directly on the shoreline which is often great for sight seeing. I'd only use the skeg on really long paddles or on windy days.
Use a deck sander. It works well. The bars go in and out easily and it is way better on long paddles. The skeg breaks easily. Cost is 170 Canadian to replace from sea eagle. A couple of Canadian sites do it for 101 c$ which is still crazy!
@@classicarcadeamusementpark4242 29 us$ from sea eagle. They added shipping to make it 101us$ which is ten % of a total package! I emailed. They ignored me. I found a couple of Canadian sea eagle sellers. Total cost was 101 c$ or about 70 us$. A scam but you need the skeg. I’m a lot more careful now in white water
You just reminded me of the coolest teacher I ever had in elementary school in the 70’s. You could be her daughter. Now I’m wondering how she’s doing now. 😀
Because this boat is very tippy, I wonder how easy/difficult it is to reenter in an overboard situation. I know Sea Eagle say good for flat water but you could still be a mile offshore on a calm lake but at a certain point if the chop picks up I would be concerned -- so would really need to have practiced getting back in or somehow get to shore
We practiced capsizing and getting back in. It’s a fairly simple maneuver to get in but does require upper body strength and skill. You have to push yourself up and on the boat all while flipping over to land on your butt. It all takes practice. The boat is tippy for new people but we find it very stable now. (On flat water)
So far we have yet to tip over. It seemed super tippy when we first took it out (we were beginners), but not a big deal now. We did purposefully tip over one time to make sure we could get back in it easily.
Think of it as a canoe in terms of stability. It would be difficult for one person and a dog in choppy water. We took a medium sized dog out and the water turned rough. I held the dog between my legs so he wouldn’t move around. We safely made it back but it would have been extremely difficult to get the dog and people back in the boat if we capsized with big waves.
Sorry to hear about your boat. We purchased an extended warranty knowing it was a big purchase and how much we use it. The constant folding and unfolding is a big unknown but so far so good.
I have a similar ds inflatable kayak and roll it up rather than folding. It's not the recommended way, but it seems to put way less stress on the material and you can roll the seats up inside, without having to refit each time.
