Update on our Sea Eagle Kayaks

Since “inquiring minds” have asked about the status of our Sea Eagle boats, I thought I’d let you know the latest.

You may remember, we had a problem with the first two kayaks,  and  Tim and Crystal from Inflatable Boats 4 Less immediately had two replacements shipped out.

When we took the second two out, one kayak had a leak in the exact same spot as one of the first boats.  It’s evidently an area that requires a bit more adhesive.  This is not an area that would make the boat sink, it just allows water between the keel and the hull.  Not a major issue and I’m sure we could have repaired them ourselves.

As expected, Tim and Crystal responded immediately and worked on getting the issue resolved.  We never had a doubt that they would make it right, but it was a bit aggravating that we had the problem once again.  They  were quite concerned and decided to let the owner of Sea Eagle know what was happening because evidently there was a problem.

It turns out that this is a new model boat and it’s been very popular, so they cranked up production.

Evidently were making them a bit too fast and quality suffered.  Plus, they were having  some issues just because of the new design.  After they got our first two boats back they checked them out and decided on a few design changes.

They were going to make the changes on a new run of boats.  Tim asked if we could wait until the end of the month for our replacements.  That’s no problem because kayaking isn’t in our immediate future, but we still had the old boats, just in case we needed them.

Even though we found no problems with one of the last two boats, I asked if we could replace that one as well, since it came from the same run.  No problem…they would replace both boats.

Last Saturday, boats number 5 and 6 came.  We still have 3 and 4 and just need to box them up.  Tim asked that we let him know when we had them ready and they would send Fed Ex to pick them up.  No hassle, no expense.  We will get them boxed up in the next day or two.

Of course we haven’t had a chance to try out the new boats, but we are confident they will either be right, or they will be replaced.

Even though it’s been a bit of a hassle, Sea Eagle stepped up and did the right thing.  We would have no problem recommending these boats or this company.  We really liked the kayaks the few times we have actually used them.  They are easy to inflate and they paddle quite nicely.  They track straight and they are comfortable.  The only issue is deflating them and packing them back up, and that’s mainly because you have to dry them off first and try to get all the sand and dirt off of them.  That part takes more time, for sure.  The 385 Fast Track boats we have have an inflatable floor (that you can actually stand on to paddle).  We really like that feature, but you splash water inside the boat getting in and just paddling, so that water ends up underneath the floor.  You have to take the floor out to dry it and it takes a bit of time.    We may carry them on kayak racks on the roof and dry them back at the campsite.  These kayaks are sturdy enough that you can actually transport them on the roof of your vehicle.

Anyway, that’s where we are on these boats. 

Yesterday in about a 3 minute time frame I saw quite a variety of birds in the bird feeder.  Al put this feeder by the back window so the kitties could bird watch.

Goldfinch

Male Northern Cardinal

Red Bellied Woodpecker

White Breasted Nuthatch

It was a busy feeder.  I also saw a Brown Thrasher and a Bluebird, but I couldn’t get any pictures.  We have two Bluebird nests, each with 5 eggs.