Post by philpot on Apr 6, 2013 22:15:11 GMT
Well time and weather has been against me to get the second part of this review done. At long last we have had some really nice evenings so with no further ado, off to Ashby Ville lake for a spot of boating.
I must admit the speed that you can put this Sea Eagle together for the water is impressive. Normally, on an inflatable boat, the first job is the lock together floor however we don't have that problem with the 285 as there is only one piece of floor which can be popped in at any stage of the preparation.
Now I will say that if this was my boat, I would use the floor plate to make a nice shelf in the garage and simply produce another floor plate 9'' longer to cover the entire floor area. I cannot find a reason for having a floor plate too short for the floor area, perhaps there is a reason but it escapes me.
The 285 sits well on the water and although there was no chop on the surface, I could see quite clearly how this little lady would be far less affected by rougher water due to the raised catamaran style floor. One problem with most inflatables is that they do not sit that well at anchor if there is a chop on the water surface even with a shaped keel usually causing a rather bouncy trip.
As I said in the previous review, I have had a number of inflatables of different types and only once did I have a boat with a round transom because I really don't like mounting even small outboards onto the age old ' outboard bracket ' as they are set too far back for comfort and also quite twitchy with steering.
The 285 is no exception to this unfortunately, which is a real pity because you have a cracking seat which is about 30'' further forward meaning you have to outstretch your arm to reach the controls.
I borrowed an electric, 48lb thrust motor form my friend Phil Eaton (esoxuk) running off an 120amp battery so it was going to be heavy with my arse and the battery near the back of the boat but it offered a chance to see how well she sits in the water. To be very honest I did not like the very sensitive steering but it is not just the 285 but ALL rounded transom boats. Most modern inflatables have the motor plate set in from the ends of the tubes which has two main advantages, firstly weight distribution is far better as the weight of the motor and if electric, weight of the battery is inset from the back of the boat keeping the boat flatter. Secondly, the steering is less sensitive as there is the tube structure slowing the turning action creating a smoother turn and much easier to keep in a straight line.
A thought did cross my mind and that was if I owned the 285, I would produce a bracket to fit my Torqeedo kayak motor along with the remote hand controls and produce a steering linkage so that it was all to hand. No reaching backwards and far better control over the power and direction without discomfort to the shoulder.
The seat is fantastic, giving a commanding position over the boat and surrounding water. I found it very easy to cast a fly from this position so any other type of fishing would be a breeze. Standing up to cast was a very stable experience and I confess, better than a normal inflatable boat without a raised floor. I found the fly fishing net which clipped on the boat just in front of my knees to be a waste of time and I would cut the net in half, stitch up the sides to produce two very useful bags for bits and pieces. The floor area is uncluttered so no problems with fly line just laying on the bottom prior to casting.
One very interesting point here is that because the front of this craft has extended tubes, you can very comfortably stand on the standing plate set at the very front edge of the boat with no problems whatsoever. I am a very slim 16.5st and there was no point that the 285 became unstable. At this point I should say that whilst in the photos, my waders look a little tight-----well they have shrunk in the wash before anybody makes any comments and I also had 10 jumpers on to keep warm.
I like most aspects of the Sea eagle other than that rounded transom which I really dislike very much and would have been jumping through hoops to use this craft in the other format. I would also buy a ' Bravo ' 12volt air pump because they would have this boat up to full pressure with in two minutes and also a real feature is to deflate using the pump means the whole boat will be completely flat when finished with which makes storage even better. The Sea Eagle 285 is a very compact outfit to pop in the car boot taking about half the space needed for my past inflatable boats.
In conclusion I would say that for those of you who fancy an inflatable boat to fish from would enjoy this little lady as it is well thought out but I have to add that in my humble opinion this would be a fantastic fishing boat without the round transom and although having not laid eyes on the foldcat pontoon fishing boat it ticks all the boxes for an out and out fishing boat. Please do bear in mind that the issue I have with the round transom is my issue and therefore you may not find it to be an issue at all.
The Sea Eagle 285 is very light so much so that I carried it in and out of the water myself which you would not be able to do easily had the boat had a conventional floor fitted. My daughter and I picked the boat up to turn it over to dry off and she was amazed how light it was compared to other inflatables I have owned.
It took some interest from two guys who were fishing at the time saying how much they liked the look of it.
Here are a few photos of the test
My youngest daughter, Katie, had the job of taking the photos of her old man playing in the water, in fact she took 88 pictures which took 2.5 hours to load on photobucket. I just told her to feel free to shoot pics and had no idea how many she had done. It took 45mins to remove most of them from photobucket. Anyway tuts, thank you for taking them. Katie is a bit miffed the boat is going back because she wants it.
Phil
I must admit the speed that you can put this Sea Eagle together for the water is impressive. Normally, on an inflatable boat, the first job is the lock together floor however we don't have that problem with the 285 as there is only one piece of floor which can be popped in at any stage of the preparation.
Now I will say that if this was my boat, I would use the floor plate to make a nice shelf in the garage and simply produce another floor plate 9'' longer to cover the entire floor area. I cannot find a reason for having a floor plate too short for the floor area, perhaps there is a reason but it escapes me.
The 285 sits well on the water and although there was no chop on the surface, I could see quite clearly how this little lady would be far less affected by rougher water due to the raised catamaran style floor. One problem with most inflatables is that they do not sit that well at anchor if there is a chop on the water surface even with a shaped keel usually causing a rather bouncy trip.
As I said in the previous review, I have had a number of inflatables of different types and only once did I have a boat with a round transom because I really don't like mounting even small outboards onto the age old ' outboard bracket ' as they are set too far back for comfort and also quite twitchy with steering.
The 285 is no exception to this unfortunately, which is a real pity because you have a cracking seat which is about 30'' further forward meaning you have to outstretch your arm to reach the controls.
I borrowed an electric, 48lb thrust motor form my friend Phil Eaton (esoxuk) running off an 120amp battery so it was going to be heavy with my arse and the battery near the back of the boat but it offered a chance to see how well she sits in the water. To be very honest I did not like the very sensitive steering but it is not just the 285 but ALL rounded transom boats. Most modern inflatables have the motor plate set in from the ends of the tubes which has two main advantages, firstly weight distribution is far better as the weight of the motor and if electric, weight of the battery is inset from the back of the boat keeping the boat flatter. Secondly, the steering is less sensitive as there is the tube structure slowing the turning action creating a smoother turn and much easier to keep in a straight line.
A thought did cross my mind and that was if I owned the 285, I would produce a bracket to fit my Torqeedo kayak motor along with the remote hand controls and produce a steering linkage so that it was all to hand. No reaching backwards and far better control over the power and direction without discomfort to the shoulder.
The seat is fantastic, giving a commanding position over the boat and surrounding water. I found it very easy to cast a fly from this position so any other type of fishing would be a breeze. Standing up to cast was a very stable experience and I confess, better than a normal inflatable boat without a raised floor. I found the fly fishing net which clipped on the boat just in front of my knees to be a waste of time and I would cut the net in half, stitch up the sides to produce two very useful bags for bits and pieces. The floor area is uncluttered so no problems with fly line just laying on the bottom prior to casting.
One very interesting point here is that because the front of this craft has extended tubes, you can very comfortably stand on the standing plate set at the very front edge of the boat with no problems whatsoever. I am a very slim 16.5st and there was no point that the 285 became unstable. At this point I should say that whilst in the photos, my waders look a little tight-----well they have shrunk in the wash before anybody makes any comments and I also had 10 jumpers on to keep warm.
I like most aspects of the Sea eagle other than that rounded transom which I really dislike very much and would have been jumping through hoops to use this craft in the other format. I would also buy a ' Bravo ' 12volt air pump because they would have this boat up to full pressure with in two minutes and also a real feature is to deflate using the pump means the whole boat will be completely flat when finished with which makes storage even better. The Sea Eagle 285 is a very compact outfit to pop in the car boot taking about half the space needed for my past inflatable boats.
In conclusion I would say that for those of you who fancy an inflatable boat to fish from would enjoy this little lady as it is well thought out but I have to add that in my humble opinion this would be a fantastic fishing boat without the round transom and although having not laid eyes on the foldcat pontoon fishing boat it ticks all the boxes for an out and out fishing boat. Please do bear in mind that the issue I have with the round transom is my issue and therefore you may not find it to be an issue at all.
The Sea Eagle 285 is very light so much so that I carried it in and out of the water myself which you would not be able to do easily had the boat had a conventional floor fitted. My daughter and I picked the boat up to turn it over to dry off and she was amazed how light it was compared to other inflatables I have owned.
It took some interest from two guys who were fishing at the time saying how much they liked the look of it.
Here are a few photos of the test
My youngest daughter, Katie, had the job of taking the photos of her old man playing in the water, in fact she took 88 pictures which took 2.5 hours to load on photobucket. I just told her to feel free to shoot pics and had no idea how many she had done. It took 45mins to remove most of them from photobucket. Anyway tuts, thank you for taking them. Katie is a bit miffed the boat is going back because she wants it.
Phil
;D Wicked Steve. ;D