Tim's Tips

'Some assembly required'

Words that chill a father's heart on Christmas morning. Connect Part A to axle C shown in fig A2 on page 4B unless you have kit #16501 in which case the optional.....well...you get the idea. Instructions are often confusing and will try your patience

I find the Sea Eagle assembly instructions easy to follow and constantly improving. I offer Tim's Tips only as a compliment to these instructions. You can click on the instruction link above to download the latest Sea Eagle factory instructions to see for yourself.

There are no Tip's for the Sports Boats and Fisher Tenders because these boats instructions are clear and you should encounter few problems if instructions are followed exactly.

A last word. Be patient the first time you assemble any of our boats. Don't expect to assemble and inflate your new boat as fast as the specs. indicate. After one or two inflations you will be meeting these times.

I keep my help phone with me at all times to talk you through the assembly/inflation process.

TIM

Toll-Free...877-253-3947...Let's Talk

Tips for New PaddleSki Owners: 435PS, 395PS

Your new boat and accessories are in two boxes. The big box has the boat enclosed in its storage bag along with a small orange tube, which is the repair kit. In the repair kit is the Halkey Roberts adapter used to inflate your boat. The tall narrow box has the paddles, seats, pump, and directions. Open the tall box first and review directions. Pro Packages have one additional box containing the Tall Back Seats and pump.

1. Carefully open big boat box. The boat is tightly packed in this box so lift and cut ends first and then lift and cut center flap being careful to avoid cutting the boat.

2 Lay the stored boat out on a flat surface and carefully observe the way the boat is folded and the three tightening straps are tied. Hint: Use the two outside tightening straps to lift and handle the boat in the bag. The carrying straps are awkward to use.

3. Open the three tightening straps on bag exposing inside flaps. Again observe the way the two inside tightening straps are tied and how they secure the boat.

4. Open the two inside tightening straps and lay out to each side. Hint: Later when packing your boat it is easiest to lay the inflated boat nose on the open storage bag as you see it now with the flaps with three tightening straps pointing front and back and the flaps with two tightening straps arrayed 90 degrees to each side. In other words lay out your bag first and then place boat bow on top of deployed storage bag. This also helps keep the bag in place on a windy day. More about storage later.

5. Roll out boat again noting how it was folded and rolled. There should be two white inflated skeg protectors installed over the two blue skegs on the bottom rear of your PaddleSki. More about Skeg Protectors later.

INFLATION

There are two inflation valves on the boat for safety reasons and they are found on the bow of the boat. They are called Halkey Valves and are made in the USA and are easy to use in inflating and deflating the boat. The boat was inflated and tested at the factory before being shipped. The valves therefore are in the open position.

2. Unscrew gray sand cover (used just to keep debris and water from accumulating in valve) from Halkey Valves to expose yellow valves. Put your thumb on valves and turn so they pop out to the inflation position.

3. Insert and turn Halkey adapter onto valve body until it locks. (About a quarter turn)

TIME OUT

This all sounds complicated but is, in fact, intuitive and easy to do and easy to learn and easy to remember! So now back to inflation.

4. Stand on pump and inflate to 3.2 Lb. This should take about 2-3 minutes per side. Stop when you can no longer depress the pump. This should be close to 3.2 lb. You may find that you just can't inflate it fully. If so an optional 12v electric pump, just $89.00, is available through your dealer. You attach to a battery, set gauge to 3.2 lb., turn on, and it stops when it's fully inflated!

A Short Note about Electric Pumps: Electric pumps come in several types - 1. High Pressure-Low Volume is used for auto/truck tires. This will NOT inflate your boat quickly and, in fact, may take hours. 2.High Volume/Low Pressure that are used for air mattresses and inexpensive inflatable’s whose operating pressure is 1/2 lb. Psi and will fill your boat 25%. High Volume/High Pressure-These are what you need and normally they will have a built-in gage which shuts of at a pre-selected pressure. Now back to inflation...

Inflate both sides and plunk hull with you finger to see if both sides sound the same. Major Hint: An underinflated boat and/or a boat with one side inflated to a different inflation than the other will spoil a good day on the water. If the aluminum supports are digging into the inflated boat (there should be just a slight deflection) once you're on the water stop and add more air! If you are constantly pulling to one side stop and put more air in that side. If you have enough air and both sides are inflated equally and you still aren't gliding straight it's possible one of the blue skegs on the bottom rear of the boat are crooked. Major-Major Hint: Keep your skegs straight! When you unrolled the boat for the first time were the blue skegs misshapen? Both turned to one side or even worse, one looks like a pigtail! If so set boat in sun for a while or use hairdryer and they will straighten up...they have a memory. You can hand shape the skegs to some degree. To avoid misshapen skegs in the future always store the boat with inflatable skeg protectors installed. Remember to install skeg protectors when laying your inflated boat down on shore as well.

5. Inflate seats. You can use pump and adapters to inflate or inflate by mouth. An over inflated seat is uncomfortable so leave somewhat soft. Experiment to find proper inflation for your comfort.

6. Install seats to D-Rings. Use the D-rings recommended in the directions. Hint: It's best to push against something with you feet for a full body workout and easiest paddling. Optional flexible footrests and glue on D-ring kits are available to customize your boat.

Sales of Pro-kits with the Surf to Summit Tall Back Seats are increasing so a word about these seats. For proper back support it’s important that all four straps are secured to the boat. The lower straps hold the lower seat in place and are attached behind the seat back to either struts or D-rings while the upper straps support the backrest and are attached forward of the seat. You can use either the attached D-rings or the attached aluminum struts to tie to. For the front paddler I use the center aluminum strut for the lower seat support and the forward D-rings for the back support. I then adjust the straps to move the seat forward or back so the front paddler can reach the front strut with their feet. The rear paddler has plenty of choices in the rear with lots of D-rings plus the rear strut to tie to.

7. Put boat in water and enjoy!

Hint: If water pools on boat you can drill a 3/8" hole where it pools for drainage. These holes are now included on all boats shipped after March 2004.

DEFLATION

1. Find a level dry spot and lay out storage bag as indicated above and lay boat on storage bag. Open valve-covers and depress yellow valves and turn to lock open. After two minutes roll boat from rear after first folding rear pontoons towards center and rolling forward. Any trapped air will be exhausted as you roll forward. Gather some boat material (not too much) and fold towards middle as you roll. You can deflate seats and breakdown paddles and set on rolled boat and secure in storage bag and you're ready to go!

Hint: Carry an old terry-cloth towel and dry boat off before storing. If you store boat wet it's OK... just open later and dry in the sun before storing for any length of time.

Happy Paddling!

Tim

Tips for New Explorer Kayak Owners-340x, 380x, 420x

Congratulations on your purchase of the Sea Eagle Explorer Kayak!

The large box has your boat in storage bag, and orange repair kit with Halkey valve adapter (used for inflating your boat), and three black straps used to secure the false (white) boat bottom to your 380. The long box has two paddles, two seats, bow and stern storage bags, pump, and directional stabilizer and directions.

The smallest box has the (white) false inflatable boat floor

In the new Pro Package the accessories may be split up a bit differently then mentioned above but will still be in three boxes.

After reviewing both my tips and the directions found in the boat box it's time to get started.

1. Carefully open big boat box. The boat is tightly packed in this box so lift and cut box ends first and then lift and cut center flap being careful to avoid cutting the boat inside.

2 Lay the boat out on a flat surface and carefully observe the way the boat is folded and how the three tightening (3) straps are tied. Hint: Use the two outside tightening straps to lift and handle the boat in the bag. The carrying straps are awkward to use.

3. Open three tightening straps on bag exposing inside flaps. Again observe the way the two (2) inside tightening straps are tied and how they secure the boat.

4. Open the two inside tightening straps and lay out to each side. Hint: Later when packing your boat it is easiest to lay the inflated boat nose on the open storage bag as you see it now with the flaps with three tightening straps pointing front and back and the flaps with two tightening straps arrayed 90 degrees to each side. I even go so far as to have the Sea Eagle logo towards the front so when I unroll my stored boat I'm always unrolling away from the logo (useful when unrolling in tight spots). In other words lay out your bag first and then place boat bow on top of deployed storage bag. This also helps keep the bag in place on a windy day. There’s more about storage later.

5. Roll out boat, again noting how it was folded and rolled.

INFLATION

1. Find your pump and open it. The pump is held together with a plastic strap. Squeeze pump sides together and remove and carefully save pump strap to use later for pump storage. Just inside this strap are the adapters used to inflate seats and floor..Save. Screw yellow inflation hose onto pump. Operate pump first to see which side air comes out of and install inflation hose to this hole. Remove Halkey Valve Adapter from orange repair kit and you will the turn threaded end onto yellow inflation tube later to inflate boat. The largest of the three adapters with the threads on the end will fit into the inflation hose. The two smaller adapters will fit into this large adapter but are not used for your boat but may be used on your seats.

2. Floor: Lay the false (white) floor, found in the smallest box, in the bottom of the 380 (pointed end* forward) after first stringing the 3 black hold down straps thru the D-rings found in the bottom (floor) of the 380 boat hull. Tighten the open/close self bailing valves found in bow and stern! They tend to work themselves loose in shipping. Secure the black hold down straps loosely around the false floor to allow room as the floor is inflated. I've always inflated the floor first. Use the large adapter found in the pump to inflate the white floor. Insert in one way valve and inflate until you have a 3/4" deflection in fabric when pressing with your finger. You need to inflate floor until hard, pull out adapter and screw sand cover on one-way valve when fully inflated. This floor installation should be a one time process. There is no need to remove the floor when you're ready to store boat. If you have the Tall Back Seats and Thigh Straps found in the Pro Option Package these can be attached to the lower D-rings before the floor is inflated or leave the floor 75% inflated and finish inflation after the boat is fully inflated and you have found where you want to position these two options.

*There really is no front or back to the floor. When centered in boat bottom you have access to the open/close self bailing valves. Many prefer to pull the floor back fully to the stern to provide more foot room for bow paddler.

3. Boat: Remove Halkey Valve Adapter from orange repair kit and turn threaded end onto yellow inflation tube.

4. Unscrew gray sand cover (designed to keep debris and water from accumulating in valve) from Halkey Valves to expose yellow valves. Put you thumb on valves and turn so they pop out to the inflation position. If after inflating your boat you remove the Halkey Adapter and air rushes out...you forgot to pop out the yellow valve!

5. Insert and turn Halkey adapter onto valve body until it locks. (About a quarter turn)

TIME OUT

This all sounds complicated but is, in fact, intuitive and easy to do and easy to learn and easy to remember!!! So now back to inflation.

6. Stand on pump and inflate to 3.2 Lb. This should take about 2-3 minutes per side. Stop when you can no longer depress the pump. Inflate both sides and plunk hull with you finger to see if both sides sound the same. Major Hint: An under inflated boat and/or a boat with one side inflated to a different pressure than the other will spoil a good day on the water. If you are constantly pulling to one side, stop and put more air in that side.

7. Inflate seats. If you have the tall-back seats ignore this step. You can use pump and adapters to inflate. I just inflate by mouth. I find that an over inflated seat is uncomfortable so mine is somewhat soft. Experiment to find proper inflation for your comfort.

8. Install seats to D-Rings. Use the D-rings recommended in the directions. Optional glue on D-rings are available to customize your boat. You can attach the seats to the upper D-Rings or the lower D-Rings (the ones you ran the black floor hold downs through).

7. Put boat in water and enjoy!

DEFLATION

1. Find level dry spot and lay out storage bag as indicated above and lay boat on storage bag. Open valve covers and depress yellow valves and turn to lock open. Do the same with valves on the floor. After two minutes roll boat from rear like a sleeping bag. Any trapped air will be exhausted as you roll forward. Gather some boat material (not too much) and fold towards middle as you roll. You can deflate seats and breakdown paddles and set on top of the rolled boat and secure in storage bag and you're ready to go! I carry paddles and seats separately..Your call. I also leave the floor in the boat Hint: I carry an old towel and dry boat off before storing. If you store boat wet it's OK... just open later and dry in the sun before storing for any length of time.

Last major hint: The optional "Straight Arrow" Steering Stabilizer is a worthwhile investment if you find yourself wandering or yawing across flatwater. The stabilizer will allow you to track true and straight and go faster for long flatwater paddling. Not intended for whitewater use, where quick turning is needed. I also find that short quick paddling strokes also work best in the 340. Explorer kayaks shipped after March 2004 have an improved mounting for the Steering Stabilizer and an improved one-piece Stabilizer that fits this improved mount.

If you have the older boat with the two piece Steering Stabilizer option install lock washers (found at any hardware store) on all bolts. You can also use Loc-Tite. This is a tip from a customer whose stabilizer separated while paddling...a problem I've not confronted.

Happy Paddling!

Tim

Tips for Fishing Boats:SE6, SE8, SE9

Start with the un-inflated floor lying on a flat spot. It's better if you have an indoor/outdoor carpet you can lay the boat on, as you'll spend a lot of time on your knees during inflation. After reading the directions it's time to get started.

Sitting behind the un-inflated boat and put the motor mount bars on first. The motor mount assembly is the hardest part and I find that installing the bars is easier when I can fold the rear of the un-inflated boat over to slide the bars through the blue plastic mounting brackets on the bottom of the boat. I also spray WD40 on the bars and the blue plastic brackets the first time to allow them to slide easily through the brackets. Slide the bar through the top two brackets and then flip boat over and slide through the one bracket on the bottom. Repeat on the other side. Now install the wooden transom by following the directions you received with the boat.

Now you've just done the hardest part so the rest is all down hill!

Inflate the bottom of the boat using the largest of the adapters packed with your pump. Insert the needle valve adapter into this large adapter and turn into the inflation hose. Put the pointed needle valve adapter into the needle valve and inflate until very hard. You’re going to lose some air pressure when you take out the adapter. Pull the adapter out and close the valve cap quickly. Repeat on second valve. It helps to wet the valves so the cap slides in easily. In time this step will come easily but don't worry if the bottom is a little soft the first time.

Lay the largest wooden floorboard in the front of the boat and the smaller floorboard in the back. Pull both boards up in the middle forming a tent and put the aluminum H-Bar over both boards and push down in the middle until flat. You may want to put a little air in boat side before doing this step.

Now inflate the three top tubes using the large round gray adapter without any pointed adapters inserted directly into the white one-way valves. You may have to install the white valves the first time as they may have been shipped loose. Put the retainer ring over the hole in the boat and then turn the valve onto the threaded plastic receiver in the boat. To inflate remove the outer threaded cap and insert the gray plastic adapter directly on this large white valve...it should fit snugly. Removing the lower threaded ring allows the air to escape quickly during deflation. It's important to tighten the lower ring tightly to prevent a slow leak. The outer cap is a dust and sand cap to keep debris out of the valve during boat use. Inflate #1, then #2, and lastly #3. Install the rear bench seat before fully inflating boat. Inflate until firm, which is a 3/4" deflection of the boat fabric with your thumb. If you use the inflation template you will inflate the boat inflation guide about 20% BEYOND the guides on the plastic template. Untie the safety rope at the rear and thread through the bench seat and re-tie. You may position seat where convenient.

Deflation and disassembly goes very quickly. Open all the valves, pull the boards out, and disassemble the motor mount. I am still using the original box the hard parts were shipped in as a storage box. Cut a couple of handholds in this large box to help in carrying.

Happy boating and good fishing!

Tim