Inflatable Kayak Blog

We’re staying with my wife’s sister and husband during the portion of our trip in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. It had rained quite hard overnight and we wondered if we were going to get in any paddling Saturday since there was rain in the forecast. About noon we decided that since the rain had held off, we’d brave the wind and clouds and head out. Their house is about a block and a half from a boat launch in Torch Lake, so we drove over, pumped up the inflatable kayak and started paddling. Mainly we just wanted to get in the water and get a little exercise. The water alternated between almost calm and choppy due to the wind which also varied considerably. It was a cloudy day, so the scenery wasn’t that terrific, but the paddling was fun, as usual.

We have arrived in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to visit family. After a long drive to get here we spent some time visiting and just before dark we decided to head out to our families cottage on Portage lake. The sun had already set but there was still enough light to get a short paddling trip in. We pumped up our inflatable kayak. It only takes about 8 to 10 minutes with our foot pump. My sister, Sue, has a hard shell kayak and she joined us on our ride. The evening was still quite warm which is surprising for an evening in the UP. The lake was as calm as I have ever seen it and the boats seemed cut through it without any effort. As we paddled along there were people sitting along the shore enjoying the evening around campfires and the setting sun cast a beautiful red reflection along the water in front of us. My sister headed back to shore ahead of us when some bats came swooping along the water. I need to mention she is deathly afraid of bats! So that ended the time out on the water for her. We weren’t ready to go back yet so we headed along the shore a little bit further. However, as we were headed back, it had gotten quite dark and I was getting concerned that we had stayed out too long. This will serve as a reminder that we need to be more aware of the time of day we set out to paddle and be more aware of what time the sun sets and when it will be dark, so we will not be out on the water after dark.

Fall is a great time to do some paddling. The changing colors make for some beautiful scenery and the cooler temperatures keep the sweating level down. We’re headed up to Michigan for a few days and we’re looking forward to a few paddling adventures, enjoying the fall weather and color in our Sea Eagle 330 Inflatable Kayak. It’s a little different than our previous trips to Florida and Tennessee in warmer weather. We’re going to have to wear our clothing in layers, since the temperature can vary with the amount of paddling activity, time of day, and if a piece of clothing gets wet (as if that’s ever happened!). If anyone has any additional ‘tips’ for fall paddling, drop us a note.

We’ll post a few blogs along the way. There’s lots of water in Michigan and we plan to enjoy some of it.

My sister and her husband stopped by our house for a visit over the weekend. They had heard me talk about our new Sea Eagle inflatable kayak and they thought it might be fun to try it our while they were here. We started out mid morning while it was still cool outside.

As we started getting things ready we answered their questions about price and they were interested to learn that our SE330 package came with the boat, inflatable seats, foot pump and two kayak paddles for under $300.00. They were also impressed that it inflated so quickly and was ready to put in the water in no time at all.

My sister and I went out first for a paddle around the little lake. She thought it felt very stable. No fear of tipping over at all. She noticed that it rode higher in the water than a hard shell. She found a grip on the paddle with her thumbs on top rather than wrapped totally around the shaft of the paddle worked best for her. She has very long legs, so her only complaint was that she kept hitting her knees when she was paddling. The 330 is a fun boat but the space is a bit liming for two people to stretch out while paddling.

Over all she enjoyed our time out on the peaceful water. In fact we ended our fun morning with one final trip around the lake before packing everything up and heading home.

My brother-in-law and his wife joined my wife and I on a recent paddling outing. We drove up to a local lake to paddle a few laps and have a mini-picnic. My brother-in-law is a big man. With a weight of over 300 pounds, he was curious as to how our inflatable kayak would perform for him. We have a Sea Eagle 330 and since it’s maximum weight capacity is 500 pounds, we decided it might be best for him to use it as a solo kayak. The boat handled very well for him. His first comment after coming ashore after his paddle was that “it could turn on a dime!”

The trickiest part was finding a location for the seat, how far forward or back to sit. Although seating position is crucial for anyone in an inflatable kayak, it may be the most crucial component when a ‘heavier’ person is paddling. Luckily, the seats in the Sea Eagle 330 can be easily taken out or adjusted to any position. Since all the weight is centered in one area, there was a little ‘bend’ to the boat, but not as much as you might expect.

We came to the conclusion that heavier people can enjoy an inflatable kayak and although the slightly larger SE370 inflatable kayak might be a better fit, the 330 is still fun and functional.

We had visitors from Iowa over the weekend and I had been telling them about our inflatable kayak. They were interested to see it and give it a try so we packed up the van and headed to Buffalo Trace Park. It was a beautiful day for getting out in the kayak, partly sunny and not too hot. They were curious as to how long it would take to get the boat inflated and were surprised that it all came together in under 10 minutes.

My sister and I were the first ones to get on board. I usually like sitting in the front seat, but thought she would appreciate the little extra legroom the front has to offer. After paddling the hard shell last week, I told her to just keep paddling normally and I would make any course corrections from the back. I found this to work out very well. Just a slight dip of the paddle in the water on the side of the boat you want to turn kept us heading where we wanted to go and moving along at a nice pace and fairly in a straight line.

We had such a nice time paddling and chatting we took one more spin around the lake before leaving for the day.

I was recently in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and had a chance to take my sister’s hard shell kayak for a paddle on Portage Lake. The sun was setting so I didn’t have a real long time on the water. I mainly paddled along the shoreline checking out all the new, beautiful homes that now fill the waterfront. This is quite a change from the once mostly wooded area with a few “camps” I remember from my younger days.

As I paddled along I was making an effort to watch my strokes to see how the hard shell kayak moved through the water compared to our inflatable kayak. Maybe I was doing something wrong, because I was having difficulties keeping the kayak tracking on a straight course. I had always heard that inflatable kayaks didn’t track as well as a hard shell, but with this kayak that wasn’t the case. I tried to change my stroke but nothing seemed to work. I will have to change my thinking about how the inflatable paddles now, for the better.

We will be returning to Michigan at the end of September and I will have to give it another try but after riding in that hard shell, I am very happy with my inflatable kayak and the way it handles.

We arrived in Salt Lake City a few days in advance of the beginning of the 2008 Outdoor Retailer Show, so we were able to take in some of the sights and sounds of the area. On Tuesday, we drove up to the Kennecott Copper Mine at Bingham Canyon, the largest man-made excavation on earth. It’s more than three quarters of a mile deep and two and three quarters of a mile long. Seventeen per cent of the copper mined in the U.S. comes from the mine, which is known as the “richest hole on earth”. It’s quite a sight and worth the visit if you’re near Salt Lake City.

Even though the skies were cloudy and there were some occasional sprinkles, we decided to make a slight detour on our way back and head up to Silver Lake in the Big Cottonwood Canyon. The lake is in a bog like area that’s known for a variety of wildlife, including moose. We’re still searching for our first moose sighting! We took the path around the small lake, which takes about a half hour. It took us twice as long due to our propensity for taking pictures. There were several people fishing for trout, the main species found in the lake, from the shore and two dock areas. We also saw a fisherman with fly rod in hand sitting in a float tube. Later we saw a couple paddle into view in an inflatable boat. Kind of unique to see two of the products we sell in action in a small out of the way lake. We asked one fisherman about his luck and he said that today wasn’t too good, but the other day a friend caught about 30 trout, some up to 2 pounds.

More sprinkles and some cooler temperatures gave us a reason to head back to the car and back to our resort. The open-air demo is our next stop on Wednesday as the Outdoor Retailer Show begins.

At a time when larger vehicles are becoming less popular because of the high price of gas, the new Sea Eagle 440 FoldCat is an exception. The boat was introduced this month (July 2008) and it’s the largest folding/inflatable pontoon on the market. It holds up to four people with a capacity of 1300 pounds. Although it might be too large and cumbersome for many who enjoy the small one and two person inflatable pontoons, this boat can be an economical replacement for traditional gas-guzzling bass boats. Both versions of the Sea Eagle FoldCat, the two person 375 and the new 4 person 440, have a full floor so you have far more useable space than ordinary pontoon fishing boats – and it’s a “safety net” that catches gear you may drop. This allows you to carry more fishing tackle and supplies than ordinary pontoon boats. And it will travel up to 8 to 10 miles per hour with an economical 4 hp gas engine. Four fishermen or women can fish from 360 degree swivel seats using up to six rod holders. You can’t do that on a small bass boat. Check it out if you’re looking for something more economical and functional for your fishing expeditions.

It was time to check out and head home from our trip to Fairfield Glade, but it was such a nice morning and we really didn’t have to be back home at any certain time so we decided to take one more paddle before we left. Lake Dartmoor was close by so, even though we had been there before, we decided to go there again. It was a little windy and the lake was a bit rougher than it was the time before. There were small white caps in places, but we seemed to get through them without any problems. Going into the wind we could paddle right where we wanted to go. But when we had the wind at our backs it was harder to paddle straight. We figured that since the inflatable kayak sits a little higher in the water, the wind probably affected our ability to paddle in a straight line. We also thought about getting a Sea Eagle Quiver Sail for situations like this to add a little ‘sailing’ to our ‘paddling’. The Quiver Sail is a hand held sail that can be used with almost any type of kayak, or light watercraft, even hard shells.

We weren’t the only ones out enjoying the day; there were two other kayakers out there too. We were paddling in the same area as one of them and got to chat for a bit as we paddled along. She lived on the lake and got out paddling quite often. We paddled on the far side of the lake this time checking out more of the beautiful, big houses. Seeing we still had to get things packed up to head home, we only stayed out for about a half hour. We got the boat all packed up, checked out of the room and got on the road before noon. The nice thing about the inflatable kayak is that you can carry it with you when you travel. And every time we passed a nice river or a scenic lake on our trip home, we would make a mental note of more places we’d like to kayak.