NiceAft wrote: ↑Mon Feb 02, 2026 10:06 am
Herschel posted:
Does anyone have any experience with inflatables after the 10-year period? Are there any time related issues regardless of use such as seams and seals?
My Achilles (9.5’ with inflatable floor) is twenty-one years old. Except for the inflatable keel, I have never had a problem. You would never know that it is that old.
Boat picture with the pretty girl.
That is consistent with what the Achilles rep stated. Great news. I think the Defender rep thought I might buy another one and give mine away; hence his 10-12 year longevity comment.
As for Sea Eagle, I had been looking at the fast track series, too, but the 473fl series looks inviting, as well. https://www.seaeagle.com/ExplorerKayaks/
The new V-bottom version of the FastTrack looks like they are trying to recreate the double concave profile the RazorLite already has, must track really well. I do appreciate the flat bottom on our "classic" FastTrack when not moving, like when I stand up to futz with the sail, or when pulling myself back in from the water, it's pretty much a rigid paddle board sitting inside a kayak's body.
Checking out their site again got me perusing their *pricey* motor options and googling the cheapest Watersnake Venom listed, I found Walmart currently sells it for $98! Delivery scheduled for Friday.
When I was taught how, when in the water, to get back into a canoe, one should either board directly over the bow, or the stern. It appears your craft is stabler than it looks.
My Achilles weighs 75 pounds. A lot more than 45. The 6HP 4 stroke Merc. weighs 55.
My Bimini tech is still working on my new Bimini, so lets keep talking kayaks and such. I watched some Sea Eagle YouTube videos tonight. It got me wondering what my Achilles would paddle like if I had two West Marine beanbag seats facing forward, two kayak paddles, and a make shift skeg of some sort on the motor mount. I could call it my Sea Ducky!
Herschel wrote: ↑Wed Feb 04, 2026 7:45 pm
My Bimini tech is still working on my new Bimini, so lets keep talking kayaks and such. I watched some Sea Eagle YouTube videos tonight. It got me wondering what my Achilles would paddle like if I had two West Marine beanbag seats facing forward, two kayak paddles, and a make shift skeg of some sort on the motor mount. I could call it my Sea Ducky!
Paddling mine with the steering oars strapped down in the back is a major hassle, and that just bumps the width out 6” or so beyond the standard 36”. Kayak paddles in rafts suck cause of them big fat pontoons, but get yourself a whitewater center seat that gets you above pontoon level, a couple real river oars, that thing would party down river in some nice class III rapids!
Two things: Point taken on the size of the sides interfering with kayak paddling style. The boat does have a seat for rowing with the provided paddles.
But I think it is a mute issue. My nephew is coming by tomorrow who is interested in buying my dinghy. I am comfortable selling it to him since I was assured by Achilles that a well maintained Achilles has a good 20 plus year life expectance and mine is only 10 years old and has had very little use and been stored and cared for well.
Second thing: my new Bimini for my Mac. Stopped by the shop today and the tech was fitting the Sunbrella to the frame and measuring exactly how the sides and connecting piece will zip to it and snap on the deck or gunwhales. Its shaping up very nicely. He's going to take the dodger in and soak it in his recommended water repellant solution to beef up its weather tightness, too. He is really going out of his way to make my cabin enclosure snug and tight getting rid of previous design flaws at the junctions or the sides.
tuzonpup, stunning pic of nice lady in kayak with your motor. Am I correct that it is a motor that plugs into a battery such as a trolling motor does? If so, isn't that cumbersome having a battery in a kayak? Or have I missed that it has a battery in the handle that you charge and the just take the motor to the kayak? And OBTW, my nephew has bought my inflatable with the Honda 2 hp. We did find a pinhole leak in the forward tube at the bottom, so we went to West Marine and got a Hypalon specific patch kit (pricey little buggers). He has completed the patch, but we waiting a week for it to fully cure before inflating again. Good luck with the new motor.
Yep, Sea Eagle sold the FastTrack with a Watersnake trolling motor and a mounting board sans battery, I used these 5# Eco-worthy LiFePO4s in an o-ring sealed equipment case on the back of the boat to power it: https://www.walmart.com/ip/ECO-WORTHY-P ... roupCode=1
Our first kayak patch was fine after one night, we were sailing San Diego bay the next day when the lady ended up needing to get her own patch!
It's a bummer we can't fly with the LiFePO4 battery, but while paddling the Sea Eagle off the South coast of France, her French was good enough to hitch us a motor ride in Hyeres:
tuxonpup, I see you have a sail kit similar to mine. May I assume you have sideboards that fit amidships on both side? How about stability going upwind in a 10-12 knot breeze? Or are the skegs enough? How well does she work upwind? Mine required very careful attention to not pinching and not being too aggressive with upwind work. Nowhere near 45 degree tacking. I'd say my best angel against the wind direction was about 60 degrees off the wind. Sail would draw at tighter angles, but just couldn't keep up the forward momentum at that angle without slipping sideways or stalling. Your experience?
Herschel wrote: ↑Tue Feb 10, 2026 8:08 pm
tuxonpup, I see you have a sail kit similar to mine. May I assume you have sideboards that fit amidships on both side? How about stability going upwind in a 10-12 knot breeze? Or are the skegs enough? How well does she work upwind? Mine required very careful attention to not pinching and not being too aggressive with upwind work. Nowhere near 45 degree tacking. I'd say my best angel against the wind direction was about 60 degrees off the wind. Sail would draw at tighter angles, but just couldn't keep up the forward momentum at that angle without slipping sideways or stalling. Your experience?
Yep, I've got the same lee boards as your kit, looks like the main difference is the width of your base board under the mast and your centered tiller vs the kayak steering oars on mine. The inflatable skeg and removable fin won't keep you from waterbugging in a strong blow, the lee ward lee board will dig in as the boat starts to heel a bit, but if you're in a chop you'll start to take water over the skinny bow with a second person seated up there. The real control you have are those steering oars, with the sheet in one hand and the wind ward oar in the other, as you tighten the sheet you drive the oar deeper to hold your heading. It can be a work out! Solo, it handles the waves a bit better and you can achieve impressive speed but tacking can get wild switching oars while sheeting in, quite easy to spin out before getting dug in. Very fun to practice though!
Great news: got my new Bimini. Tech made every effort to "marry it" to the cockpit enclosure from the old Bimini, tightening up the corners to eliminate any gaps using Velcro strips of extra Sunbrella material, used zippers to attach to frame rather than just a sleeve, dipped the dodger into water repellant treatment, made sure the frame was absolutely square, reinforced areas where old Bimini had wear, and thoroughly impressed me with his expertise. A little more money than just a new Bimini to keep the sun off.
The 6HP 4 stroke Merc. weighs 55.
