u/Ok-Hearing6581

Some of you might remember my initial post about SE385 FTA. Here I’ll try to cover few more things that I noticed after 10 trips.

Also there are very few genuine usage reviews about 385FTA on YouTube and I wish to post one soon. (Will be my first video on YouTube 🤣)

1. Unpacking/Packing: Unpacking and inflating this thing is super easy even with manual pump. In fact I prefer it. Deflating is where you really see difference using the electric pump. Also lot of water gets under the drop stitch floor and that needs to be drained before storing. The provided bag fits loosely so you can get away with not packing the boat firmly.
2. Tracking/Behavior: I am super new to Kayaks in general with only previous experience of pedalling a Hobie Outback for 8ish miles. While this isn’t anywhere close to Outback, I found tracking to be very decent as long as winds aren’t crazy and you are sitting balanced (keel is submerged) I think adding some weight up front will help even more. Will experiment. Please ensure you give couple of whacks on the floor after inflating so floor spreads evenly in all areas. If you don’t do this then you will see wrinkle like patterns on the underbody and that definitely affects tracking. Also the skeg does help in winds.
3. Build: It really feels robust and well built. Hoping the seams and joints hold up with the usage.

I hope to install a trolling motor on this at some point to act as backup, especially once I start taking it to bays.

That’s all for now. If anyone has questions, shoot away!

Picked this for fishing since I live in an apartment and drive a little car. Was debating between this, Bote Lone Aero and Wilderness Systems iAtak10.
While later two look sleek and have impressive features on paper, Sea Eagle was the only one that had so much more information provided about their specs which was critical for me.

Launched at Galveston state park and was amazed how well it handled. Obviously it’s big and wide but able to track very decently in wind. Purposely bumped into some rocks multiple times but hull showed no damage what so ever.

Happy to answer questions if any.

Update 11th Aug 2026: Three outings till now and it hardly takes 5 mins to setup everything up and get going. Deflating takes a good longer more, specially to get the water out from underneath the floor. I have not been able to fold it as compact as it came from factory so definitely need to practice more. The tough thick PVC does not help! 😅

How she rides: My only previous outing was on a Hobie Mirage outback and for obvious reasons this does not track as good as that. That said, I found the Skeg and the keel really help in tracking. The floor as super stiff and someone like me who has balance issues can still stand without any issues.