Hey guys I am shopping for a watercraft. I will mostly be using it for fresh water pond/lakes and if possible nph bay if I can.

I have no driveway/yard/garage to hold a johnboat or kayak or truck to haul it. Also on a relatively tight budget.

I am looking into getting the sea eagle 9 w/ the motormount package for around $500 new shipped. This way I can take my gf or dad fishing and still have room for gear and have the ability to stand up and fish if I want to. I was wondering if any of you have experience w/ it at all? Are their better similar watercraft for that price new? Is it hard to row? I will be looking into getting a trolling motor for it down the line.

Any comments welcome. Thanks in advance guys

i love this boat. i have just turned 16 and i got it about a year ago and this boat is great if you dont have room or the money for a big boat. the only things i have had problems with it is hard to control in wind, i dont know how hard it is to row i got the package with the 39 pound thrust motor and this thing works amazing on the boat. you have to watch what you bring and or how to put it on the boat because you run out of room quick. i mainly fish little ponds in the clevland area.

P.S make sure you keep the rapair kit with you it sucks when you fishing and you get a hole in it by a rock or tree (has only happend once) the material is tuff, and i fish it hard

There are several here who have the Sea Eagle boats and will offer their opinion.  I bought a SE8 as a result of seeing the pics of the guys Sea Eagle boats here. I found a couple of SE8 boats on Ebay for a great price.  I want to get a small SE6 also just for a single fisherman boat when I want to go by myself.  My son and I fish the SE8 and we really like it.  I have missed a few deals on the SE9 that I would buy for a boat to take my wife and son out on.  You can find them used on Ebay and other sale sites on the net for  less than new, but the new price is so attractive that if you can afford new then go that route.  The boats are VERY nice and the construction is great.  If an inflateable is the way you have to go, the Sea Eagle is a great choice.  If you buy a new one from them, I think you have a trial time period to check it out and if you don't like it, you can send it back for a refund. How can you go wrong?

Redsyn, I have an SE-9.  The best way to save money is to buy the boat without the floorboards or the motor-mount support board.  If memory serves, SeaEagle wants over $200 for the boards.  I built them myself for about $40.  All you need is a saber saw, some hardware and paint.  PM me with your e-mail address and I will send you photos and drawings for the boards at no charge  BTW here's my SE-9.  As you can see, I've made a few mods to it, including the wheels and the swivel seat.

Hey thank you guys for your input. since a few of you have had good experience w/ the the SE  I think I probably get it. I am going to wait for long Mike's photo and instructions for how to build the floor boards and motormounts. I am not really good with building/cutting sort of thing so if it looks too complicated for me I'll just get the package from SE.

By the way can you guys show some of the pictures of how you rig your SE so I can have some ideas as to how I should rig mines when I get it? I would really appreciate it.

I do however want to build a canopy when i get the boat. $200 for the canopy is just too much to fork out considering the boat will cost $500 as a package.