Sea Eagle 14sr Review (Sport Runabout)

The Sea Eagle 14sr Sport Runabout is the ideal inflatable boat for just about anything you could ever need it for. This boat is nice and roomy, durable, and extremely portable.

Offering an optimal balance of safety, speed, and performance, the 14sr is a high-quality, affordable option for anybody who wants the best that Sea Eagle offers when it comes to inflatable boats.

The carrying capacity of an inflatable is perhaps one of the more important considerations, so you should know from the start that the 14sr is rated to carry up to 7 adults or 2000 lbs. That’s a whole lot of a capacity for a boat that can be packed up into a bag. If you’re looking for something a bit smaller, we’d recommend the Sea Eagle 10.6sr or the mid-size 12.6sr Sport Runabout.

Sea Eagle 14sr Review: Boat Overview

Whether you’re looking for high-speed, high performance, or a high carry capacity, the Sea Eagle 14sr won’t disappoint. Although it can be rowed, the 14sr is best when used as a powerboat, and it’s designed to handle a wide range of outboard motors easily.

The transom of the 14sr can support up to 174 lbs. of outboard, so you can mount a bigger engine without fear of exceeding the specifications. With an efficient 25 hp engine, you should reach a comfortable 15 mph even at half load, and if you power things up to 40 hp you can quite easily push 25 mph even if you’re carrying some weight. Running the boat without a bunch of passengers and gear, the 14sr can reach much higher speeds – this thanks to the rounded design of the rear floats which helps the 14sr to plane sooner and longer.

Thanks to a wide beam (72″), the 14sr achieves Sea Eagle’s well-deserved reputation for stability at speed. The stability is a result of the hydrodynamic tubes, with a diameter of 19″, as well as the benefit received when you add Sea Eagle’s patented drop stitch keel. The patent is because it’s such a good idea: a naturally buoyant inflatable keel that not only lifts the prow of the 14sr out of the water but also improves handling and stability – this is the kind of product that has made Sea Eagle famous in the world of inflatable boats. The keel lets the 14sr turn quicker than just about any other comparable runabout out there, which is super useful in limited spaces. All in all, the 14sr handles pretty well, considering that there’s 168″ of exterior hull.

Built Tough to Perform

The Sea Eagle 14sr is an inflatable boat that is built to perform, and perform well. But to do that, it’s got to be tough enough to endure whatever it runs into – an inflatable runabout is only as good as the quality of the hull.

In the case of the 14sr, the quality of the hull is outstanding. With the durable 1100 Decitex reinforced material that Sea Eagle used for the boat’s construction, you can rest assured knowing that this is a high-quality hull that will be resistant to damage from sun, salt, and aggressive chemicals. A full 98% of the seams on the 14sr are welded double overlap seams, while the remaining 2% are finished with high-strength glue.

Whether it’s true that the Sea Eagle technicians occasionally take a claw hammer to one of their hulls to test or not is almost beside the point. When you buy a Sea Eagle boat, you know that you’re buying top-shelf quality. When you talk to Sea Eagle owners they never complain about hull strength, and the high-visibility orange version of this model is used by many emergency responders who demand the ultimate in toughness and reliability.

And if all that’s not enough, protective rubber strakes run down the bottom of both side tubes with another on the keel, protecting the more vulnerable areas of the 14sr’s hull. This extra protection covers the most likely impact points, and is a nice addition to the 14sr.

Choosing Your Floor

When buying your 14sr, an most important choice that you will have to make is which floor to use. This will affect the speed and performance of the 14sr, so it’s important that you know a bit about your options.

The 14sr offers a choice of two standard floors: a polyurethane kit that requires assembly, or an inflatable high-pressure drop stitch (DS) floor. It’s a choice, for you, between the convenience that the drop stitch floor offers versus the strength and durability of the plastic kit.

On the one hand, there’s the genius of Sea Eagle’s patented drop stitch floor. Even when fitted with the drop stitch floor, the 14sr weighs a mere 107 lbs. while the plastic floor adds more than 40 lbs. to this number. The surface that the drop stitch floor provides is rigid enough for any reasonable use of the 14sr, and guaranteed by Sea Eagle’s 3-year warranty. And of course, the inflatable floor is a whole lot more convenient… just leave it in the boat and inflate when needed. The plastic kit requires assembly, so budget half an hour to getting it set up or disassembled, while the inflatable floor just stays where it is when you pack the 14sr away so you don’t have to worry about storing the floor separately.

If you want to improve the performance and durability of the 14sr, however, then the plastic floor is what you need to consider. This is the hard-core floor that emergency services across Asia demand when they use Sea Eagle’s range of inflatable boats for disaster relief. It’s true that the plastic floor requires assembly, but this only takes a few minutes more than the drop stitch floor takes to inflate, at which time you’ve got the toughest floor that Sea Eagle offers. But there’s more, because the extra structural rigidity of the plastic floor lets the 14sr perform better than it ever could with the DS floor. This results in higher speed and better performance — depending on what you’re using your 14sr for, the plastic floor allows you to have more fun or work harder.

14sr Packages

You can purchase the 14sr direct from Sea Eagle. With all of the 14sr packages offered by the company, you’ll get everything you need to get out on the water: collapsible oars and a footpump (a handpump is included with the DS floor), a repair kit and a carrybag, a convenient bow-mounted bag for transport and storage, and an aluminum bench seat that shifts forward for rowing or back to control whatever is fitted to the 14sr’s fiberglass transom (which is ready to receive the outboard of your choice).

• The Sea Eagle 14sr Sport Runabout Deluxe/DS Package is all you’ll ever need from your 14sr. A reliable hull that can be customized to your heart’s content, this is a great option for both pros and first-timers.
• Shift up to power mode by choosing the Sea Eagle 14sr Sport Runabout Swivel Seat/DS Package. The swivel seat is mounted on a thick bench fitted near the transom. This is a far more efficient configuration for use with an outboard, and it’s also great for fishing.
• If you plan on taking the 14sr out for longer periods, the Sea Eagle 14sr Sport Runabout Swivel Seat & Canopy/DS Package includes Sea Eagle’s very useful canopy for larger boats. The canopy gives great protection from sun and rain, and then stows conveniently away when it’s not needed.
• The Sea Eagle 14sr Sport Runabout Swivel Seat Honda Motor/DS Package offers you Sea Eagle’s powered version of the 14sr by including a Honda 9.9S. This efficient four-stroke is not a power machine, but rather an economical and dependable workhorse of an outboard, covered by Honda’s own True 5 Warranty.

Final Thoughts

When it comes down to overall cost and value, buying a Sea Eagle 14sr Sport Runabout is a great choice. Sea Eagle has been building high-quality inflatable boats that are superbly designed since the 1960’s.

There’s a lot of capacity with the 14sr, so it’s an extremely versatile boat that you can do a lot with. And because it’s a Sea Eagle, you know you’ll never have problems when it comes to quality. This boat handles well, and it’s safe and stable. Lastly, the portability and convenience are unmatched — the 14sr deflates and easily folds away when you need it to.

At the end of the day, if you’re looking to buy a new tender or runabout of this size, you cannot go wrong with Sea Eagle’s 14sr. Highly recommended.

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