FSK16 FishSkiff™ Inflatable Boat Reviews

Everything I was looking for in this style of boat. Living near Minnesota's North Shore of Lake Superior, I was looking for a skiff boat show more... I and a friend could fish from, explore the varying shoreline of this AMAZING lake and was easily transportable. After two outings to date, WOW!!!!! All needs met and met very, very well. Unboxing: The boat arrives in several well-packed boxes. The setting up of the boat is intuitive and was done without the need to read any instructions. The two-way hand pump is a great product allowing the airing up of the boat to take place both on the push and pull of the device. Using only the hand pump, I was able to reach the 15 psi max inflation, though those last few pounds took considerable effort. While the hand pump is very functional, I would HIGHLY recommend the optional power inflation device from Sea Eagle to make reaching the desired psi much faster and easier. I currently have one on order. ****Ran out of space. See part two of my review in another entry.

Part two of review: Outboard: Tohatsu 6HP w/o internal gas tank. This choice was based on it being the lightest 6HP available. Experienced difficult initial show more... start up, but easy and efficient since. Trailering: The rock hard stiffness of the FSK16 rode well and without concern on my trailer designed for my other, very different 16' boat. The admiring stares followed by inquiring peeps is a regular occurrence. One man was going to go online to look into getting one of his own. On the Water: This is a stable boat and it handled the small swells of the big lake confidently. The very minimal draft of the boat allowed me to motor right up onto a flat ledge rock to get off the boat and explore the area of foot. The swivel seats are comfortable, stable and easy to operate. Fishing: I have yet to fish out of the boat, but it is well set up to do so and I am 100% confident in this boats functionality in this area. To conclude, the FSK16 two-person boat gets two enthusiastic thumbs up from me!!!!

I love my Sea Eagle FSK16. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, I've only had it in the water once this summer. I'm healthy now and show more... looking forward to some cooler fishing weather this fall. The only negative for me was that the assembly process could have gone smoother. The instructions were barely adequate and I had the misfortune of having some missing parts in my box. Once Nick cleared up that problem, everything was good. I would like to suggest that the instruction manual be made a little clearer. The boat performed flawlessly in the water. There was never a time when I felt unstable, even when the water got a bit rough. All in all, a great product that I believe will last for many years to come.

Sea Eagle Reply:
Thank you for the feedback, Jim. We're going to review the manual and see if we can fine-tune it!

Pro's: Stable boat for an inflatable, two people can fish without feeling like your going to tip over. Con's: Very difficult to put engine mount show more... onto boat (took two people and 30 minutes just to get it aligned). The bag for the boat is very fragile and not strong enough for the weight of the boat. (mine ripped the first time I tried to lift it) I would not take it in rough waters with two people unless you don't mind getting wet. Boat flooring should be all one piece. Seams had openings which they said was normal. I am hoping that water does not make it come apart in the future. (See picture)

Sea Eagle Reply:
Current transoms have been improved to ease installation and we are in the process of improving the storage bag. Your hull, including your EVA foam floor with the butt seam, is covered by your 3 Year Warranty. We are also looking into a way of improving this in the future.

If they had ten stars, I’d give them eleven. Sea Eagle exemplifies true American morals and values. I recently purchased a raft and trolling motor. show more... It wasn’t a good fit for me and my style of fishing. They allowed me to return it, and I bought a 16’ skiff. The engine they sent was not the right one for the boat. They took it back and sent me a bigger engine that was a proper fit. They have gone out of their way to keep me a happy customer. That’s not all... I am now down by Padre Island, and I have been planning this fishing trip for months. On the way down here from Oklahoma, I had an accident, and the skiff was ruined. Sea Eagle is selling me a new one at a drastically reduced price. I can hardly believe it. They have earned my business for a long time to come. You can not go wrong if you do business with them. Sincerely, James Dawson

Well, this boat is what they say it is... From the ponds in mass to the bays of the Cape it is a Great Fishing show more... boat. The only suggestion is to make sure you get the striking around the outside of the boat the new model comes with it. The other feature they need to better is a new system for attaching the eclectic motor to the front of the boat or a better idea is to come up with a way for it to attach to the back transom with the gas motor together just a thought. Other than that it is a great boat for what it can do. So many people commit on it here in Ma no one has seen anything like it... they think its Soo cool... keep up the good work.

Want to know how rigid this thing gets at 15PSI? Take one of your car tires off, lay it down and stand on it. You show more... absolutely need the electric pump or it will take forever to blow it up to 15PSI. Re: the electric pump. It shuts off automatically at 15PSI. It's a God-send. Every time I take it out, people want to know what it is. Punctures? You'd have to try hard to puncture this thing. I weigh 185. I sat on the side of it and shifted my weight up & down trying to tip it over. Nope!

I purchased the FSK16 skiff in April and have had it out now 4 times. I had substantial issues with Honda motor, but it was show more... filled by Warranty and Sea Eagle and Sales Manager, Will ..did a great job getting this ramped up and taken care of. With that however, I must tell anyone that reads this review, that this inflatable is not for everyone. It is a great boat and well built, but you better be strong. Must haves: -You will need a turbo pump. Both blow up and vacuum/deflating flat. You will need a cart to roll it down...and I am going to hand make a front cart too...it would be helpful. I have tried this in the toughest of areas, beaches & long lawn launches -Get a portable leaf blower to blow off debris when you come in from the lake, it will help -CAN IT HANDLE ROUGH WATER...YES, BUT YOU WONT LIKE IT-Seats do not work very well, keep an eye on the wing nuts, continue to tighten as you fish or you will lose them -Carrier Cover will not last, straps and material breaking down

Finally unpacked the boxes the weekend of June 29th in preparation for a fishing trip over the weekend after July 4th. Portability, stability, shallow water show more... accessibility excellent!!! Potentially want to add the front trolling motor mount. Still learning the ropes with it, but at this point extremely pleased. I can't even imaging it's speed with the maxim outboard on it. I used a 30 year old Mercury 2.2HP and that was incredibly fast.

I am very happy with the boat, very spacious and best thing I like, it is very stable. I also use it with my Bixpy show more... jet and it is awesome. A bit heavy for one person but overall it is fantastic.

Absolutely a blast, our first adventure was 10 miles each way. The FSK16 is so stable on the water. Definitely buy the electric air pump. show more... Sets up pretty fast 25-30 min about same to disassemble . Highly recommended. I tow a camper and this boat and motor fit right in back of my truck , great adventures ahead

The good: Great idea and design Stable on the water Decent speed with the 5hp Honda motor Comfortable enough for 2 people(I think 3 would show more... be too crowded) Never thought I will purchase a trailer but after a couple of outs inflating and deflating, I can definitely appreciate the trailer. But it's nice to have the option to fold Good customer service and support so far(thanks to Jerry) The bad(for me): The material is not as tough as I thought it will be. A good size catfish managed to put a small hole in the side of the boat. I patched it but it was a disappointing experience. No way of reinforcing the bottom(checked with SE), since I am fishing intercoastal waters over sharp oyster beds(1st 🌟). Huge drawback for me here. Wanted to extend the warranty and buy the extra 3 years, but found out the hard way that you can't do it after purchasing the boat(2nd 🌟). Respectfully, it doesn't make sense if you stand behind your product. Didn't make up my mind yet, but I may return the boat after the 180 days

Sea Eagle Reply:
Although the extended warranty is available at the time of purchase of the boat, we would be happy to extend this option to you. To purchase, please call us directly as this option is not available online.

Excellent fishing skiff. There are a couple things I should mention. We took it to Lake Mead and that was a little to much for show more... it. The winds can kick up there and the oars are insufficient for winds over about 5 mph. The motor works fine though, but again, don't get to far from shore. It's very heavy so you'll need something to haul it over rough terrain. Lake Mead's shore is made up of large Idaho potato sized rocks so it was quite a struggle getting it from where we could park down to the water. Assembly is a lot of work and unless you enjoy aerobic workouts, get the electric pump. Once you get it pumped up, put the seats on it, mount the motor and battery, and stow all the gear. Take a break. Once assembled and in the water, it was worth it. The lake has somewhere around 500 miles of shore line and is several miles wide so we didn't explore much of it. We were out about an hour before the wind kicked up and we had to head for shore. We were using a 365 A/hr battery and just made it back. I'd recommend it.

I am very. pleased and satisfied with my FSK16 fishing boat and very happy with you customer service. I had to change how I use show more... my boat as far as transporting and launching it as my wife and I are senior citizens. The boat is a very portable to use if we were younger, so we added a trailer to inflate at home and haul and lauch at various lakes in our state of Penna. We really love fishing in the boat, and get out as much as weather allows and get many people ask what type of boat it is and if we like it. The other thing they ask is where we got it, I"m always glad to answer any questions on and where we bought it. Your company manufactures a very well built inflatable boat . I'm glad to praise your product as well as your customer service , any time I had a question I had it answered. I look forward to 2020 and a summer of fun boating and fishing .. William Slagle

A fishing machine. Put in anywhere and fish the flats or deep drop offs without that long boat ride. Very stable platform. One of a show more... kind here in Gulf Breeze, FL. My fishing buddies are jealous. Way to go SeaEagle.

Bought a FSK16K with a Honda motor which should be faster the the 385 fta with a trolling motor I bought before. The problem is show more... on the registration. The Texas tax office requires to pay tax during registration. But the tax has been collected by Sea Eagle. The Tax office told me I need to either get refund from Sea Eagle or let Sea Eagle do the registration for me. Talked to Sea Eagle stuff and was told they don't do registration but they have to collect the tax. Now I paid tax twice. I am thinking to return the boat back to Sea Eagle or keep struggling with the tax money. Bought trailer from local Academy store. They don't do registration but they don't charge tax either.

Sea Eagle Reply:
Thank you for your review, it appears that our customer service team has been in contact with you. We apologize for any inconvenience and are still here to help resolve any issues you may be having. Feel free to reach out to us by phone or email.

I must say, we love this boat! We paired this boat with a 2 HP electric motor + a lithium battery and its never let show more... us down. The boat is somewhat sensitive to wind, being a flat bottom boat, but we have been out in some horrendous winds and always made it back to camp. Love the swivel seats. They are fairly comfortable for long term sitting. The bolts that attach the plastic seats to the pedestal do come loose so they should be inspected. Perhaps some improvement could be made so this does not happen, but other than that the boat has performed flawlessly. The boat is very stable so we can also stand up and fish. My wife and I can handle getting the boat in and out of our CRV without any problem. It takes about 45 minutes to inflate and set up. We put the recommended tow wheels under the boat when we are ready to dry it off and pack it up. It seems to dry in about 1 hour or so. We have used the boat for lake fishing but not in the river so we can't comment about the use for river fishing.

Very happy with my Sea Eagle.

I’m happy with the boat. The only possible improvement would be to find away to handle taller waves.

Fabulous boat! Sturdy, easy set up, great storage! A furniture Dolly with a rope is a far better device than the two wheel cart purchased show more... through you. I LOVE my boat!

Very easy to set up, takes 30-40 mins. You definitely need a turbo pump. I decided to go with a Suzuki 6HP 4 stroke(website recommended show more... max HP). Boat does 15-17MPH w 3 adults. Boat is very sturdy and rigid, does not feel like an inflatable. We have taken boat out in 3foot chop in Biscayne Bay Miami and handles well. As expected for a boat of this kind, you will get drenched! Hey that is part of the fun. With gear, seats and motor on, it’s too heavy to carry. You will need a dolly or a small trailer. Customer service for this company is very good! Overall, I am very happy with this skiff. It is a great setup, to fish flats. We have caught snappers, tarpons and other nice fish.

used the boat to Crappie fish on Black Lake NY . I fished for 5 weeks leaving the boat inflated and docked for the whole show more... time . Boat worked well for the most part . I do have an extremely slow leak on one side and the transom is falling a part . The leak I have not found and the transom I purchased 14 SS bolts and fender washers to hold it all together . I also tried to run a strap that held the transducer that went around the whole boat a big fail and did not allow the boat to plane (thought it was a boat problem) everything was fine once I removed the strap . I am running a 6 hp tohatsu motor very pleased with motor . As far as seating I would like to move the drivers/rear seat forward 8-10 inches but not able as the seat is or has to be strapped down . Also the locking Mechanism is a pain so much so I removed it from the drivers seat . It's a great boat to fish out of and enjoyed the heck out of it . Seats themselves work well as far as comfort and fish-ability . I also bought the wheels and axle to move

Sea Eagle Reply:
Thank you for your review. For any assistance regarding your transom or transducer please contact our customer service team. Please not that your boat is covered under our warranty.

Sea Eagle... I purchased my FSK-16 in May of 2020 and have taken it out to multiple lakes throughout the summer. The whole process from show more... ordering online to receiving the boat went very smooth. I am totally and completely happy with the construction quality of this skiff. It is extremely stable for fishing with two full size men. Sea Eagle was outstanding in taking care of a premature failure of the Watersnake Trolling motor I purchased. A replacement was sent out immediately. I do a lot of camping and this boats dimensions have made it possible to store and transport the skiff and all the accessory's over the top of two full size Quads in a 16 X 7 foot trailer. This allows me to keep the boat inflated while in storage and in transit. I get a lot of "WOW's" on being able to bring our Motorhome unit, a Functional fishing boat and Quads all at the same time. The only criticism I have is the advertised speed attainable with the Honda 5 is not 16 mph but actually 10-12 depending on the weight on board.

I love it very compact for the size sturdy on the water. I recommend a good air pump for this boat.

We have setup the Fish Skiff once in our living room and twice on two lakes. It performed exceptionally well cruising and crossing wakes. We show more... enjoyed fishing, even though the fish didn't cooperate. We even velcroed a fish finder to the rear of the boat. It will work very well for us!