Sea Eagle SE330DLX 330 Deluxe Inflatable Kayak Bundle

I bought this originally with the intent on putting it in a bag and bicycling to a water source. It was pretty heavy at first(32lbs plus paddles, lifejacket, footpump etc. probably totals 40lbs with all of the gear) and I had to find a special sized backpack in order to carry it. The bag it comes in is great, but it's more for storing in a closet, shed or basement. The shoulder strap on the original bag would be way too painful to carry it around. I was able to find a backpack at REI, the Grand Tour85 which holds the boat perfectly(fold it completely deflated), plus it also stores the footpump, the seats, the valves and the paddles if they are broken down into 4 pieces. If you are looking for a different bag, I recommend anything that says it stores 75L or more. I almost purchased the GrandHauler from EMS but the REI GrandTour has waist straps too, the Hauler doesn't, so the weight of the boat plus everything else spreads out a little more between your shoulders and your hips. I bought this boat two months ago and I love it. I inflate the whole thing in about 7 minutes(but it takes practice-the first two times it took me 30 minutes) with the foot pump. I've rubbed it up against sea rocks, light gravel with small twigs, and some lichen on ocean rocks and it's done just fine. I haven't had a hole or puncture yet, and I've taken it out on the water 2-3 times a week, some weeks I took it out every day, for the last two months. It takes a little practice to paddle around but after about 1-2 trips you will get the hang of it. I want to purchase the sail attachment in the future, but you don't need it to get around. I wasn't sure how it would do with two med/large sized people but I'm 5'10" and my wife is 5'9" and we combine to just about 500lbs and it does fine; in fact it could probably hold more than that if you wanted to bring food/snacks etc. It doesn't have a lot of extra space for gear with 2 people in it. It's easy to use for only one person, almost every day I take it out by myself. By myself I've taken it fishing, and I've packed gear to go for a small camping trip. I always bring the patch kit with me, just in case. I also inflate it, by the diagram, to about 1/2 cm more that the prescribed 10cm measurement. I believe you can inflate it up to 1 cm more, but I find that it's better to be a little less than that when I am navigating the choppy sea waters. It's easier to navigate it when it's got over 300lbs in it. I thought I might spring for the propackage seats, but if you inflate this boat properly you don't need it. Inflate the floor until you can't push it in with your fingers. Then do the side chambers about 3/4 of the way. Put the seat(s) in the boat and make sure you really inflate them until you feel a lot of resistance on your foot when you are inflating it or it looks like it might burst. Then go back and fill the side chambers the rest of the way. Lastly, inflate the spray skirts until you feel a lot of resistance and you see they are fully inflated. The spray skirts really help tighten everything together and squeeze the seats in place. If you are sliding around a lot, it's very likely because all of your boat chambers aren't inflated properly. One thing I didn't expect is that my legs and knees constantly touch the sides of the boat. I got used to it, but it annoyed me at first. Another thing I didn't expect, but learned fast is that if you intend on taking it out often you should wipe it down with a shammy or rag each time you are done so it's mostly dry and the material doesn't mold. I can, with practice, wipe-deflate-fold-store it in about 5 minutes. I was disappointed that it was so heavy, but my shoulders recovered just fine. Also, the self bailing drain valve fell out while I was using it at the beach but it's not accumulated much water at all, despite this, but it would be good to have the valve on choppy water days. I try to stay "head-on" for bigger waves/wakes in the ocean, so I don't get much water inside. A great product, and as sturdy as they say it is. I would buy it again and I plan to take it on class 3 rapids soon.