Intex Seahawk 4 Review
My plan to try fishing for walleye this past summer had two serious impediments. First, while I have access to a lake and a boat at a family cottage, there are no walleye in the lake. Second, despite access to a boat, I don’t own (and have no place to store) a trailer. “Ok, so buy a fishing kayak, throw it on top of the car and be done with it”, you say. And you’re right; for the budget-conscious fisherman a kayak is much cheaper than a full-on boat. It also doesn’t need a trailer, and can be dealt with by one person so long as your car has a roof rack.
I have two problems with the kayak plan. First, fishing kayaks aren’t cheap. Having just bought a new canvas tent (more on that in another article) my budget for hunting/fishing gear is low for awhile. Second, I live in a very small house with nowhere obvious to store a kayak. Oh and there’s a third thing; inflatable boats are more hilarious than kayaks.
Inflatable boats? Yes. And one in particular seemed to fit my needs quite nicely. Behold the Intex seahawk 4 (and my initial Intex Seahawk 4 Review).
The intex seahawk 4 is available on Amazon here in Canada for prices ranging between $170 and $250 new (keep an eye out for sales and used boats). It wasn’t just the price that appealed to me. I discovered a bunch of dudes had the same idea as me. YouTube is replete with videos of people installing floors, motors, and fishing chairs into these things. One guy even whacked on a whole solar array. Champion.
So I figured, at a minimum with a trolling motor, transom kit, and (eventually) a floor I’d be in position to tackle some of the lakes near the cottage.
First impressions
The boat came double boxed in the mail. Along with the boat, you get a hand pump, oars and two inflatable backrest cushiony things. Not interested in doing much pumping, I also picked up the older version of this pump, which can also plug into the dc outlet in your car and which has a deflate function to help stow the boat after use
The boat was less flimsy than I expected. Though far from a Zodiac, the boat is made of thick-feeling, durable material and has three different inflation Chambers. Total inflation time was about 10 minutes. The boat didn’t fill to the level of rigidity that I hoped it might, but still felt plenty sturdy. Enough to try it out anyways. We then attached a trolling motor transom, also made by Intex. After adding a Minn-Kota 30lb thrust trolling motor and battery, we launched into the lake.
It was immediately obvious why people add a wood floor. The inflatable floor is pretty squishy and unstable, reminiscent of a water ebd. It makes things a little sketchy with the battery, which doesn’t sit nicely flat and teeters alarmingly when anyone moves. I wouldn’t dare stand. On the plus side, it was kinda like ripping around in a motorized kiddie pool. Even with four of us in the boat we made pretty good headway with the trolling motor.
Overall
Bottom line: it works. I am able to fit multiple people, fish relatively comfortably, and navigate in low-wind environments. But will be better with a floor and a camp chair, both for comfort and for ease of movement and fishing That will be step two of this project, once hard-water season is over, and I will provide a further update then.
There are some other disadvantages that also need addressing. First, the boat is highly susceptible to wind, given its low weight and minimal water draw. I am considering attaching a keel fin to address this tracking issue. Second, this is not a boat for big water. The battery limits your range, as does the thrust of the trolling motor, which limits your speed.
More to come as I see if these disadvantages are worth the low cost and inherent comedy factor of this project.
