Choosing a Kayak

Cupie · Guru

Choosing a Kayak

signwilson · Senior Member

the only kayaks even though a little expensive are the Hobie mirage drive kayaks we have had ours for 5 years. Love them have just sold them to our son and bought a different colour not as bright to sneak up on the wild life to take their photo. The old red and blue scare them away.

Cupie · Guru

signwilson wrote:
the only kayaks even though a little expensive are the Hobie mirage drive kayaks we have had ours for 5 years. Love them have just sold them to our son and bought a different colour not as bright to sneak up on the wild life to take their photo. The old red and blue scare them away.

I too like the longer Hobies but don't think that they represent value for money.

If I was starting out now though, I might well go for a Hobie.

Perhaps I aught to look at what I can get for my two yaks & see if that will buy a Hobie.

Of course if I were much younger I would certainly choose a light weight sit in kayak.

Oops .. Forgot to mention that I think that Hobies are a bit heavy compared with many others of like size.

-- Edited by Cupie on Friday 19th of September 2014 06:07:55 PM

-- Edited by Cupie on Friday 19th of September 2014 07:44:04 PM

Mike C · Senior Member

I have a Pro Angler and my wife has an outback.. thinking of selling if anyone's interested PM me
the pro Angler has a folding trailer and both have sail kits.

located in Geelong

We love them but they haven't seen water in two years now so time to move on.

Please delete this post if I am breaking any rules etc.

Cheers

Mike

Bryan · Guru

You can see from my avatar that until recently I had a Hobie Adventure Island and before that an outback. Unfortunately I sold the AI in a moment of madness. I'm trying to convince my better half that a tandem AI would be great as we could go sailing together. So far no luck but I'll wear her down or bribe her if that doesn't work.

I hate paddling and pedalling so in the meantime I've bought a Native Watercraft Propel and I should finish motorising it this weekend and post a pic.

Pete49 · Senior Member

I have a cheap 3m sit on ebay fishing yak and it does all I want. $370ish and for 1st time buyers wanting to see if its for them a good option. light at 23 kgs and easy to put on the roof rack.

Pete

Reed · Senior Member

There are some really good blowup kayaks that satisfy a lot of requirements: paddling about the lake/river/inlet. Ours came with outriggers and sail kit.
Reed and Elaine

Bryan · Guru

Here it is in pedal mode. I'll post the pic with the motor shortly

And here it is in the lazy mode. I'll be trying it out next weekend at the Alexander Road Bridge camp fishing the Blackwood River

No I didn't cut a hole in the table. Its just luck that it had a stone insert which I removed so the pedal and motor legs could be dry tested.

-- Edited by Bryan on Saturday 20th of September 2014 01:32:13 PM

-- Edited by Bryan on Saturday 20th of September 2014 01:34:15 PM

Cupie · Guru

Bryan ...

Looks like you go for the good stuff.

Your post prompted me to look at the Native web site. Impressive.

The range of Kayak options grows & grows. So much choice. Even the inflatables seem to be getting their act together .. though I've never tried one.

Is yours the Propel angler 12.5?

How does the pedal arrangement with the prop compare with the Hobie Mirage drive?

Of course the electric motor option is an advantage.

My Min Kota electric motor had spent a few years lying in a farm shed after being used on the dam of a hobby farm. Brushed off the cob webs & connected it to a battery & off it went. Doesn't like salt water though. I've modified the speed control to a remote switch.

I note that they use similar seats to the Hobie fishers too ... They look comfortable but seem very high above the center of gravity.. An advantage in stability for the 'sit in' designs is that you are well down 'in the water' or at least below the water line.

Natives seem to be similar to the Hobies in weight too. Need a good loading assistant at over 30kg ... for me at least.

How do they go in rough water like entrance bars & beach?

-- Edited by Cupie on Saturday 20th of September 2014 03:42:27 PM

Bryan · Guru

Cupie, mine is the 10 foot Mariner with propel drive, the 12.5 was too heavy for me. I use a rack and roll to help load and unload, also when I get to my destination there are normally a few of my younger fishing mates ready to help the old man with the heavy stuff.

I haven't had the propel on the water yet but I understand effort and speed is similar to the Hobie mirage drive especially with turbo fins. The mirage drive would win in shallow water as you just feather the fins to hug the hull. Although the propel drive pivots, it takes a little more effort as you have to line the propeller to fit through the slot. The experts tell me its just a matter of remembering the pedal position much like the Hobie I would imagine where right extended (for me) meant the fins were feathered.

As normal, the choice was a compromise, my reason for going Native Watercraft was that I wanted the comfort, high seating position (sick & tired of a wet bum) and enough stability to stand that the Hobie PA gives but without the weight. Even the smaller PA is lots heavier than the Mariner 10. Best of all was the slot in the hull for the propel drive is big enough to fit a 54ld thrust trolling motor. I've gone with the Watersnake 34lb. I have a 60 amp hour AGM battery that will be good enough for a day's bream fishing using the motor sparingly but I carry a 35 amp hour AGM battery as spare in the front hatch together with the tiny fish finder battery.

I think there is very little to choose between a Hobie and a Native Watercraft. I know my next one will be another Hobie, a tandem Adventure Island because I like sailing and used to sail C class catamrans in my youth. But I'll fit out a trailer for transport and launching. By the way a couple of my fishing mates started with inflatable kayaks, they quickly got out of them saying it flexes too much to paddle or pedal well.