Hobie Mirage Kayak Long Term Report
 

I average about 6 miles per outing. Sometime less, most of the times more. In 2.5 years, I can conservatively say I was out 50% of the time, or every other weekend. 65 weeks x 6 miles = 390 miles. I'd say thats conservative considering I'm out most every weekend 'cept in January and Feb.

On the first year, I tore an ST fin after hitting it on rocks. Cost $ 30 bucks.

Second, last November, the rudder lines and deployment handle broke. I changed them, total cost, about $ 17 bucks. Changing and tuning the rudder lines was a bear :(

Third, right pedal wobbled and deformed the crank arm hole in January. Made for a disturbing clicking noise while pedalling.

Repaired for $ 40 bucks. I expect the left one to follow suit in 1 or two more years.

Fourth, drive cables became loose around the same time. Tightened them up. Minor adjustments took 20 minutes of painstaking work. Cost FREE. Did a major lube and tightening job too.

Last weekend, front fin and mast pulled out while kayaking. Tune up tutorial says not to touch the set screws for the masts if the drive was working right. So I didnt. Bad mistake. I would have caught the mast slipping out before it deformed the sprocket. CHECK YOURS. Don't over tighten the set screws.

The total fix would have been 10 dollars plus shipping for a new front sprocket. On further inspection, I was able to reinsert the mast and have a functional drive. But both sprockets have loose masts now due to wear and will likely fail in another year. Since Hobie just came out with upgraded sprockets and thread on masts that won't slip out and take the loads better, I upgraded. Total cost $ 80 bucks for two v2.0 sprockets, two v2.0 masts marine trailer bearing grease (if your pulling the sprockets, might as well relube the drive) and loctite for the new thread on masts.

In 2.5 years, total cost, $ 167 dollars, and most of it in the last 6 months. Not too bad. There was never much down time. Parts are easily accessible locally and online.

The only thing that will probably fail now are the chains. Mine have no fraying, just a little rust staining on the ends, but given 3 years and the fact the I had to tighten them already, I'm giving them 1 or 2 more years. That will cost $ 40 bucks.

That is it. I can't say I'm disappointed, its just a hassle to sometimes to have to maintain the drive when my regular kayak is fire and forget.

i was wondering when someone was going to start one of these. i've had my hobies for about 1.5years now and the GPS on my fish finder said somewhere around 600mi but i don't even bring it to the bays.....since then i have had a few failures

1)steering rudder deployment lever broke (IMO it's a poor design that they have now upgraded) this was the most time consuming breakage to fix but its not really a big deal when your offshore.

2)turbo fin mast and sprocket - My fin masts have actually snapped (three times!!!) where the keyway is machined into the shaft for the set screw (again this design has been upgraded to a threaded bung on the newer models) it also takes the sprocket with it because there is no way to remove the old mast from the sprocket. This is the most frustraiting breakage because when it happens you will be the futhest offshore you have ever been and then they'll charge you for the masts and sprockets saying "you must have hit something".... i believed them the first time but after a few more failures (i also completely remove my fins when i land), all in the same spot (right below the keyway) i realized that this was also a poor design which they addressed on the newer models but they keep SELLING me the old style that they had in stock....WTF, i finally got around to ORDERING a new set of the "upgraded ones"...i was kinda hoping that an engineering flaw would fall under the 1year warrenty, but that only covers "manufacturing & material defects". There is really no way to tell when they're gonna break either. I hope the new stye are more reliable.

3)hatch handle/gasket - i think after so many cycles the hatch gaskets start to get twisted and stretch, at that point the hatches get hard to open/close which results in "old gorilla hands" breaking the handle off...this was all my fault and can be easily avoided by maintaining the hatch gasket. The hatches are also very easy to replace.

All in all i am very happy with my boats, and the replacement parts have been pretty affordable...i just wish (i do not expect) that Hobie would offer to upgrade a known, pooply designd part, especially if it fails more than once on the same guy!!!

I gotta agree, it hasnt cost much given the years. I like it. If it ever broke beyond repair, I'd buy another one :) /bing

I'm the oposite kind of user compared to the previous posts. I do not get the chance to use my Revo nearly as much as I would like. I probably have 20 trips logged over the last year, mostly to La Jolla or Cardiff.

I have noticed some slack and clicking noises in the Mirage drive and will try to tune it one of these days. So far there have been no failures. The tune-up instructions that I have been able to find online leave a lot to be desired. If anyone has some good instructions, I am sure they would be welcomed by the Hobie Nation.

The only damage that I have noticed so far is a small tear in one of my standard fins. I am sure that this happened during one of my bad landings in higher surf conditions than I should have been attempting.

My biggest complaint is the rudder system. Mine still works as it should based on last year's design but it is so hard to get the mechanism to raise and lower the rudder that I often have to leave it extended when landing. One of these days I am sure that I will break the thing off.

Please do not take my comments as any sort of "ragging" on the Hobie product. I love my kayak, but like most things, it is a work in progress. This year's model is better than the one that I bought and next year's will be even better.

Bob

Revo '07

- on an 08 due to warrantied issue with drive well being torqued apart
- new parts on drive due to faulty (mine) replacement of stock with STTurbos (stripped the plastic receiver for screw)
- had 1 or 2 cables snap same day
- finally had 2 cables snapped with 1 day left in warranty.

So far everything's been under warranty AND replacement time is usually 2 business days

Totally happy and would not trade, upgrade, maybe , AI perhaps ?

Bob,

Have you read this tune up article?

http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=9608

Thanks Nate. That is useful article. I will give my drive the once over before my next trip.

Bob