Hobie Mirage Kayak Long Term Report - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

-scallywag- · 04-06-2009, 04:32 PM

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!!!

04-06-2009, 04:32 PM	#1
-scallywag- Banned Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: on the road... Posts: 598	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!!!