Good suggestions, except I will be 73 this week, and I really don't want to deal with Craig's list and maybe end up as a crime stat victim or the hassel.
Hobies do an excellent job of holding their value, but the Freedom Hawks do okay. Below is a link to used yaks with a S California dealer. The FH advertised is the FH12, and I paid $800 for that model a year ago.
A year later, the FH12 is priced a little less than I paid for it.
http://www.southwindkayaks.com/usedkayaksale.htmlI have bad rotator cuffs and a torn right bicep head to go with the rotator cuffs.
That is why I came to Hobie. With the Pathfinder, I can order the motor mount as the only extra besides the stakeout pole. Then, I can use either my saltwater MinnKota or freshwater Minnkota with the battery I own for my Jon Boat.
Bob, thanks for your time and suggestions. I appreciate it. Like you, I'm a fan of Hobie Mirage Yaks until it come to ordering a new one and paying for and dealing with gear that I own and don't need extras. like paddles, cassettes.
Sounds like your Hobies have been great for exercise and improving your stamina and health.
fusioneng wrote:
Grampa Spey:
Everyone has their thing that draws them to this sport of Kayaking, some like to fish, some like to travel, some really enjoy sailing, etc. When we first moved down to Florida I was introduced to the water (gulf and intercoastal) and really enjoy going out every weekend all year round. Kayaking and sailing is my exercise program and have lost almost 50 lbs. A good day for me is covering 30-40 miles, thats my thing. Before buying any kayaks we rented several and just paddled about on regular paddle kayaks a few times. If I had to guess we covered maybe 3-4 miles and were pretty tired afterward, it's alot of work paddling in my opinion and I feel I would have lost interest in the sport very quickly if I hadn't discovered Hobie and their Mirage drive system. We spend most of our time on the gulf coast around Tampa Bay and Key West, both of which are very large with thousands of really fun places to explore, we also love to snorkel and scuba dive and combine our activities whenever possible. I can easily pedal nowdays for 10-12 hours straight with no ill effects, and get up and do it again the very next day ( I usually do so on weekends), But thats our thing, you can safely guess that I'm very fond of Hobie and their great engineering and products and am clearly biased to their products.
I looked at the Freedom Hawk 12 at one time, but they told me it's not recommended in the ocean, (we don't do fresh water --"gators"). The new FH Predator which is a 14 ft boat looks like it would do ok in the ocean though, and looks like a nice boat. However without a mirage drive I simply wouldn't be interested, we just have to cover too much distance here to get anywhere and I don't paddle ( I hate paddling to be honest, just too tiring for me). Now you know where I'm coming from I'm hoping you can come up with an equatable solution with Hobie (they really are the best out there).
Here is my suggestion. I checked on Craigs list and found no Mirage drives for sale locally, but saw several listings by people wanting to buy them. My suggestion would be to possibly sell one of the Mirage drives from your Oasis on Craigs list or on this forum. If in good condition it is likely worth $400 plus (more if it's a V2 or turbo). Once it's sold go buy the new Revo 11 and keep the new drive (works on either boat). I have seen several really old used units for sale at the local dealer and they are never under $300 (even the really old pre V1 ones). Now if you take the $1750 minus $400, your getting a new Hobie for $1350 that you can keep and use for two years and sell for more than $1350, then turn around and buy 3 or 4 used FH Predators at $300-400 each (typical price for most any brand of two yr old kayaks (except Hobie)). But also keep in mind when trying to sell either the Oasis or the Revo 11 later on if you don't have the drives they will be difficult to sell, with the drives you will get almost what you paid for the boats if you take care of them, but without the drives they loose 2/3 value just like everything else out there, (good luck trying to find a used mirage drive when the time comes), they are very rare, just like used Hobies at a bargain price (there's a good reason for that).
This is just my take on things, and hope you can work out something with Hobie, but keep in mind that you may want to sell your Hobies eventually, and you don't want to shoot your own foot now making an apparent great deal on the surface (buying the boat without the Mirage drive), and not realizing your killing the eventual re-sale value of the boat. There is no equal to this situation in the marketplace today, where else can you buy something, use it a couple years then sell it for almost what you bought it for (try that with your car), Thank you Hobie for this.
Bob
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