Mirage Pedal Drive Fit

In mid Aug. I purchased a new Hobie Mirage Oasis tandem pedal kayak. Three hours after taking it to the lake I was back at the dealer because the front pedal drive was rocking back & forth whereas the back pedal drive was solid. The irritation was the knocking noise with each pedal stroke. I had the service tech at the dealer inspect & he found that there was a 1/4-3/8" gap in the pedal wells which allowed the pedals to rock. I was contacted today by the service tech. who had been in contact with Hobie. Hobie's fix was to put shims under the BACK pedal brackets so that the back would also rock. This seems strange to me, knowing that of all the kayaks at the dealership none of those pedals rocked in the wells. Does anyone have a similar problem? ---Bill

The only time I've seen a mirage drive rock is when it's not seated properly.

Are you saying that when the click'n'go is FULLY engaged that the mirage drive rocks?

I've seen when people complain that the mirage drive rocks and they thought it was locked down that I've refitted it and it was inserted originally at a slight angle, inserting it straight so that both shoulders on the drive matched the hull exactly it locked solid.

Got any photos? Picture tells a thousand words in situations like this.

Dave

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A Hobie Sport and 2 Hobie Adventure Island's - Papaya & Hibiscus - I couldn't make up my mind so like I usually end up doing with lures I bought both and hid the credit card statement

Bill, welcome to the forum. The rocking is normal. All three of my boats have this to various extents. It is essential that the Drive be fully seated on either side in order to insure a full locking engagement. Because of inherent variations in the rotomolding process and normal expansion and contraction of Polyethylene, Hobie designs the Drive to fit with a little "insurance" gap front to back so that the Drive does not "high-bottom" in this plane. The amount of gap is not critical, only that there is some. You noticed this on your Oasis -- a variation between the two drivewells. In your case the rear well was out of tolerance.

When pedaling, the Drive is always pressed forward by the feet, so it doesn't actually rock in operation. The Mirage Drive is essentially a three point mount -- the rear contact point serves only to keep the Drive from falling out of position.

Next time you go back to your dealer, check again. I think you'll find every boat there has at least some fore and aft rocking in Drive / drivewell interface. What surprises me is that your dealer didn't seem to be aware of this!