Mirage Drive Wear.

I have not seen anybody's thoughts on drive wear. Living in Lake Havasu City AZ, kayaking is a year around sport. I have been putting on some serious time(3-4times a week) on my Adventure since purchase February of 09. I generally go for an hour or two, and average between 4.5-5.5mph. This does not count beer cruises. Mostly I use my kayak for aerobic exercise. I am 50, fit, 200lbs, and am considered ocd about exercise by most of my (fatter) family and friends for many years.
Things that have needed replacement/repair in order are:
-Jan 2010 A new hull, , Cracked about 2 inches long forward of the drive well. Graciously and expeditiously warranted by Hobie.
-May 2010. Blocks. One the adjustment hole was broken, the other showed a crack and an ovalized hole. Both were loose on the shaft. A new main shaft due to wear. At that time the pedal adjusters were replaced with bolts, washers, and wing nuts. I did this due to the broken blocks.
- January 2011. The new hull now has the bulge at the front of the drive, but has not split. Brought to dealer attention, but nothing needed or done.
-March 2011. Blocks again. Both cracked and ovalized. Main shaft, wear. Sproket shaft, wear. Sprocket set, extreme wear and missing teeth. (So that was what that clunking sound was).
-June 2011. Leaking brass fitting on forward port click and go brass fitting in the hull.
To date I am still using the original chains. The plastic is cracked, but appear to be good until my next annual service. I carry spares, as who knows when they will break.
Assuming the hull stayed intact, my repair/maintenance costs will be less than what I spend in bicycle tires per year!
On my next overhaul, which will be the beginning of next year, I expect to do the following:
Blocks(hooray for the stainless insert ones)
Sprockets (2)
Chains (2 drive, 1 idler)
Idler Pulley
Idler
Main Shaft
Sprocket Shaft
In rough numbers, the annual overhauls have been under a $100, and I expect year 3 to be under $300. Again assuming the hull is not a problem.

Who knows, maybe the folks at Hobie may come out with a 20ft 17 lb. kevlar racing boat and answer my dreams. Then I can show the OC6s my stern.

I am curious what kind of maintenance experience others have had.

Of the four drives I own there are two that I use most frequently (because fitted with Turbo Fins).

Of these drives one is the first one I ever owned - it is one of the ones with stainless steel sockets for the fin masts, it is about 5-6 years old I think and it has had some pretty hard use; the other is a second hand one that I acquired and until I bought it I do not think it had been lavished with the (relatively minimal) level of care that the other one has received throughout its life.

In terms of maintenance, since I kayak exclusively in the sea my boats and drives get a hose down after every trip and the drives are hung up to air dry. Every once-in-a-while I give the drives a squirt of whatever WD40 or equivalent I have lying around in the garage. So basically, not much maintenance, but I never beach the drives or allow them to get sandy other than that which gets onto them when going in/out through surf.

I have experienced the following:
-turbo fin mast breakages (several & regular due to hard use)
- one idler cable broke the filaments of the wire pulled apart in the middle across the top of the idler wheel
- two chain cables broke in both cases the cable pulled out of the swage on one side at the chain
- 2 pedals went: the plastic wore through to expose the pedal shaft so I replaced them
- one pedal crank arm (the square section bit that the pedal attaches to) snapped in two -though it would be true to say that this was on the second hand drive that I acquired and after the crank broke I noticed that it was missing the plastic sealing plug at the top of the crank which allowed salt water to get inside the crank.

...and basically that's about it. Not bad for several years of regular hard use and some quite long trips in a marine environment I think !

Ever since Hobie got away from the sleeve design on the old mirage drives, I've had no noticeable wear on the metal shafts. The only maintenance I do is lubrication and occasional tightening because the nuts do seem to work their way loose. Usually for me, things break before they have time to wear out...

I have 3 drives, finally broke every moving part on the oldest. Many 30 miles river runs with some 70-100 milers in there too. All non stop. Some of the broken parts I know are from raming the ground or logs. No broken drums but some serious wear on the shaft. I did replace the crank arms with the old solid arms that accept a 9/16 clip less pedal. The latest was the drive sprocket broke completely loose. Chain and teeth still in tack just spun free on the shaft.

I don't mind replacing stuff I've worn out. I look at it like a bike drive train, new chain and tires every 1000 miles for road bikes(lakes/deep water) more often for mtn bikes(rivers with some butt dragging shallows). At least I know what to carry and how to fix it quick when on the water!

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http://chrisploch.blogspot.com/