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| Poor tracking Hobie Quest http://www.hobie.com/au/en/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3960 |
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| Author: | yakdaddy73 [ Thu Jun 22, 2006 7:08 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Poor tracking Hobie Quest |
Has anyone had any problems with their Hobie Quest tracking poorly when loaded near capacity? On a recent 3 day camping trip (myself and gear approached 300lbs). My yak consitantly pulled to the left on a strong pace with nothing but left strokes. My buddies checked the bottom with me and gear onboard and felt indentions along the bottom away from the scupper holes. The bottom seems pretty flimsy wnen compared to the Wilderness Systems and Ocean Kayaks that were along on this trip. Any ideas or suggestions? |
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| Author: | mmiller [ Fri Jun 23, 2006 10:29 am ] |
| Post subject: | Quest |
I don't have reports of the issue, but overloading can cause steering problems. Usually too much weight forward can cause problems. As far as the softness, the Quest has many more built-in features than other kayaks. The plastics have to spread over a larger surface area for a similar weight. That may help explain it. |
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| Author: | ronbo613 [ Fri Jun 23, 2006 4:05 pm ] |
| Post subject: | |
Howdy-I load a lot of stuff into the front hatch when I go out with my Quest, most of the time dealing with breaking surf, tides, currents and wind chop, so I've had to deal with just about everything. Speaking as a lifelong surfer and boater, to me, the Quest is a "planing" type of watercraft. Wide and flat-bottomed. To get maximum speed, the nose, or bow of the kayak must come out of the water and plane on the bottom of the boat. In glassy conditions, with an empty kayak, you can really feel the bow of the Quest lift out of the water and glide along the surface. When the boat is heavily loaded in the front end, it has a tendency to nose dive a little and the bow curve acts as a reverse rudder, steering to one side or the other, depending on wind and currents. Like most boats, if you spread out your load, the boat will perform better. When I have my five gallon bait tank on the Quest(about 50 lbs.) and nothing in the front, it rides like a dream. Also, when there is a heavy load in front, forget about surfing the Quest into the beach. You'll "pearl" every time. Even at the maximum speed the Quest can go, minor bottom fluctuations have no influence. A paddle craft that pulls to the left usually means the paddler is right handed. The Quest is a solid, stable boat. No kayak is going to do everything perfect. If they filled up the trunk of Jimmie Johnson's Nascar ride with a bunch of Redi-Mix, it wouldn't run that hot either. |
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