Hobie Sport tracking

Just got a Sport last spring. This might just be my imagination, but I've noticed on several occasions that despite heading straight where I want the kayak to go, the bow points a few degrees left. At first I figured it was just the wind or maybe a bit of current. But this last time I also noticed that the kayak is riding a bit tilted to the left as well. I have a FF on the left, but it wasn't installed on my last trip. Also the paddle is on the left. I tried putting the paddle on the right side, but it didn't help. I've also noticed that when it's hanging from the straps I have on my garage ceiling, the kayak points left.
Anybody have any ideas? Thanks.

Hey dcr,

The first thing that comes to mind is whether or not your rudder and your steering level are actually straight. If you've got your rudder down and the steering lever adjusted directly straight, is the rudder straight and if so, does it wiggle one direction or is it firmly straight? You might need to adjust your rudder a bit so that when you're telling it to go straight via the steering lever it's actually aligned to do so. I've got the old style rudder on my '05 Sport and it occasionally works itself a little loose so I have to retighten the line on one side of the rudder or it'll pull to one side like you're describing. It wasn't visibly off when the rudder was down (i.e. when the steering level was pointed straight, so was the rudder) but when you try to wiggle the rudder, the line was slack to one side, which is why when in the water and moving forward it would tilt that direction. I haven't gotten my new kayak yet, so I'm not that familiar with the new rudders, but it's worth checking out on your kayak to see.

edit: I re-read your post and I think I misinterpreted it the first time, are you saying you think your kayak itself is lopsided? If that's the case, I don't know what to tell ya!

-Dan

Yeah, I thought about the rudder alignment as soon as I posted. I'll check that out. The lopsidedness might be in my head. I'll need someone else to look at me next time I'm in the water.
Thanks for your response.

Just a slight off center seating position can tilt the boat. Check your position on the seat and try a few changes while under way.

Steering control handles (when on the left side) should be pointing a bit to the right when the rudder is centered. Sweep the handle full left and full right. Determine the center of the swing... that should be where the rudder is centered. You can adjust lines at the rudder to set the rudder correctly aligned.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks Matt !

We used to have a couple revo 13's and an oasis that we would kayak all over the place with, we found all of them to wander back and forth requiring constant rudder correction (basically hand on the rudder control all the time making corrections). Especially when driving the oasis solo from the rear seat. Since we always had the sail kits strapped to the side of the boat anyway, the sail control lines were always on the boat, we found out accidentally that by tossing the sail control line out and trailing it behind the boat made the boat much less fidgety. And my hand wouldn't get as sore from constantly having to adjust the rudder. I suspect because the revo's are so short dangling the rope helped. Adding ballast to the front of the oasis when running solo, and dangling that rope made traveling long distance with the oasis not as tiring and a pain to use solo.
Our TI as a kayak is actually much faster than the other kayaks (even when ran solo) and tracks much better (probably because of it's longer length). Actually we only use the TI anymore for kayaking and ended up selling all the other kayaks because they just sat in the garage unused.
The dangling rope trick might work well on some of Hobies shorter boats like the sport or revo 11 to help them track better.
Just a suggestion and possibly something to try if they do get fidgety and not tracking the way you like.
Bob

Edit:
We found the trailing rope trick even more useful in very shallow and weedy rivers (like the Santa Fe river) where you pretty much have to paddle with the mirage drives and rudder removed in many areas. Anyone who has paddled a revo or oasis without the rudder understands what I'm talking about.

I too keep my hand on the rudder control almost constantly, always fiddling with it, way too much.
I have a battery in my front hatch, but I've had this problem since before then. The extra weight hasn't affected the tracking IMO. I have an anchor I hardly ever use and am considering putting it in the right tool tray, but I'll try adjusting my seating position like Matt suggested first.
Thanks for the tips.

I'm constantly tweaking the rudder on my Outback as well. I think it has a sensor to detect my hand on the rudder too, the instant I remove my hand (say, to take a picture) it starts heading off course! I've been watching a lot of AI videos and was surprised at how little some of them touch the rudder - I'm glad to hear they track straighter (I plan to get one next spring).

My Outback also seems to have a slight list. When seated in the center of the seat it appears to me to be leaning just a bit to the right. I've even had another person comment on it once. Used to be worse when I'd put my cooler of water bottles behind the seat on the right side. Since I switched it to the left side (I have a PVC backrest frame that sits in the center of the rear well) the OB is closer but not quite level. Hasn't seemed to affect performance any and it doesn't bother me so I haven't looked into it any further.

Yea that dangling rope trick is pretty important when paddling our old oasis tandem kayak on long rivers especially with my wife who is very independent minded lets say. Without the rope you can hear us from a half mile off yelling at each other.
A typical exchange without the dangling rope is:
Me; paddle left
Her; no
Me; paddle paddle, left left left
Her; no
Bang we hit the tree
Her: you don't know what your doing
Me; yes dear
.....
We always end up using the 'whole river' (lol)

With the rope or with our TI in kayak mode.
Me; honey you don't need to paddle why don't you take some nice pictures.
Her; I'm having so much fun we should do this more....

True story

I was with the Boy Scouts when younger, my dad was some kind of regional leader so I was always sequestered to go on many canoe excursions (this was of course before they invented kayaks)
We always found our oasis much more difficult to paddle (without mirage drives and rudder) than any canoe I had ever used (seems to want to go where it wants to go), and took much more effort. In contrast our TI (as a kayak) seems to glide like a good canoe with much less effort, and especially with the mirage drives and rudder can easily be propelled by just one person when running solo or tandem (we could never do that with our oasis).
Of course all this is just my opinion, I'm not trying to knock the oasis which is a good kayak, I'm just saying our TI is much closer to the canoes I am used to using.
And on the shorter Hobies (which I suspect were never designed specifically for paddling), adding the trailing rope gives you more canoe like control.
Bob

The Sport keeps you safe from submarines by zigzagging when using a paddle.

Fusioneng, how long of a rope and diam. did you use? Couldn't Hobie just make the stern keel deeper to improve tracking? I would image a deeper keel and the sailing rudder would enable it to still turn very well.

All of Hobies kayaks are designed around the mirage drive and rudder, when the water is deep enough and fairly calm, nothing out there compares to them (especially the revo 13 which is my favorite), and you shouldn't need anything else. I'm just saying if you are crossing rough water, or there is a side wind throwing a 1/4" rope about ten ft long and let it trail behind the boat might help the shorter kayaks track a little better. I tend to kayak long distances and my hand gets tired constantly correcting the rudder, dragging the rope doesn't seem to slow you down. However if the water is deep enough and it's fairly calm I wouldn't throw the rope out when using the mirage drive and rudder (no real need). However when running shallow and weedy or rocky rivers, or swamps where you can't use the mirage drive or rudder at all and you have to paddle, then throwing that rope out really make a difference when paddling, it will track and steer with less effort, especially the oasis tandem which is a bear for two people to paddle IMO (without the mirage drives and rudder), especially people who are used to canoes.
Of course just throwing a rope out doesn't instantly turn your recreational kayak into a $6000 high end kayak, but it can help you make it a little easier to paddle in a straight line when you can't use your mirage drive and rudder because it's too shallow or weedy.
That's all, just try it sometime and see if it makes a difference for you.
Bob

Edit:
Actually every Hobie kayak we have ever owned, we purchased the sailing rudder and the optional sail kit along with the kayak, and literally never ever took them out without the sail kit strapped to the side of the boat, if there was ever any wind we would put the sail up because kayak sailing was our favorite thing to do.

On my Outback I don't micro-adjust my larger optional "sailing" rudder nearly as much as I used to adjust my standard rudder. And no …I don't sail that much. Yet my sail rudder will be the first thing added to my new boat next year. Only downside is that a deeper rudder needs to come up sooner in shallow waters.

_________________
Absolute kayaking corrupts absolutely.

I will also agree that the optional larger rudder requires MUCH less steering correction to go straight. As a bonus it makes turning faster and you have to turn the steering handle less left/right to make the same turning radius as the standard rudder. The only downsides are that it is a bit longer so it will hit the bottom in shallow water quicker than a standard rudder and it requires a bit more tug power to raise/lower it.

With our revo's and our oasis we were big into kayak sailing so whenever we bought a kayak we would automatically buy the sailing rudder with each boat. I always just sawed off the bottom of the rudder so it wasn't any deeper than the standard rudder, Still works better than the standard rudder but is the same depth as the standard rudder. It still worked great for kayak sailing.
Bob