revolution 13 vs outback for heavy drag settings

Hi All,

I cant decide which one of these is more suited to my needs. I'm from Sydney Australia - the water is rarely completely flat here.

a little bit of background information first - I've been fishing landbased game for about 12 years and I've also owned a fibreglass touring kayak (geoff barker ETK1) for 18 years.

I've been considering buying a tinny for a while - mostly to spin up jewfish in the rivers in winter (caught them up to 35lbs) and for fishing for kings (yellowtail to the americans here) in big bays/ harbours during summer and autumn - I would be targeting fish up to 15kgs.

I went out with a mate two days ago (he has just bought a revolution 13) using my touring kayak and I landed 3 rat kings... i found that even 3kgs of drag made balancing very difficult!

I also had a go of his revo 13 and it was MUCH more stable... it was quite an impressive craft

I was just wondering how much drag you could apply safely using a revolution 13 compared to an outback and how much quicker is the revolution really?

any help would be much appreciated

Hi nuthead and welcome to the forum. When I was a kid we used to set the drag on the reel so the line wouldn't break in case we hooked into something larger than a Perch. Having to replace hook, line and sinker was pretty expensive for a kid. I'm not sure what you mean by drag in relation to kayaks. You Aussies seem to have some peculiar vocabulary, so I was hoping one of your mates would be able to answer that question.

Now, if you're talking about a fish dragging you around, you should look in to the MD 180 Drive -- it lets you go backwards when fighting the fish so it doesn't drag you all the way to Tasmania.

Regarding your other question, the Revolution 13 is faster and better in wind and chop (lower profile, finer bow and easier to control roll in cross swells. I think of the Outback as more of a flat water boat, although it handles reasonably well in the ocean also. the Revolution 16 is even faster and more seaworthy, but a little wetter. The Outback, being the widest, has the highest in initial stability, followed by the Revo 13 and finally the Revo 16. I consider all three quite stable.

When comparing the hobies you are comparing utility against performance in rougher conditions. On the dead flat perfect conditions little difference across the range. Once it gets bumpy with strong winds to contend with then the sleeker the better, it will cut through the water. takes a strong wind to affect tracking in a revo 16, and a PA is like a wind sock. The rest on a sliding scale in between.

With a Quest (similar profile to revo 13) and revo 16 i would normally straddle it for extra stability when required fighting fish, or even just sitting at anchor/drifting (this is not an option on SIKs). The outbacks are generally too bulky to do this easily. Head on chasing a big fish any kayak can easily be towed. Outbacks are probably popular because the primary stabilty is higher and there is more room for "stuff". This suits fishos who use kayaks to get out there. Whereas the revo suits kayakers who like to fish. Even Hobie refer to PAs as boats rather than kayaks.

Bottom line is all SOTs are better for landing big fish, even the glass Stealths and Kasakis,

Side on to fisho the long the hull the less it can be dragged sideways.

Offshore fishos would choose Islands/revo 16/revo 13/outback/PAs in that order. But then everyone has their preferences and some chase Tuna in PAs.

To me the hull slap of an outback in bumpy water would give me the irates.

Ps if you are from a touring kayak background the revo 16 is the only one you would even consider as paddleworthy.

I can tell you my revo13 cuts thru rough water like a knife. The largest fish I have fought was a 12lb bluefish, so nothing really big.
That being said, the kyak never gave me any concern, but I let the rod and reel do the work.