iTrek comparison

My heart goes for the 9'5" model but my brain likes the 10'8". They differ by 8lb and $300 (and 15 rather than 24 inches). The 9 has one sleek chamber and saves filling those 2 outer bulbs, but someday may give worse consequences from an air leak. They both have bulky air pumps and carry bags with way too much stiffeners to carry on board. We don't all have shoreside storage for this stuff, so I may have to carry in a giant soft backpack that can go onboard.

I too am looking for some thoughts here; I have an iTrek11 deposit in but since seeing the new models, I am intrigued by the 9. I will be using it for fishing on small bodies of water and the idea of keeping it simple/light/fast sounds fun. I like to move around a lot when I'm fishing. I don't really stand when fishing so that is not an issue. I don't carry a lot of gear but I do like to be able to have 4 rods and I need them to be horizontal as vertical just doesn't work for me since I like to get into the reeds and under trees, though sometimes not by choice haha.. I'm thinking I'll sort out some way of storing rods under the seat. That said, I'm drawn to the simplicity and weight of the 9 but concerned it is just a bit too small..

Tbh seems like a bit of a downgrade, on paper at least. No more 180 drive, and the seat is a lawn chair.

Rudder system looks good, maybe more durable hull? Some details about the new itrek construction would be great.

I wonder what weight the seat is rated for. I like how it's horizontal legs spread out pressure. The it9 is listed with 10psi diagonal dropstitch vs the other models not saying, maybe due to low pressure bulbs. I like the breakaway fins and don't need 180, but may use my old turbo drive anyway to make use of it's longer fins as daggerboards:



I have one of these sails and am thinking I could strap it on an itrek easier than glue on a bunch of fittings for my hobie sail kit. Oddly it may cling to the hard wide nose it9 easier than the mushy bulbed nose of it11. The boom will be hitting me only going directly upwind, and that can be avoided. It can even be depowered due to retro "shower ring" sail attachments.

I even thought of using it14 in solo mode, but it seems to squat in the rear even if you have both seats occupied. I was thinking of using it for surfing small or crumbling white water waves by sitting in the back with no drive in the front. Normally a mirage drive kayak wants to broach in a surfing wave due to CLR (center of lateral resistance) being so far forward that your stern pivots around your fins into a broach. I would try pushing rear pedal fins up against the hull, but they would probably vibrate a lot and the rudder may be stressed beyond it's limit.

As I write this I regain interest in it. I could use a paddle to steer if the rudder failed. The pedal fins would allow effortless catching a wave or returning to a lineup. I think the rear weighting allowed by a solo it14 is needed when planing on a wave, but we could make cautious tries in shorter itreks (do they still have that click-on extra rear fin like i11s?). When not riding a wave a solo it14 probably has the bow airborne and catching wind.

Also it has potential for sailing if I put a deep fin rather than a drive in the front hole. Actually the sailing forces may be most balanced by sitting ahead of the sail, but that seems so strange. I should mention a super simple sail approach using your long paddle as a handheld mast, even when sitting down. It wraps around the paddle when not in use. The below company sells them for extortionate prices, but any 5 dollar triangle of ripstop should suffice with velcro fittings:

After more analysis I think a solo itrek 14 isn't practical for me in the above roles. I will focus on the itrek 9, but expect many months for the pipeline to reach me. Meanwhile I expect to get my hands on a sort of finless i11s to test it's ability to do elementary sit-down surfing. Should need an unusual technique on unusual waves, but fun. Nobody seems to have tried this or expressed interest so I won't blather about my findings unless asked.

sorry. if you want room, there's the $4899...

MIRAGE ITREK FIESTA - the station wagon of Hobie Inflatos

https://www.hobie.com/kayaks/mirage-fiesta/

The Fiesta was probably aimed for the resort rental market, currently wounded. Might be more tempting with 2 of the mirage drives deleted at quite a savings. Could end up a success after all; I think Hobie sells whole armadas of Wave catamarans to resorts vs fewer to warrantee-nitpicking cheapskate individuals like us.

I've had more thought about the above sail approaches being a bit impractical vs a crabclaw "Quicksail" from SeaEagle. They only claim up to 30 degrees off from downwind (as seen in below picture), but what about with rudder and mirage fins in down position? A crabclaw can work upwind too, as you can see in my next picture showing Hobie 16 going upwind with one!





Probably the Quicksail won't actually go upwind, but by rotating the base could perhaps go with a sidewind. I wish some i11s owner would experiment with this because I just can't tell if it would work better with a it9 or it11. You probably have to set the X sail base just under your knees to allow reaching the pedals.

Update: Almost all photos show folks feet on the X base to counter major lever action of the sail, so I think you would have to consider the pedals unusable while sailing and have to use a bungee or something to keep them centered to form a daggerboard. I wonder where the frame legs would fall vs the it11 outer bulbs. Might nestle in securely, but alternatively stress the seams or form a too squishy (lower psi) base for the legs. No silver bullet after all.

For our viewing convenience I here post the itrek 9 and 11 Hobie marketing videos. You have probably seen the first 2 "happy hippie" ones, but oddly in the youtube world Hobie unlisted that 9 video and substituted a darker fish slayer version:







I'm saying "unlisted" in the technical youtube sense; it is still there but harder to find. BTW of all above sail options I now think the Spirit sail is the only practical one, and maybe only on it11. To affix tightly I may want to strap it on before fully inflating outer bulbs so they can snug it up afterwards. I think the sail is no longer marketed, but it is built on demand anyway if you can reach the maker.

Video praising itreks as most exciting kayak in Hobie's entire lineup. Start at min 7:41 (halfway point). Unfortunately doesn't shed much light on the lesser known itrek 9 because another rider was demo'ing it, but has built up quite a view count on it11.



P.S. I have thought of a (precarious?) way to install hobie i-sail kit perhaps even to an it9 with only a strapping bridle and no new gluepads.

I received my iTrek 9 three weeks ago and can say that these are fun and easy boards. There area few improvements that can be made (e.g. rudder up/down line attached to front of seat instead of rear), and the seat while using a much more comfortable material than on the AI has a short bottom (it should extend further aft).

This thing turns on a dime and is very stable - I even had my late 80's in-laws on them and they loved it!

The rolling bags are great to gather all the gear, but they require the user to first fold the sides of deflated board toward the center before rolling up the board, which is highly impractical for a single person. I end up putting all the gear for our two boards in a single bag and simply rolling the deflated boards without bothering to fold the sides. Also, Hobie doesn't offer any bag to cover the inflated board, and I haven't been able to find any bag that fit the width (40") and thickness (7") of the board. I hope Hobie will come up with a solution.

I'll wait for the iTrek11 to become available next year and see if the side tube make it more stable than the iTrek9 - being an older tall guy, my balance standing up on the iTrek9 is precarious. I'm hoping the iTrek11 can solve that problem.

Thanks for your observations on short seat bottom, side folding, and balance. By the way I see an all iTrek manual is available now at https://media.hobie.com/digital_assets/ ... l_2021.pdf although seems more basic and pictographic than in years past.

I have experience on similar watercraft that may or may not offer ideas. I recently got a similar looking chair with short seat depth. I think I posted here using a no-back pfd to create space. They do have a pad behind head but tend to have no pockets. Next thing I was gonna try is a SeaEagle inflatable seat, because with backless pfd the horizontal frame bit can dig in my back over long periods.

On tricky side folding, I have that problem on many inflato craft. Recently I have success by over-aggressively pulling in just the short bit of sides I can reach while straddling an end, Then I fold or roll and while pinned it relaxes just about into the right position while I step to the next part and over-pull again.

On stability for the larger size, I have several long boards with 39"ish width. Only one feels really non tippy to me, which is nearly a no-pedal clone of the iTrek 11. A major brand, not a rip off, but anyway the huge side cells give massive stability. Mine is "defective" in the sense of having a twist apparently from not attaching the sides cells evenly. Note to Hobie who might have containers of twisted iT11 rejects, this looks bad but hardly seems to affect performance. Maybe remove the Hobie badges and sell for half price

I'm happy to hear your good experience on the iTrek 9. I agree the form factor is ideal. I've just got my second sample from the dealer as the first had a very twisted drive well. The second is also off but less so, about 7/32" measured left to right and only about 1/4" of seam glued to hull on one side vs. 1" on the other. Did you note any construction issues with yours? I might wait for a later production run, or might take a chance and use warranty if these fail prematurely.