"Outrigger mode" is SWEET!

Wish I'd tried this sooner... Glad I saw someone mention doing this on the forum!

I'm vacationing at a lake this week, and the wind forecast is 2-5 MPH. Mostly at the low end of that! So no sailing this week, but I've been taking the TI out so I can use the Evolve drive in the rear slot when I want a little help - or just want to be lazy!

First I took it out in "kayak mode", had done that before but it gave me a chance to try out the Evolve drive that way. About 5.5 MPH top speed. The only problem is I feel rather unstable! I'm fine if I just sit in my seat, maybe grab things just behind me, but I can't really use all the extra space behind me since I can't reach back to get it.

Yesterday and today I tried "single outrigger mode". Wasn't sure I'd really like it, but it tracks well and feels almost as stable as full Island mode (not that I tried dancing around on it or anything) - and of course having the one haka means I have a nice bench to the side for putting stuff on, like my camera or lunch! I also like that - being half the width - I can get up a river a lot easier with it.

I'm surprised how little loss of speed I had adding the single ama. The Evolve at full speed only dropped to about 5.2 MPH. Dropping it back to about 80W has me going about 3 MPH and it'll do that for 3-4 hours. Any pedaling I do doesn't add much in speed - I get another 0.5 MPH on average - but drops the motor wattage a fair bit increasing run time quite a bit.

That is a good idea. I could see doing that when there is no wind and I just go out for the exercise.

Chris

Or with a sail, tramp, and tiller extension for a little change of pace.

Especially on really-hot days when the occasional swim is welcome....

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Ran 9 miles up a river (and back) with the TI in outrigger mode. Dangerous - I'm getting awfully lazy, might lose my balance in a regular yak!

A friend was along for that run, neither of us has been out paddling/pedaling as much this year as previously so we were both feeling it on the way back. So we cheated - used the Evolve drive for the last few miles! We tucked the other kayak up under the rear aka and my friend just held on to the aka. Worked quite well!

For the most part we kept the speed moderate - about 120W got us 3.2 MPH or so - but the last half mile we went full-tilt to see what it would do. The pic below is then. Only managed 4.4 MPH but the battery was down to 27% so was only producing about 298W instead of 400W.

What struck me - and why I took the picture - was the difference in wake off our kayaks! The TI's is so smooth and the other's is churning pretty good! (For obvious reasons, of course, the other kayak certainly wasn't designed for speed. It's an Aspire 105, short-n-stubby.)

A few weeks ago I saw a guy in a big non Hobie fishing kayak with a trolling motor towing his girlfriend/wife and her little dog
about 20 feet behind in a smaller kayak. I had a good laugh thinking about something I read here last year about getting your significant other her own kayak so you wouldn't have to hear every thought that popped into her head. Not to mention that little yippy dog !

Chris