shallow water underwater debris Hobie drive?

I fish in shallow water full of grasses logs brush just under the waters surface will the hobie drive still work?

ricks2123,

Anything just under the surface can impede the use of the mirage drive. You can navigate very shallow water as little as 6" with a flutter stroke of the fins against the hull. Grasses and weeds can slow you down and get snagged on the fins. Logs and heavy brush is best avoided for they can damage the fins or masts. If you are familiar with the area and know where the submerged hazards are you can pedal to it and lock fins against the hull as you pass over them. Striking a log or heavy brush can result in a torn fin or bent mast just as striking hard bottom or running aground can do. When in unknown waters pedal cautiously.

I have run aground on an oyster bar unexpectedly and torn a fin but did not bend the mast. A manatee came up under my fins and lifted my bow a foot out of the water but I managed not to turtle and no damage to fins.

Best scenario is to pedal to the shallow obstructed waters and then lock fins to hull with bungee and "arggghhh" hate to say it 'paddle' over and through the obstructions. Deploy fins once back in clearer waters. You can also take out the drive and put in the cassette and paddle and then put the drive back once in deeper water again. I often take out my drive to paddle for a change and bungee it to the hatch. I use the cassette in place of the drive since the fins will create drag while paddling.

Fortunately if you get bogged down with weeds or grasses you can take the drive out, clean it off and drop it back in. The rudder too will catch grasses/weeds and you will need to lift it to clear it from time to time.

I have used my drive over obstructions and through weeds/grasses, I guess it all depends on just how obstructed the waters are you intend to fish in.

Revo

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I would rather be kayaking and think about work than to be at work thinking about kayaking.
A Thrill Ride is being dragged around in your kayak for 40 minutes by an extremely large fish.

Nobody has solved this problem yet so maybe it's time to take another look..........

The Bottom Sensor/Collision Reference and Prevention (BS/CRAP) System:

I duct taped a piece of an old busted fly rod to the very front of my yak, extending down below the depth of the fins with a comfortable margin of safety. (Lightly taped so it retains flexibility.) At the top, I stuck a golf tee through the center of a Lil Debbie miniature cherry pie pan (stiff aluminum foil - easy to work with and cherry is my favorite) and then down into the tip guide and taped it firmly to the rod. I then bent the side of the pie pan down into a notch which rests in the end of a piece of PVC pipe that runs down to the sail mount.

This is getting a bit more difficult to describe than it seemed... Let me just take you through the operation of the system, explaining the elements as I go.....

When the fly rod encounters the bottom or an obstacle, it wiggles and shakes a steel ball bearing off of the golf tee, into the pie pan and down the PVC pipe, making contact with two wires mounted in the pipe. This completes a circuit, powered by the fishfinder power supply and provides current through an ignition coil from a Model A Ford coupe to a set of contacts on the operator's seat, causing the operator to rise abruptly. With pressure thus removed from the seat, a spring-loaded cord is released which pulls two ping-pong paddles, hinged one on either side of the boat, rapidly forward, thus arresting forward momentum and immediately imparting sternway to move the boat away from the potential collision. Because the rapid rearward acceleration could cause the operator, who is already in an awkward position at this point, to suffer whiplash and/or spinal vertebrae extension, a safety device consisting of a spring-mounted length of 2x4, mounted with a pivot between the operator''s legs, is provided. To protect the operator, upon rising from the seat, the release of seat pressure also releases the restraint holding the length of 2x4, which, by spring action, rises to catch the operator, arrest his continued forward motion and return him to his seat.

Now, I realize that some minor refinements may be necessary but this system will reliably give sufficient warning so that the operator can get 'fins up' before damaging them on either the bottom or a submerged obstacle, thereby solving a major problem, the severity and extent of which can be deduced from the large number of previous posts on this topic.

And they laughed at the Wright Brothers, who only made bicycles! Hah!

A pictorial list of Rube's great inventions.


http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Rub ... GRE#x0y229

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2009 Oasis
2012 Freedom Hawk Pathfinder

Now, that's funny. Thanks for the laugh. I needed one!

loved it

Revo

_________________
I would rather be kayaking and think about work than to be at work thinking about kayaking.
A Thrill Ride is being dragged around in your kayak for 40 minutes by an extremely large fish.