New Hobie Compass Is A Winner

Matt,

Thanks for creating a Compass thread on the forums. This will give people interested in the Compass a dedicated place to go like the Pro Angler section. I have 6 trips on the Compass in the Gulf now and have landed close to 130 fish in it. Loving it more and more. While the seat was my only negative, I came up with a solution to alleviate the comfort issue for me.

Love the price point that Hobie started the Compass at. They should sell very well. If you're not an Outback fan and want something more along the lines of a Pro Angler, but a lot lighter, the Compass is for you. Great fishing platform. It takes swells and rough water very well. Plenty of storage on the rear deck. Add the rectangular hatch and get the white rectangular bucket and you can't go wrong. Move the 8 inch round hatch to the front and you can use either 8 inch bucket (standard or deep) up front.

For me H-Rails were a must as they allow flexible rod holder mounting as well as great grab points instead of the inside built in handles.

Tight lines!

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

Steve - Would you mind posting up a few pics of your H-Rails? And how did you secure them to the Compass (i.e. did you use nuts and bolts or just screws or something else?).
Thanks!

Dropbox doesn't allow me to link pictures anymore. Let me see if I can get back into my Photobucket account. If you look on the Facebook Hobie Compass Owners page, I have plenty of pictures there. I used the bolts and washer on the front. Used 1/4 inch strap toggles (find them at Home Depot) for the rear. H-Rails are on solid. Note the seat straps are not attached to the pad eyes on the side walls. Just for picture purposes...lol!



Here are some more recent pictures. The early ones were before I added the rectangular hatch and moved the round hatch up front. Still waiting on my SeaDek custom kit. The templates I did for both with and without the rectangular hatch have been scanned in by SeaDek.









This shot shows where I put the net using the YakAttack Roto Grips in the H-Track.

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

Steve,

Very nice setup! i'm eyeing a Compass as well. I see you have a humminbird fish finder. Did the transducer fit in the "lowrance ready" mount or was it a custom job? What transducer is used? I'm eyeing up a Humminbird Helix 7 Chirp SI/GPS G2 with a XNT 9 SI T transducer. Im guessing it will be a problem unless ram mounted to the side. Id prefer it be safetly guarded in the bottom.

Thanx
Nat

The Hobie transducer adapter kit is all you should need to use that transducer if it's the one I am thinking of. I have the Humminbird 798ci DI SI on the Pro Angler. Pretty sure that is the same transducer. I cut out the mounting plate on the PA so the transducer sticks through the mounting plate. Side imaging is basically useless for me as I fish Gulf inshore in water that averages 3 feet...lol!

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

Thanks for the pics and the info Steve. Very helpful.

The Compass has the transducer for the 398ci DI in it. I tried it with the 798ci DI SI knowing it would not have sidescan.

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

A couple more questions:

Does the H-Rail interfere with your ability to steer? Looks like it might cover the steering handle just a bit.

What length H-Rails did you use? And do you have to worry about hitting the steering cables? Was considering the 9" rails but thought the steering cables might hit the H-Rail bolts and/or connectors.

I also noticed that you added a paddle keeper to the starboard side H-Rail. Seems like a great idea which would make lashing down your bungee cord much easier.

Thanks!

Now my pictures aren't showing up. Grrrr. Have to find a new hosting solution. The H-Rails do not interfere at all with the steering. The foam padding under the floor causes issues when you add the rectangular hatch/bucket as the rudder cord and the bungee that makes the cord slack take up can rub against the foam blocks if you aren't careful.

I used the 21 inch H-Rails. Worked perfectly. The paddle cord keeper to me where I put it was easier than the tight squeeze between the seat and the side wall. That might get changed. Will see how it goes.

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

OK great - thanks for the answers! Also when to FB and saw your pics. Very helpful!

SRAces,
To get Dropbox pics to show:
-Right click your dropbox pic and select "copy Dropbox link"
-Click the 'Img' button in the Hobie post a reply, make sure the cursor is between the Img brackets then right click and paste the dropbox link between the Img brackets.
-edit the dropbox link (ignore my highlighting apostrophes) from after the ".jpg?" by changing the "dl=0" to "raw=1"

I have been doing that for years. I have a Dropbox Pro account. But over the past few months Dropbox has stated that they were making changes. It appears they changed the picture links to be "https" and I'm betting that's why they no longer work on a forum page unless the forum page can interact with a site that uses a SSL certificate. Photobucket did the same thing. I have 1 TB of picture storage and can't share it. Amazing! Thanks for the input.

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

Yes they are https but they still work in the forum as long as you change dl=0 to raw=1.
All the pics I’ve posted in the last year or so are from Dropbox.

Drat! I read this forum on an iPad Pro and no photos, just the Photobucket message.

You're a genius!! Appreciate that great input. Now my pictures show up!

_________________
Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass