New Hobie Maybe ? .....PLEASE ????....The Outlution ?

I went to Hobie Day in NJ and paddled the Hobie line of yaks, and came to the conclusion that the Revo was best for me ....I went there looking for an Outback , and ended up liking the Revo more for my needs .....The P.A. was more of a boat to me , and I have a boat already, so that was out of the running ... The Adventure was a nice yak , but not for me ...First let me tell you that I am 250 lbs of solid muscle ( OK , the 250 lbs is right , but muscle ? ... )

I found that I really liked the layout of the Outback since I fish a lot and that would be the primary use for this yak ...It was very stable , and had some real estate on the top for mounting things that I will be using ... The gunnels were high so any small waves hitting from the side would be no problem ...There was one thing I found annoying right off the bat ....There was always a couple of inches of water in the foot pedal area ....That really surprised me, but after looking at, and peddling the Revo , I realized that the Revo's plastic mold that held the Mirage Drive sat higher than the mold in the Outback and the water only came up to the floor and not OVER the floor for a dry foot well area ....Paddling the Outback was also not my cup of tea in case of an emergency .....The Revo was a PLEASURE compared to the Outback ....My question is this ....

Can Hobie make a Outlution ? ......You heard me right !!!....A combination of the best atributes of both yaks combined into one GREAT yak ....

1) A yak the same length or a little longer than the Revo

2) A yak a little bit wider than the Revo , but not as wide as the Outback with a little bit of real estate for mounting fishing gear

3) The floor of the yak built up higher like the Revo so less water enters the foot well area ....

4) Get rid of the molded foot wells and put adjustable foot pedals leaving the rest of the area FLAT so other things can be mounted in that area or to have more foot and leg room

5) Make it to hold a minimum of 400 lbs ....

I like the fact that Hobie listens to it's customers, and I like what they have done with thier line of yaks/boats/ boards .....I would LOVE to see an Outlution come to fruition as it would have the best from the Outback and the Revolution , and STILL be able to sit on top of a car, and fish anywhere you wanted to go .....Thanks for listenning ....Jim

Other than the ease of paddle and width your describing the PA Hey jim lets go fishing already!

EZ,
I want to go but this rain has me in a quandry, and my bank account is not allowing a Revo just yet .....Hey, who got that canoe ? ....I would have taken that to my cabin upstate .....LOL ....You have to drop me an email at
synthnutatoptonline.net.....Replace the at with @ ......I want to hear about how the fishing went at the Park ....Thanks Jim

BTW ..I don't have your strength ...I can't throw a P.A. on top of my vehicle like you can !!!.....and I surely can't bring it to the spot's I have to drop into ....TOO BIG !!...

I agree with synthnut

BUT, let me suggest this ...


Note regarding #2 and #4 .... notice the vertical curvy roundness of the exterior sides of the Outback and Revo .... IF you flatten the exterior sides to go more vertically plumb, instead of curved, like the ProAngler exterior sides, and let us use that extra widened flat area at the then wider gunnels to mount stuff on and the footwells can be widened if needed ... after you get rid of the ankle biting aligator teeth molded footwells and give us legroom and room to lay a fish down to measure, and photograph it.

Doesn't really have to be much wider (or any wider reallly) than a Revo if you give the gunnels more real estate to mount stuff on by changing the exterior curves and lose the ankle biters. Or, Maybe 29.5" to 30" wide max I'd say. if it needs widening at all, but I think there's a lot of air that could be gunnel real estate to mount stuff at the top, and a lot of ankle biting teeth that could be legroom at the bottom, without widening.

Perhaps next mold change .... a "Revolution V2" ?
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1) A yak the same length or a little longer than the Revo

2) A yak a little bit wider than the Revo , but not as wide as the Outback with a little bit of real estate for mounting fishing gear

3) The floor of the yak built up higher like the Revo so less water enters the foot well area ....

4) Get rid of the molded foot wells and put adjustable foot pedals leaving the rest of the area FLAT so other things can be mounted in that area or to have more foot and leg room

5) Make it to hold a minimum of 400 lbs ....
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Here is a photo of a good (paddle type) Hobie kayak with flat footwells, so a person can have legroom and lay down a fish to measure/photograph it ... without the aligator teeth ankle biter leg hurting space taking ridges in the footwells ........ why can't this be done on kayaks that are pedaled (Mirage Drive kayaks)?

Personally, I don't even see a need for footpegs on rails in the footwells in a Mirage drive kayak... I'd remove them if it came with them.


If Quest was hull shaped for capacity about 400-450 pounds, (about 30" wide + couple inches longer) and used the Mirage drive, and had flatter exterior sides like the ProAngler, and wider flat gunnels to mount stuff on, that would be close to the perfect fishing machine. (It would be perfect .... IF I was sitting in it) [And if it came standard with 3M Scotchlite reflective bungie and 3M reflective anchor trolley ropes/Deck Line, to show that Hobie cares about your safety, like Prowler 13s do, that would be icing on the cake]

Agree with ' loose the ankle biters ' In my Revo they are bad, dangerous in fact if i get beside them and jamed up.. Royg

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09 Revo

I tried to stick my 32" stick-on fish ruler to the ankle biters on my new Outback, so I could measure and photo my fish, and see if they are 32" legal sized Bull Redfish/Stripers etc, but I can't convince the fish to go all zigzaggy to fit the zig zagged footwell stick-on tape measure/ruler.

Thinking about getting a FLAT piece of 1x4 lumber, sticking the ruler to that, and screwing it to the zigzags .... though that will severely limit legroom even more. I wouldn't screw it to a gunnel .... 30" fish don't always lay still while being measured/photographed, and I'd just get lots of photos of fish tails in the water beside the kayak as they are leaving..... needs to be in a footwell.

Although, the Mirage drive is a pretty good Temporary fish grip lol, they need flat-sided footwells



Sigh .... perhaps on the Outback V2 ?
You know, as the entire line is gradulally/eventuallly improved with midship rudders and other super-duper features the ProAngler has, perhaps the new improved designs can include some of these utilitarian design updates?

Even if PA type seats aren't part of the upgrade plan, you know a "competitor" "borrowed" the PA type rudder, why not use the flatter footwells so people can stand easier, measure and photo fish easier, and not get raw ankles from the sawtooths? Main reason I got an Outback instead of the cmpetitor was Outback let me mount more on the gunnels .... but, it was a very, very close decision.