TAI Center of Gravity, which seat for best performance?

Tandem aircraft have a Center of Gravity so the pilot must sit on the seat which balances the CofG when flying solo, not on it as the passenger would normally sit on the CofG so their weight didn't unbalance the aircraft.
EG: In a Tiger Month aircraft the Front Seat is left empty when flying Solo because it is positioned on the CofG.

Which seat is to be used on the TAI when sailing solo?

No guesses or theorizing please, I know it appears obvious that the forward seat is on the CofG, but I want to hear it from a Hobie source.

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Fair Skies, Max.

I'd guess it would be best in the front seat going upwind and aft seat on all other points of sail, but we do recommend ballast for all other tandems to keep the boats balanced.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Worth knowing!

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Fair Skies, Max.

Matt,
I have ordered a TAI for spring delivery.
A significant amount of time, I am going to be single-handling the TAI.

For a single person, how much 'ballast' should be used to compensate
for the lack of the second person? Does it have to be equivalent of the weight
of a person (oh, my aching back!).
Is the ballast just set on the empty seat?

any clue as to what the retial price wil be for the tandem?

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Ballast weight is not "required" but is "suggested" on all Tandem kayaks to even the waterline. An equal weight of the passenger would make sense. I don't think I would carry any myself on the TI.

Suggested List price in the US is $4,699.00 (No including freight and possible set up charges)

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Tidalwave - are dealers actually taking orders now?

I spoke with a local dealer less than 2 weeks ago and was given the info of "wait and see" as they were not yet available - not even to order.
He was told that Hobie "was currently having problems with the mast" and he didn't expect any in "till April".

Of course the same thing happened with my 2 original Island purchases. One dealer could not get any but another one could.

Actually, have contacted the same 2 local dealers - I guess the dealer that gets one first gets the sale.

BTW I sure hope there are no freight or setup charges above and beyond the $4,699. Dealers, in my opinion, should not charge extra unless I want it delivered to my home.

In fact the 2 Islands I bought were both priced at "a low introductory price" to get the boat out to us early adopters to get the ball rolling.

Dealers can order now, but the boats are not yet available. At this point... they are already at the back of the line. I suspect it will be into March sometime before we see boats and a few months after that to full fill all orders we have already, so waiting to order will further delay a delivery.

The mast issue is a supplier problem. The vendor (Power Flex, a major builder of windsurfing masts) for the AI masts and now TI quit building masts without notification to us, so we are scrambling for a new vendor. We have to approve pre-production parts before a production run can go through.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

The extremer you can place your weights, the less you need. If you would place them on the empty seat you need roughly the weight of a person. But this would be very inefficient.

When going out solo in my oasis, I use a bit over 20kg of weight in the front hatch. This way it is already quite nicely balanced. Since you can easily put the weight in the extreme front of the tandem island, it might very well be that even less would do. If you prefer to sit in front you might need more weight than that in the aft, since the aft hatch is closer to the aft seat. But it seems to me you will always need way less than a persons weight to balance the TI for soloing.

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skua

The freight charge is not about getting it to your home, but from the factory to the dealership. At the dealership where I worked, we only charged a little money to drive an hour up the road, hook up a new Precision sailboat at the factory, and take it back to the dealership. Getting a Hobie from California could not be done so cheaply, so we charged what that cost.

If you want to minimize the charge, buy from a dealership within an hour's drive of the factory. As you start to get further away, the dealers will want more money for shipping just to stay even with the guys who are close to the factory.

The freight and dealer prep are standard in the Auto industry as well. Built right into the window sticker.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

You can buy collapsible plastic 20 litre, (5.2 USgal/44 Lbs), liquid containers from home supply that you can fill up with seawater when about to launch, they fold flat inside the hull and fit through the 8" hatches for storage when not used.
Will fit straight into the forward AI hatch when full.

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Fair Skies, Max.