09 drive questions with pics

Hey all,
Went out with the PA to the J-bay tourny and had a blast. I did notice alot of people were hard on there drives as well as some problems.
I've only had mine out a few times. I've read the great info that RR did but have some newb questions.

Are these adjusters supposed to be tight? How tight? Finger? Mine were rather loose.



The pins that go into the holes of the drive have a little play when you wiggle the peddles back and forth. Normal? It does this on every setting btw. No sign of damage.



Checking my chain flex per the post in the faq. The one thats pointed at is stiff and dosen't flex. The rear chain has about 1/8. Do i need to adjust the front chain? There is no give on the small top pully also. Any help would be great.

Also just to add. How often do you break the drive down to greese it? I wash and spray lube evey time. I noyice there is greese on some parts.

It's always good to experiment, but I prefer to loosen the clew outhaul adjustment (that brass nut) to give the fin base plenty of wiggle room. I like to see it just tucked into the rear sprocket guard about 1/8":


If that nut gets easy to move, a dab of Locktite Blue will keep it in place.

Your pedal adjustment pins are normal. There needs to be enough slop for the pins to drop in their holes easily without binding. You'll notice when pedaling, the pedals are always pushing forward so they don't normally wiggle when operating.

Try loosening your idler pulley a little so there is about 1/8" cable movement and see if your front chain/cable doesn't loosen up as well. It should also have about 1/8" squeeze.

If you care to look in the Hobie FAQ section of the forum you will find several articles about lubrication, maintenance and adjustment: viewforum.php?f=21

Thank you RR. I have read and saved the great info you did on drive maint. Just one more stupid newb question. The clew outhall "brass nut". Why is it adjustable? Does haveing it loose or tight make any diffrence in how it peddles?

That's a good question. Hobie's original idea as I understand it, was to have a fin that could change its twist rate for different speeds, depending on the users capabilities. By tightening up the brass screw it makes the fin twist less and supposedly work better at faster boat speeds.

Unfortunately (in my opinion) it didn't seem to work out that way in practice. What ends up happening when the brass screw is tightened is the fins become more like boards and just bat water back and forth (relatively speaking). The more twist they get, the more forward thrust you get. This is achieved by loosening the brass screw to the setting I recommended above. What you're looking for here is to create about 1/4" space along the mast for the fin to slide up and down. This allows it to twist or warp (much like an airplane propeller) to its best advantage.

What difference does it make to you? When set tight, the Drive is harder to push at any given speed. Top speed is slightly reduced, at least for me. When you loosen them you can feel the difference -- same speed, less effort = less fatigue and greater range.

So why still have it? The cost to change production is not worth it. The fins still need an attachment mechanism and this works fine. Additionally, the original Turbo masts were a little longer so the clew adjustment allows the fins to be optimized for both lengths. Finally users who want to experiment with different clew settings can tune the fins individually to suit.

The factory has recently started outfitting some of the Drives with Turbofins for the Pro Angler. They're bringing them too close in IMO, just like your set pictured above. The first thing you should do is readjust them and give your legs a break!

The factory has an absolutely brilliant engineering staff, and I'm normally reluctant to recommend anything different than Hobie would. But in this case, I've spend hours trying different individual combinations of settings on these clew adjustments in a effort to extract the fastest sprint and cruise speeds from the Drive. Others here have found similar results. So give it a try and see what you think!

Thank you sir "salute'!!! My drive came to me really tight in all the adjustments. I have been out sevral times with it and not adjusted anything untill the other night, useing your guide. I have always kept the clew tight but now will adjust them and give it a shot. Thank you for your time and responce.