This is part 2 of a two part series. Part one can be seen here:
https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=61536I was lucky enough to get the use of a Compass over a long weekend and wasted no time heading to the water. I got a chance to look at performance, handling, stability, hull characteristics and on-board storage.
Performance: The Compass comes with ST fins so I pedaled an hour and covered 4.2 miles at a "fast cruise" on the local lake. The next day I "upgraded to ST Turbos and did the same hour, covering 4.7 miles. Conditions were similar both days -- no current, light winds, mostly flat water. The difference was like night and say -- the boat came alive with the Turbos with much better acceleration as well as speed, bringing the boat up to its potential. Here's a shot of the exit wake at that speed.
For comparison, the Compass with Turbofins is approximately similar in cruising speed to the Outback and Revo 11 (also with Turbofins). The MD-180 Turbofins performed much like the ST Turbos except that they allow reverse operation. The boat can be sprinted over 5 MPH with any of the fins, but that's not a realistic running speed.
Handling: The rudder system is really well designed, IMO. If properly tuned (more on that below), it tracks well with little need for correction. The handle is sensitive so a little correction goes a long way. Unlike the PAs, rudder response is immediate.. It has some authority at low speed (less than 1 MPH) and excellent and responsive turning at any traveling speed. Turn radius is excellent. One great feature is it receives funneled water from the moving Mirage Drive, enabling you to hold position against moderate wind without actually moving.
The only negative aspect of the system on the test boat was that rudder tuning was affected by temperature. When it gets hot the boat expands, making the directional control lines very tight and the rudder handle difficult to turn. In cooler weather, the boat shrinks enough to slack the rudder lines and the control is very easy to turn but tracking becomes sloppy as the rudder is able to move independent of the control. Once the lines are adjusted for seasonal temperature this shouldn't be a problem. The point here is, learn how to "tune" the rudder for your climate and you will be rewarded with excellent rudder performance and tracking; fail to do so and the boat will need constant correction. You want taut, not tight, but no slack in your rudder lines.
Stability: Initial stability is good and secondary stability is excellent. Even though the seat height is somewhat elevated this is no problem in turns or at any other time. I deliberately took boat wake swells on the beam to see the hull reaction. On most wide hulls the boat tilts with the wake but the Compass absorbed the wakes very nicely without a lot of rock and roll -- very impressive for a boat of this width!
Standing capability: My feeling is stand-up stability lies somewhere between the Revo 13 and the Outback, but closer to the later. It's possible I am under rating this, so I poured through all the videos and pics and could only find stand-up pics with the H-Bar accessory:
Notice that her feet are straddling the hatch, just in front of the seat where is more stability. Part of this limitation is the boat's light weight. The heavier the boat, the slower it moves from under your feet. If you're standing to fish, you want to concentrate on the fishing, not the standing, so the H-bar would be great accessory to have.
Hull characteristics: Some of the Hobie hulls are amazingly quiet and others are notoriously noisy. The Compass strikes a happy medium. At mid to higher cruising speeds the bow pushes a small amount of water, much less than the Outback. Ripples can be heard laping against the hull while underway. This is a by-product of hull volume and stability and just par for the course.
The hull handles wind and chop very well. Any spray stayed low and out of the cockpit. Even with beam chop, the seating area stayed dry. The bow area kept mostly dry heading upwind. Here's what you would expect:
Looking at the bow view, the boat has a lot of freeboard, but wind resistance is mitigated nicely by the chine bevels as shown in this view:
The Compass had no trouble zooming around with the wind surfers:
Inside the cockpit: The first thing you notice is the spaciousness. The distance to the drivewell is ample so that a reasonably tall person should have a good pedaling position. The cockpit / cargowelll separator is low enough that the seat back can be disconnected and positioned horizontally for a siesta -- you just need to bring a pillow!
Storage: One thing lacking is small item storage space. Of course you can add a gear bucket for the hatch, mesh pockets for the sides or a dry bag.
Hull storage is also limited to what you can fit in one hatch. Substituting a larger rectangular hatch is an option, and adding a bow hatch was discussed in part one. There is no aft internal storage available. On the positive side, there are fewer openings to leak. Most of us don't require much if any internal space and the cargo well is quite generous for easy access. The bow cargo area is also a great feature that is unique to the Compass -- sealed and accessible. With a longer bungee and / or some extensions you could pack quite a bit in that forward bay.
Overall, the Compass is a great all-around boat -- light weight, stable, maneuverable, with an excellent hauling capacity.