My spouse and I had a very scary encounter with the Sacramento River the other day. We are new owners of rev11s and love them. Our original Hobies were from 2001--very wide and stable, no scupper holes for wheels.
We stored our Hobie Trax 2 wheels in the holes upon launch, leaving the clamps in position that our dealer had placed them. The river was a bit lower than I was used to, and my spouse crashed into a hidden stump and capsized. Very dangerous strong current, so I pulled to the bank--but my spouse couldn't make it over, so I pushed off too quickly--and an overhanging bush toppled me into the water as well. With my boat upside down, I could hang on and called my spouse to swim over. Both of us hanging on and moving swiftly downstream with rapids and very rough water ahead, we were lucky enough to get the attention of two fishing boats. They rescued both us and our Hobies, but it was a close call, as they reported seeing no other boats for miles on the river.
KEY POINT: While holding on, I realized that I was clasping the protruding trax 2 posts! They were stickup up about 4 inches!
Safe at home now, I looked at the second trax wheels, and they are a full inch longer than mine! My spouse might have hit that stump or submerged tree with the protruding posts! Likely scenario, in fact. I have moved the clamps now, much higher on the posts to avoid this problem in the future.
What a frightening experience. I hope this post helps others who might not realize that the clamps have to be quite high on the post to avoid protruding when stowed in the scupper holes behind the seat on a Rev11. I wish I had been aware of the issue beforehand!!!
Take care!
Joan (I an 80 years old 120 lbs and still quite strong--but not strong enough to fight the Sacramento River. I doubt that I'll go on it again, even in my now-smooth-bottomed Hobie.)
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