Hardware upgrades?

On my compass I have had the plastic plugs(?) that have the molded loops for the seat to clip on break. I have gone through three of them already. I have also had the clips on the seat break and have since switched to using carabiners. The seat clips have been solved with the carabiners but are there any alternatives that can be used for the plastic plug loop things that are more robust? I routinely kayak fish miles into the gulf and when they seat attachment hardware breaks it makes for a rough trip back in.

Between these parts breaking, the paddle blade breaking off, and the local Hobie shop telling me they are too busy to warranty stuff on a kayak they didnt sell (I just moved here last month) I am seriously regretting purchasing this kayak.

There was a materials issue with the strap hooks. We have made some changes and that should go away.

The eyes breaking is much less common and may be related to adding length to the strap when the carabiners were used. That would over recline the seat and put a tremendous load on the eyes. You could install stainless eyes. I have seen some do that.

Paddles breaking off is a new one. These blades are made by Cannon. We have not seen this lately.

Can you post a photo of the breakage? When / how did it happen?

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

I will get the pictures posted in a couple hours when I get home. The clips breaking due to the extra length makes total sense, not sure why I didn't think about that. I never had one break until the carabiners were added. I'm 5'10 and weigh 185 so not a lightweight but not a big guy either. The extra couple inches can amount to a huge amount of extra leverage pulling at an angle. Would you happen to know where I could get stainless versions, that would probably fit the bill for me.

The seat clip broke one day while fishing just leisurely pedaling in the gulf of Mexico, I was slow trolling so only holding a 3mph pace going with the wind helping me along and the water was calm, 0-1ft swells at 4seconds. When it broke it was a surprise and made for a not so fun trip back in 5 miles. Still managed a good day on the water with lots of fish caught and released.

The paddle blade snapped off while paddling my tarpon 160i in the gulf. The weather conditions were not as favorable, heavy chop with a 3ft swell at 3 seconds. I was paddling fairly briskly and heard a crack and no blade came up on the next stroke. It made for a fun trip back to shore although I did have a emergency paddle stowed away I thankfully didn't have to use. I just used the Hobie paddle like a canoe paddle. I'm not sure if I just strained the paddle too much or if I may have previously cracked it and not noticed and it decided to let go all at once.

I take pretty good care of my yaks but they get alot of very heavy use. I am on the water in one of my kayaks at least 5 times a week, some days for only an hour or so, other days from sunrise to sunset. My Compass was purchased new in March but it already has close to 100 days of use on it (I log my use on a calender, lol). As you can tell by the sheer amount of use I have in my compass in the short time I have had it, I am a huge fan of it. Other than a few small issues I could not be happier with it.

I will get the pictures loaded soon and thanks for the info mmiller

Lots of options for eyes:

https://www.hobie.com/parts-and-accessories/?q=eye&hPP=20&idx=ItemGroup&p=0&is_v=1

71220001 PAD EYE - CHROME $3.49

Plus the bulbe style rivet: 8012001 RIVET 6-9 BULB TYPE-KAYAK $0.50

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

Three of these have been broken so far. Always on the left side of the yak. I swap another in and then end up breaking another. I think mmiller hit the nail on the head with the problem, the carabiners I added are adding a lot more leverage to the part and just overwhelming them. Not a Hobie issue at all.



Broken seat strap clip, ended up replacing both sides with carabiners.



Paddle blade broken off, flush with end of shaft. You can still see the part of the blade inside the shaft.




Local dealer didn't want to help when I called asking about the procedure to get them looked at for warranty since the kayak was purchased from a different dealer ( I just moved here recently). The owner said "I'm way too busy to mess with kayaks I didn't sell". The Hobie personnel were great on the phone and worked it out where the local dealer would help me and to bring it by their store.

I still would rather not step foot in that dealer and I wish Hobie had a way that small stuff like this could be handled directly through them. As of now it looks like I will just buy a new paddle (I have numerous but they are all a bit short for a 34" wide kayak), figure out what upgrades I can do for the plug/loop thingies and keep using carabiners for the seat straps.

The part that breaks is the screw in plug type pad eye. PN 71125001 I need to try to find a stainless version of something like that although I may just have to use a regular pad eye and find somewhere near there I can rivet it to that will still work as far as seat attachment goes.

Guy I saw that did that was to install a flush bungee plug in the hole and the metal eye next to it. Higher is better.

Thanks for the paddle image. We will report that to Cannon.

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

Call you old dealer and ask them to file a claim... we can drop ship I think. Usually an issue into another dealer's area, but for warranty... we should be able to do that. The PA paddle is a little longer. Maybe request that?

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