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PostPosted: Sat Aug 18, 2018 9:18 am 
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Joined: Wed May 04, 2016 5:24 am
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Location: Bob in Mobile, AL
I have a leak in the seam where the black plastic opening for the Mirage drive attaches to the blue kayak material. The picture below shows dried glue residue at the point of the leaks. I have tried gluing over that part of the seam a couple times but cannot completely seal the leaks though they are now slower. Any advice is appreciated.

Our i11t is a little over 2 years old and gets used a couple times a month at least. We are lucky to be able to leave it inflated all the time for the last 6 months.
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 9:00 am 
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Location: Bob in Mobile, AL
Update: The leak has gotten much worse to the point that it won't hold air for even one kayak ride. The entire area where the black plastic Mirage Drive is inserted into the kayak has started to lose its adhesion to the middle chamber fabric. I tried using the repair glue supplied with the kayak but it won't stop the leaks.

I had purchased this i11s from Austin Kayak in April 2016 so I contacted their customer service to ask about a repair as the kayak leaks so much now it is useless. They contacted Hobie who denied my claim but offered to try and fix the kayak for free if I'd ship it back to them. Given how much I paid and that I'm just outside the warranty period I was extremely disappointed in Hobie's response and will likely never buy another Hobie of any kind. Austin Kayak is going to send me a claim number to use for sending in the kayak to Hobie and I'll update this thread as things happen.


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PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2018 1:02 pm 
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Just curious: when you say you store it inflated, do you mean lightly inflated, or full 3-5psi inflated?


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:52 am 
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reason162 wrote:
Just curious: when you say you store it inflated, do you mean lightly inflated, or full 3-5psi inflated?

I mean inflated to its normal usage pressure as we used it every week.

Are you implying it should be stored at less than its normal pressure? That is not recommended in the Hobie i11s manual I received which says:
"Store your kayak in the rolling bag or inflated in a cool, dry environment out of the elements."


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 1:12 pm 
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beernutz wrote:
I mean inflated to its normal usage pressure as we used it every week.

Are you implying it should be stored at less than its normal pressure? That is not recommended in the Hobie i11s manual I received which says:
"Store your kayak in the rolling bag or inflated in a cool, dry environment out of the elements."


I am not implying anything, just asking a question. FWIW I don't think Hobie recommends storing at normal usage pressure, but it should be made clear in the manual if that's the case. For me it just made sense that storing it fully inflated is putting unnecessary stress on the seams, so I never did.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 13, 2018 5:15 pm 
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To be fair a lot of people are just buying the kayak and using it; they're not perusing the hobie forums and asking OCD questions (like us!), so if the manual does indeed say "store inflated" that is pretty shabby manual writing. I also recall the manual stating "3-5 psi" and then one of the mods here specifying 3 for the sides and 5 for the center...

Point is, a tiny fraction of users will ever see that amended PSI suggestion. My feeling after dealing with a few issues on the i11s is...Hobie themselves experienced a learning curve with this model that they didn't with their hard kayaks. We were all sort of beta testing this platform. That's okay, I have no issues with my kayak or Hobie, but this guy read his manual and if the seam rupture is due to permanent full inflation...I really don't think it's his problem. Hobie should replace the hull.


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PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 3:43 pm 
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For what it's worth, I just bought a new i14t and it came with a pressure gauge. Also, the three valves are clearly marked with the proper PSI. The middle section gets 6 psi and and the two outside hulls get 3 psi.

I did a lot of research on this forum before my purchase so thank you to everyone who posts!!!!


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 4:21 pm 
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Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:38 pm
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Location: Mesa, AZ
Beernuts I had a similar issue with my 2010 i12s. There was a separation along the seam at the top of the mirage drive compartment. It was an easy enough repair. I'll sen you some pics of what we did to renew the seam. I'm still trying to finger out how to include photos on this post. If you want more direction of how easy this was here's an email address, [email protected], that will allow more direct interchange. My i12s was purchased used two years ago. Living in this desert Southwest, folding hot PVC, and storing it during the summer temps could possibly have something to do with the seam separation. It could possibly have been how tightly it was compressed for transport. Not to matter. It's been repaired. As a matter of fact I just spent this afternoon relining the scupper holes with heavier gauge tubing. One had separated near the deck and allowed water to seep into the bilge. It seems there's a separation of some sort taking place on a regular basis with these inflatables. I'm with you, I won't purchase another Hobie product. New or used.


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PostPosted: Sat Dec 01, 2018 7:00 am 
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yaaintdeadyet wrote:
It was an easy enough repair. I'll sen you some pics of what we did to renew the seam. I'm still trying to finger out how to include photos on this post. If you want more direction of how easy this was here's an email address, [email protected], that will allow more direct interchange.


I too would love more info about your repairs. We took our 2 i11S inflatables out today with friends and one boat on inflation, even before reaching pressure had the bottom of the seam where it attaches to the drive well completely delaminate. Completely useless at this point. The other one once it was inflated, picked it up by the bow and stern handles and the bow handle completely delaminated and came off the boat entirely. Upon further inspection it appears many of the seams are about to go. These boats are only about 2.5 years old, stored folded up in their bags in our garage. They have been the most fun, having flown to Canada from Australia with them and most recently used them in Tasmania a couple of weeks ago. My wife and I are quite sad about the seams delaminating and for the price would expect more than 2.5 years life span.


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