Slow Drive

Hi I am trying to fix a sluggish drive on a 2013 outback which gets alot of use. I have a hard time holding in current and spaning distance causes fatigue and knee pain. I tried my wifes identical drive (same year but only used twice) in my kayak and theres a night/day difference-so much so that it feels like warp speed with little effort. So far i have broken mine down and cleaned/lubed everything 2x already but have seen no improvement at all. I am about to start systematicaly replacing parts starting with the chains and am wondering if any parts are more notorious for wear than others? The sprocket and idler pulley shafts dont appear to be worn or notched and the pedal shaft seems to be ok as well so I am at a loss. Any help would be apreciated. Thanks

What fins? Try loosening the brass thumb screw if they are ST or ST Turbo.

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

V2 ST turbos. Just read another thread and may instead just do the glide parts upgrade and be done with it...looks like I can use the parts on the older drive.

Where can I find information on the glide parts upgrade?

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Greg

2016 AI - Spinn & Jib

“Out of sight of land the sailor feels safe. It is the beach that worries him.”
– Charles G. Davis

I had thought about doing this a few months ago and found the following thread with the needed part numbers: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=53752
I never did the conversion since I don't really use the mirage drive much, but it'd be interesting to see if it makes much difference.

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-- Chad | 2014 TI

I have a 2012 TI and typically pedal my boat 10-15 miles a week average pretty much all year round. I never touched my drives until recently. One of the other hobie guys from this forum came up and we tried to set a new world record on fuel economy (just crap, we were just messing around, but it was fun anyway). We set out to peddle sail the ten miles around Lido key, the goal was to achieve 150 mpg on my hybrid motors (normal is currently 100 mpg) averaging 8-10 mph in very light winds (around 5 mph winds). He offered to bring his new Glide mirage drives (from his boat) up for the trial. My mirage drives had many thousands of hard miles on them, and the fins were all wavy. We put his new Glide drives in and the difference was like night and day, we never got anywhere close to setting any record (the winds were wrong), but we had fun anyway.
I ordered the parts to upgrade my mirage drive to the new glide technology, and also replaced my fins. My mirage drive now works just as well as his, and I am extremely happy with the upgrade. However I suspect 90% of the improvements came from the new fins. The fins are plastic (TPE) and they do stretch and deform over time, losing performance.
If your fins are all wavy and stretched out (like mine were), I would start there, with new fins first.

Hope this helps
FE