Hobie PA14 Hull Replacement After 2 Year Warranty Expires.

My 5 year old Hobie Pro Angler 14 developed a crack in a bad spot. It now leaks a ton of water whenever I use the Mirage Drive. Long story short, I put in a claim with my dealer and they told me that it was approved. I was offered 15% off a complete Hobie Kayak. So basically I was offered a crappy coupon for a $3500 kayak haha. The only thing broken on the kayak is the hull. I don't need an entire new Mirage Drive, which is why we buy these things in the first place! in the past they would offer you a discounted hull for a reasonable price. Apparantly that ship has sailed. I'm now concidering stripping my kayak and selling the parts. My feelings is that the hull of a Mirage Drive Hobie, should be viewed as an accessory to the Mirage Drive System. Now I'm stuck with all the fully functioning parts of a $3500 kayak. These are the ridiculously expensive trademark parts that make this a $3500 HOBIE Kayak! Yet, I have nothing to float in with them.

Hobie probably doesn't have any 2011-2012 hulls left to use as any type of warranty replacement. So the seat and a lot of other things changed as well. Since you cannot do a hull swap to fix yours the discount off a new one is probably the only route. Not sure what you were really expecting since you are well past the warranty period for your PA. Sorry to hear you are so disappointed with what was offered. Yes they do cost more now than the $2350 that a 2012 retailed for. 15% off a new PA is a nice gesture in my opinion.

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Steve Stubbs
USAF (retired)

SeaDek Fishing Team
Unfair Lures Pro Staff
Ziptailz Ambassador

2015 Pro Angler 14 - Papaya
2018 Compass - Sea Grass

Todd-
I don't think you are going to find a 2010 hull anywhere, unless it is sold with all the fittings which you do not need. So given the choice of 15% off new or fixing old, and your frustration with the discounted new option, it seems your only path is to fix old. I fixed that exact same crack in that exact same spot in my 2010 PA14 earlier this season using 3M Scotch-Weld DP8010NS and the repair has held up well for about 4 months now with no leaks. PM me if you need details on how to do this repair.

How is that fix holding up now? I had bought an Outback, used it for a year, then gave it to my sis when I bought a new Outback for myself. Her yak got a hull Crack near drivewell, got it replaced under warranty with 2014 hull which has now developed a crack. Not looking to buy another Hobie when 2/3 have have had this issue (I thought this was supposed to be resolved). I would be willing to try a fix, but have read about a lot of unsuccessful attempts.

To the best of my knowledge, it is holding up well. I sold the 2010 PA14 to a friend (with full disclosure of the crack and repair) last fall and bought a 2016. He took the repaired yak to FL and used it all winter down there, and is now back in MI with it and no complaints so far.
In my case, the repair involved fixing the hull crack and also mitigating the design flaw that caused the crack. The latter required me to build up the front "shelf" of the MD well that the nose of the MD rests upon. There was enough rotational play in the properly-engaged MD that the back of the drive system was essentially banging on the rear MD well column, leading to cracking of the hull there. By simply plastic welding a button made of 2 fused layers of hull material (from my dealer) onto the front well shelf, the nose of the seated MD sat higher. This rotated the entire MD backward a tiny bit, preventing the aft-end of the drive from contacting the hull in the rear of the well. So fixing the crack is not fixing the problem, but fixing the problem is pretty simple.