Any reviews on: Hobie i11s

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone on here can give a review on the inflatable marage Hobie i11s?

I know that a couple of you have this yak, besides the obvious light weight and portability, how do you find it in the wind and waves? How's the stability and traking?

Thanks
Kenj

Salty would be your man. 

I've only spent a day on flatwater on one, but I was impressed.  Super stable and waaaaay quicker than I thought it would be.  If they ever change up the color scheme to something a bit more 'neutral', I'll pick one up.

In the wind I prefer the seat be in the low position. The high position is slightly more comfortable but your drift will be faster. This is true of all kayaks and the i11s is no exception. Otherwise the wind is no problem as well as the waves. I used mine at the GMS tourney this year as well as other days that were even rougher. Due to the inflatable side chambers the waves effects are buffered and that combined with the width of 39" make this possibly Hobie's most stable platform......definitely the shortest/most compact. The tracking is good with the stock rudder and ruler straight with a sailing rudder. Rudder up is not advisable as there is no keel and no keel+ no rudder = no tracking.

One of the pro's is a 100% open cockpit. There's nothing hemming your legs or feet in like when you're in a traditional kayak. Obviously you have more room in craft like the PA's but your still confined to a cockpit. Another pro is all of the flat deckspace you get since 100% of the top is flat you can lay stuff down anywhere as long as it's leashed, floats, or you're careful not to knock it off the side. 

The only con I've found is that although punctures are easily fixed, a single drop of glue will fix anything 1/8" or smaller, a big rockfish thrashing around can cause several such holes all at once. This isn't a dealbreaker though as the solution is a simple light weight fish landing mat that you can attach to one of the deck rings at the bow and another at the seat on the side of the kayak that you will land your fish from. Since there's no tankwell behind the seat I also added a rectangular window cleaning bucket that I bungee to the deck to throw my caught fish in. When I get home I just hose out my mat and bucket. A few of these small punctures will deflate a chamber and depending on the size of the holes this could take hours or days. There's plenty of buoyancy with the center and only one side chamber inflated to continue fishing although I wouldn't recommend going far offshore on only two. 

As far as speed goes it does feel quick and can accelerate quickly. However due to the lack of a keel and the short length it does take fairly continuous effort to maintain that speed. These are your tradeoff's for the lightweight, super portable, & fun package that you get.

thanks salty for the great review. 

In the wind I prefer the seat be in the low position. The high position is slightly more comfortable but your drift will be faster. This is true of all kayaks and the i11s is no exception. Otherwise the wind is no problem as well as the waves. I used mine at the GMS tourney this year as well as other days that were even rougher. Due to the inflatable side chambers the waves effects are buffered and that combined with the width of 39" make this possibly Hobie's most stable platform......definitely the shortest/most compact. The tracking is good with the stock rudder and ruler straight with a sailing rudder. Rudder up is not advisable as there is no keel and no keel+ no rudder = no tracking.

One of the pro's is a 100% open cockpit. There's nothing hemming your legs or feet in like when you're in a traditional kayak. Obviously you have more room in craft like the PA's but your still confined to a cockpit. Another pro is all of the flat deckspace you get since 100% of the top is flat you can lay stuff down anywhere as long as it's leashed, floats, or you're careful not to knock it off the side. 

The only con I've found is that although punctures are easily fixed, a single drop of glue will fix anything 1/8" or smaller, a big rockfish thrashing around can cause several such holes all at once. This isn't a dealbreaker though as the solution is a simple light weight fish landing mat that you can attach to one of the deck rings at the bow and another at the seat on the side of the kayak that you will land your fish from. Since there's no tankwell behind the seat I also added a rectangular window cleaning bucket that I bungee to the deck to throw my caught fish in. When I get home I just hose out my mat and bucket. A few of these small punctures will deflate a chamber and depending on the size of the holes this could take hours or days. There's plenty of buoyancy with the center and only one side chamber inflated to continue fishing although I wouldn't recommend going far offshore on only two. 

As far as speed goes it does feel quick and can accelerate quickly. However due to the lack of a keel and the short length it does take fairly continuous effort to maintain that speed. These are your tradeoff's for the lightweight, super portable, & fun package that you get.

The open, flat deck is definitely one of the nicest things about my i11s...you feel completely "free" on the water, esp in the high position, which is how my seat is set up 99.9% of the time. Catches more wind, but I haven't found it to be tippier than the low position, and MUCH easier on my back, plus you get that extra storage space underneath the seat.

Salty, have you launched yours in the surf? As you pointed out, once you pull the rudder/mirage drive, there is zero tracking...I wonder how you would go about surf launching (and esp landing) this thing.

I put the rudder down immediately but don't cleat the pull cord. Because there's no cockpit and tankwell to momentarily  fill with water and due to the flat design the i11s isn't too bad getting out through small waves.

My wife has one and it's used for cruising not fishing.  I've used it and also her hobie revolution.  With the larger rudder it tracks better then the revo. I also have an inflatable Sea Eagle and the hobie kicks its butt for speed and it's faster to setup.  I use the foot pump from the sea eagle to inflate the i11.  It's easier.  Packing the i11  back into the hobie bag is a bitch.  I also use the pump to drain air out to help get it flatter to repack. It's a great boat.


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Thanks for the review myyak8 . seems like a solid boat

I put the rudder down immediately but don't cleat the pull cord. Because there's no cockpit and tankwell to momentarily  fill with water and due to the flat design the i11s isn't too bad getting out through small waves.

Thanks for the response!

I can see getting out, and good tip on not cleating the rudder. Do you also leave the rudder down but uncleated on the way in? I can picture pulling my drive/rudder coming in and immediately spinning in circles...Also, how do you secure your gear/rods etc w/o below deck storage? Would love to see a video lol!

I use the foot pump from the sea eagle to inflate the i11.  It's easier.  Packing the i11  back into the hobie bag is a bitch.  I also use the pump to drain air out to help get it flatter to repack. It's a great boat.

I've been using the Sevylor 12V high pressure pump on my i11s, you do need an adapter for the valve but it beats hand pumping any day. The gun pump that comes with the kayak isn't bad, but it kills my back trying to hold it vertical over the center chamber...by the time I get it up to 3.5psi I'm ready to go home, esp when it's 90+ degrees out! With the electric pump it takes a few minutes for all 3 chambers; I use that time to rig up my rods/gear etc.

Also, I don't use the bag. Just fold it up and put it right into the cargo area of my forester, making sure I don't fold the steering tube. I've been having some issues with steering, got the steel cable upgrade kit but one of the steering screw tensioners in the rudder is stripped; back to the dealer it goes over the winter.

Overall I think this boat is near perfect for the inshore fishing I do. Hoping to expand my horizons and get it out in the surf, but I'm a pretty low-risk kind of kayak angler haha...

Most hobie inflatable reviews are positive but here is my bad experience and two cents.

I owned a 2012 i9s for 2 years 2 months (2 months out of hobie warranty) and experienced a failure of the center floor drop stitching. The i9s was stored loosely packed, was never over pressurized or abused. One day I inflated it and noticed a small bulge under the back of the seat. The floor drop stitching started separating and any pressure or movement caused more stitching loss. The bulge rapidly grew to about 3/4" high and 6" diameter circle. I contacted inflatable boat repair shops who would not attempt repair and pointed out some design and manufacturing weaknesses. After contacting my hobie dealer, he was successful after a couple of tries in convincing Hobie to replace the hull even though I was 2 months out of warranty. I speculate Hobie replaced the hull because the dealer sells alot of hobies and the failure occured on a newer product line. I sold the brand new hull with the used components and later upgraded to a revo 13.

The inflatable was a great solution to many problems (storage, transport) but after my experience I think they are a disposable product and fragile. If you have a problem after the 2 year warranty expires, you are at the mercy of Hobie to repair/replace a failure or would have to buy a new hull. This is true with the hard shells but hard shells are more robust, there is alot less that can fail, and are more easily repaired.