...asked if I had a landing net (I did) ...

Good to know. I never carry a landing net, and have met the GW (not to be confused with the GWS) on the water many times, and they've never asked. I'm going to get something that I can store out of the way, just for insurance...

Check out Goss Outdoors on Etsy. Several friends and I use his Model 2 bearing replacement and I haven’t had much trouble from it for years. Before this mod, I had multiple spline failures and bearing fractures resulting in a lot of noise and then failure. Easy 5 minute fix and works great. I do not receive anything from Goss Outdoors for this, just another satisfied user! https://www.etsy.com/shop/GossOutdoors

Hard to understand why Hobie doesn't use these superior parts on their expensive 180 drives...

..

Just in case anybody is still in anchovy-hunting mode...

I was at the SC harbor yesterday, and the aerators were still going, but not many anchovies were visible. Still a few birds around, but nothing like last week...

Welcome     Any chance you will offer kayak service/repair?  I've got a Hobie in need of a rudder line repair.

There's lots of online help for working on Hobie rudder lines, including this one:

https://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=54510.0

I cant get it un-done with brute force, the nut's metal just gives way.  Seems like I need to cut or drill it, but not sure how that can be done really.  They are recessed a little bit in the rudder housing, so I dont think I can get a flat cut in with a hack saw. They do still turn though, so maybe drilling the center out would work?  Probably take forever though without a drill press.

How about if you first cut it nearly flush (nut side)? Then there would not be so much to drill out to release the nut.

A drill press would certainly help, but I think the drilling could be done by hand, if you take your time and start dead-center on the bolt...

Sorry to say that still suck imo 

I can understand $10 processing fee but not that.

It seems that $25 is the minimum. Anyways, it's better than $485...

Just few other random things...

If you use solid aluminum crank arms, I would suggest replacing the stainless bolt that connects the crank arm to the drum with a nylon bolt. Stainless in aluminum will result in galvanic corrosion when exposed to saltwater, and the stainless bolt can become very difficult to remove. You won't have that problem with nylon, and there is no issue wrt the strength.

The same aluminum/stainless corrosion issue can/will happen to the adjustment pin, and it could get so bad that you won't be able to adjust the setting by hand. So, you want to grease it, and I'd recommend that you do so at least once each season. I've thought about replacing the stainless pin with something else, but I'm not sure that aluminum would be strong enough, and I can't think of anything else to try.

The 6061 aluminum that I used in this thread is probably indestructible for this application. It is also fairly cheap, and has great corrosion resistance. But, if you want to use something even stronger, I've made crank arms out of 7075 aluminum, and the process is the same. In fact, cutting threads in 7075 is actually easier than 6061, as it does not have that "gummy" characteristic of 6061. The corrosion-resistance of 7075 is not as good as 6061, but if you wash your Mirage drive after its in the salt, I don't think you'll have any problems with it. One down side is that 7075 is about 3x more expensive.