Can you just loop a zip tie…

A zip tie might work, but a thin bungee cord might be better. I think I’ll give that a try…

I would steer away from those older pedals simply bc the parts are harder to find ...

I would respectfully disagree with that. I have multiple GT drives and have rebuilt some of them fairly recently. It's easy to find non-Hobie cables and chains (which are cheaper than Hobie parts and, IMHO, better than the Hobie originals) and those are the parts that are by far the most likely to break. I make my own crank arms, so I can't comment on those (other than to say that I have a bunch of official Hobie crank arms, if anybody want to get one for cheap, not to mention pre-GT drums...). The only part that I've been unable to find is the spine, and the chance that you'll ever need a new one of those is extremely remote.

Cable connections are the weak point on the drives. I'm not an engineer but think continuous chain around the pulleys would have been bombproof. Probably would need to change from plastic to metal to do that, like a bike gear cog. Same for sprocket teeth.

Yes, to all of that. I'm tempted to buy these and give it a try...

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Sprockets-Mirage-sprocket-Sprocket/dp/B0C7Q1YRLH/

You could get a pair of replacement "indestructible stainless steel sprockets" and turbo fins for a little less than the GT upgrade

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Sprockets-Mirage-sprocket-Sprocket/dp/B0C7Q1YRLH/

https://www.amazon.com/Turbo-Upgrade-Hobie-Mirage-Fishing/dp/B0BP1KC586

The people selling these parts are in Singapore, and I bought replacement Hobie chain assemblies from from them, and they are outstanding quality.

In any case, I believe that the V1 drums are slightly different than the V2 version (the chain length differs). If you want V2 drums, I've got several spares (from upgrading multiple drives to GT) and you can have a pair, gratis.

Actually, it looks like just slid out - it slides back into the hole easily. The allen nut must've been really loose lol. I appreciate the offer of the ST's, I'll let you know if my search for turbo fins hits a wall. Not in a huge rush (despite hearing that the halibut bite is on fire). We're headed to LA for a week to visit our kids so I'm hoping to order before we leave and have the new fins waiting for me.

If it's not threaded, then those are V1 masts, and you'll have to be sure that you don't order V2 (threaded). I'm not sure, but I suspect that V1 components are hard to find. You might want to consider upgrading to GT drive--although it's a pricey option, IMHO it's worth it:

https://www.amazon.com/Hobie-Drum-Update-Kit-V1/dp/B074KQT187

I was issued a vin sticker on a harbor freight trailer I registered here in Salinas.

Thanks for the info. If it doesn’t come in the mail, I’ll stop by the DMV and ask (or maybe I’ll just make my own).

It looks like the mast broke off—if so, you’ll have to remove the stub before you can do anything with it.

Like Al said, turbo fins are the way to go.

There are also ST fins, which are between standard and turbo. They aren’t nearly as good as turbo, but better than standard. If you are in a hurry, I have some ST fins and masts that I’m not using (and probably never will) and I’m just a few miles away from SV.

I finally got around to registering this trailer at the DMV today.

I arrived at the Capitola DMV at about 8:30am, pulled into the inspection lane (no other vehicles were waiting), and rang the buzzer. The DMV dude came out, looked at the trailer for 10 seconds or less (he did not even check to see if the lights work!), took my drivers license inside, and in 5-10 minutes came back out and handed me a sheet of paper to take inside. This paper included a VIN number.

I went inside (no line), got a number and it was called almost immediately. I had printed out the paperwork mentioned at this site ahead of time:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/registering-homemade-trailer-in-california.1330076/

(That's forms 343, 4017, 5036, and 256, for those of you keeping score.) However, most of the questions on those forms make no sense for a trailer ("Where did you buy the engine, and is it gas, diesel, or electric?"). I attempted to ask the guy behind the counter how to fill out the irrelevant parts, but he was having none of it--he just gave me new copies of the forms and told me to go fill them out myself. He then started mumbling something about his Swingline stapler (OK, that's not true, but he was babbling incomprehensibly about the cost of my trailer being $100,000 or some such, and I still have no idea what he was trying to say).

Next, I sat down and filled out all of the forms as best I could, leaving lots of things blank. At that point, I had to line up again, there were 5 or 6 people in front of me, and it took 10-15 minutes to get a number. About 5 minutes later, the number was called (thankfully, not by stapler guy). It took the lady behind the counter a while, but she eventually gave me a license plate and the necessary paperwork, for a cost of $157.

I thought they'd give me a metal plate with the VIN number on it, but that didn't happen (and I forgot to ask about it). Maybe that comes later in the mail? In any case, I think I'll scratch the VIN number onto the frame in some obscure locations.

Overall, it was much quicker than I'd expected. If I'd gone to the Los Gatos DMV (where I registered a kit-built trailer a few years ago), I'm sure it would have taken many hours longer. Also, when I registered my kit-built trailer in LG, they made a big deal about sales tax (which, of course, they wanted me to pay them), and they also didn't like that I specified the cost of my labor as $0. I eventually talked them into seeing it my way on both of those issues, but they were borderline obnoxious about it. However, in Capitola, they didn't seem to care about either of these things.

Finally, the inspection is a joke, which makes me wonder how many dangerous trailers there are on the roads of CA.