Maiden Voyage Hobie Pro Angler 14'

I thought I might post and give a report for anyone interested in the 2013 Hobie Pro Angler.

I unpacked it Friday. They come well wrapped in thick bubble wrap, plus one extra box for the chair and the Mirage drive and a few other items. Everything was well packed and organized. Assembly is very minimal....you have to bolt on the pedals and a splash guard to the Mirage drive, and install the rudder controls....that's about it.

Fit and finish are superb with one exception - the scupper holes have pipe inserts that travel through the hull. The forward scupper holes are misaligned with the inside pipes not lining up to the top of the hull (bottom is fine and water tight). One is so bad that you can see into the hull...if these flood, water will get into the hull. I'm going to call Hobie on this one tomorrow and see if they have a fix for me...I was thinking about lining the pipes up and then dropping in a bushing that would be flush to the hull and drop into that pipe....I think I've seen bushings like this at the hardware store before...after dropping $3k on a yak, this was a bit disappointing.....everything else was incredible - great materials, solid boat. It did take it a small amount of water over the entire day....I think from the forward hatch that I didn't lock down with the bungie straps until late in the day. Breaking across the swells did splash lots of water over the bow...none of which reached me, but some might have got in through that hatch....I don't think any scuppers leaked.

So I cracked the champagne bottle across the hull at Almanor Lake...and what a great day for a maiden voyage. I almost had the entire lake to myself....only saw 4-5 other boats out. West side of Almanor is totally frozen still so I used the boat ramp at the dam and paddled all the way to Plumas Pines. Jigged some minnows and drowned some night crawlers all to no avail...did play with the Scotty downrigger I got, but left the big cannon balls at home (whoops) so I couldn't run very deep....the short story - no fish.

The yak is big....it swallows me up. I'm 6'2" and 230lbs and have lots of room. This is my first yak so I can only compare to canoes that I'm used to, but this boat is heavy and very stable. The winds picked up a little for a while and the lake swells were 1-2' tall. I took them straight to the beam for at least 40 minutes straight and this yak just ate em up and asked for more. I would never do this in my canoe! It feels like it sits low in the water, but again, I'm used to canoes. Has no problems into the swells (of course).

The rudder controls had some slop in it and I had to stay on the rudder controls with minute changes constantly to keep it in the direction I wanted. I hope I can work some of this slop out...I think it'll track nicely if I can.

The mirage drive is awesome...not at all a rotary feel like a bicycle like I was expecting, but you get used to it quickly. its a straight push/pull thing. Plenty of adjustment for the depth of the pedals and the straps for the pedals...this drive should accommodate any person from child to bigfoot.

The drive moves the yak nicely...very fast for short bursts (very very fast)...can see this as a benefit in launching in the surf. I was out for about 8 hours and feel that I can keep a nice trolling speed all day long (and I'm not the most fit person in the world).

The seat has a high and low elevation...I didn't drop it down to the low setting until I was heading back it and what a difference....kinda like a recumbent bike....very nice on the lower back.

The seat is incredible....very nice and very adjustable.

I definitely need an anchor. Any recommendations?

Anyway...love this yak...cant wait to hit the surf. I'm going to try a few times at Shelter Cove before GS7 and get my fishing skills down on the ocean. Really, really, like this fishing platform.

-Murf

Glad to hear you like the new boat. When you head to Shelter be careful what you fish for. Season not open till the tourney.

Those black tubes in the forward scupper holes have me worried. I have a PA and the reason Hobie needed to add the black tubing is because the hull was failing at that point when using them for the cart.  I'm really surprised Hobie let that out of the factory that way. 

Rudder slop can be tensioned out by removing the black square cover on the back deck of the PA and loosening the screws and pulling the string's slack out, then re tightening the screws.  The PA is still touchy on manning the tiller to keep going straight, but better than a dead zone due to cable slack to the rudder. 

The forward hatch is a pain to get sealed.  Mine leaks when going in and out of the surf zone.  What I did was to put a sham-wow under the tackle box area.  It's easy to get to from your seat and wring out once or twice to keep things dry.  That seems to be the low spot on the kayak when seated and on the water. 

Congrats and please post some photos.  Also, check out Hobie's forum for the PA if you haven't already;
http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=78

The reason they were failing at the scuppers is because of miss use of the cart. On the old Hobie carts if the plastic cap comes off it exposes sharp metal. Couple that with slamming a 120lb boat on top it's just a matter of time till they finally wore through. Hobie has fixed the cart and reinforced the scuppers on all their kayaks not just the PA. The front scuppers on the PA are also reinforced as some people like to walk them backwards.
The rudder adjustment is easy to do. If your going to the black butte event I'm sure someone will show you.
Congrats on the new ride and welcome to the dark side!

Congrats on a successful first ride.  Christening my ride was something I always wanted to do but sadly never did.

When you head to Shelter be careful what you fish for. Season not open till the tourney.

Not this year 2sheds.     Season opens on the Wednesday before.  Somebody correct me if I'm wrong.

Was just kidding about the champagne...plastic hull, glass bottle...probably wouldn't have worked out too well...

Just an update-

Called Hobie this morning and they offered to claim the boat and get me a new one. I told him that wasn't necessary (3 hour round trip drive to Sacramento from Chico) so he is sending my some plastic repair that should patch it up fine.

A side note- the black scupper pipes are set and cant be moved or adjusted....I think I'm going to drop some bushings into them to make everything flush with the top of the hull.

Anyway, very satisfied with the customer service and the solution seems ok to me.

-Murf

Good to hear Hobie is willing to make it right and that you are happy with them.  There's definite value in owning a Hobie.