6 month review : Hobie PA14 360

Starting this thread to get a dialogue going between PA owners, recommended changes etc. Would really like to keep this conversation limited to PA owners.

So I'm a little over 6 months into my PA.  This is my 4th Kayak and I've also had/have a number of canoes, I've used them all in both fresh and saltwater.

I'm still happy with the Kayak, and would do it again. However in this thread, I'll only focus on the things I'd like to change, to improve the boat.

I've been on freshwater about 15 times (or more)
I've been on Saltwater also about 15 or more times.  Launches were protected (i.e. HMB, SC) and beach launches (Timber Cove, Monterey Kayak, La Jolla Shores)


   1. Front hatch: The biggest issue is getting a solid, sea worthy seal on this in rough waters or beach launch landing.  I'm actually convinced it is impossible to fully seal, as the cover gets some hydrodynamic lift as the water passes over the top, allowing water into both the tub and the hull.  I've seen some people add various latches to the cover, either over the top straps or 'Yeti Cooler' style hold downs.  I'm actually considering to redo the whole thing.
      a. First, cut the hatch in half, and make the front half semi-permanently closed tight (nylon hardware).
      b. Attach the front half with some sort of overlapping hinge (this is the challenge, how to make it seal tight at the seam) and use the yeti style straps to hold the front closed tight.  I'll probably make the whole mess with fiberglass and keep the original untouched.
      c. Another option would be to add a cam or ratcheting type of strap closure from the bow, over the cover, then down into the cockpit
      d. Need to do some more thinking about this
      e. When the hatch fills with water, if severely degrades the boats handling properties.
   2. Cockpit rod holders.
      a. These seem to be for bass fisherman. Or at least not for me.  Seems the rods need to be baitcasting and short (6').  I've not been able to use these with any of my rods, and feel comfortable about it.
      b. I do use them when I'm returning to a ocean shore launch, I break my rods down and shove them in, safer in their if I roll.
      c. These leak and they fill with water in shore launches and moderate seas.
      d. I may just fill these with small pool noodles (added benefit of buoyancy in case of swamping), the bottom tube in particular seems to have the least usefulness* and also take on the most water.  So I'll start by finding a pool noodle to fill those.
         i. Usefulness: all of the tubes bend as they approach the bow (constraints of the hull shape) the upper tubes bend the least, the lower bottom tubes bend the most.  Also, being so so close to the floor of the cockpit makes it more challenging to get a rod in/out w/o damaging the rod or guides.
   3. Cockpit hatch: tilting tackle box holder is cute, but…
      a. I tried just removing the holder and shoving tackle boxes in the bilge, unfortunately they travel freely, I lost my salmon lure box for about a month until I was able to coax it back to the hatch area.
      b. I know you can get or make (Rubbermaid) a box to go in there, but it is smaller than I'd like.  I'd like to figure out some way to get access to a larger space under the hatch, but also keep the boxes within that space.  For now, I'll probably just get one of the bins.
      c. I do not want to remove any of the foam blocks, they are there for safety (swamping) and that is a priority for me as well.

Not a PA owner, so feel free to ignore this post, or I'll be glad to delete it if you want to keep this purely to a PA discussion...

I mostly pilot an AI, and front hatch leakage is a common theme among AI owners. The AI flexes quite a bit, and the front hatch is often covered with water, especially when sailing at any decent speed. If the boat flexes, it'll suck in any water than happens to be around the seam of the hatch. Since the hatch is sometimes completely submerged, a lot of water can accumulate inside (as in gallons).

These ideas may not be relevant to the PA hatch, but here are the things that I've tried, based on posting on the Hobie forum.

1) Glue yoga mat material to the inside of the hatch. Then, when the hatch is closed, it'll maintain a reasonable seal even when the boat flexes. This (or similar) is the most popular fix.

2) Make a "shower cap" and attach it over the (raised) opening before closing the hatch. This is less popular than the yoga mat.

3) Make a loop of squishy 3/4" silicone rubber tubing and insert it into the groove around the edge of the hatch. Then when the lid is closed, the edge presses against the silicone rubber and maintains a good seal even when the boat flexes. The is the least popular approach, but it has worked the best for me.

If 3) is at all relevant to your situation, I can post a picture. The other 2 should be pretty easy to find on the Hobie forum.

I bought a 13' Revolution in Fall 2013, and have used it extensively since that time.  I recently bought a 12' PA 360.  So far, I have the following bad things to say about the Pro Angler:

1. When pedaling, it's slow.  I find that I'm generally going about 1 mph slower than I do in my Revolution, and working harder to get that speed. This is a problem because I tend to put in a lot of miles every day moving from fishing spot to fishing spot.

2.  When paddling, it's really slow and cumbersome.  I don't think the strategy of coming in through surf by pulling up the drive and dashing in between waves under paddle power is going to work with this kayak.

3.  It's big and catches a lot of wind. Pedaling upwind is a lot of work.

4.  Its hull, with the seat and drive removed, is 40 pounds heavier than the hull of my Revolution, but I'm able to get it on top of my SUV, and have gotten it out of an unimproved launch site with a steep gravel beach.

5. The molded in rod holders on my kayak are only 5 inches deep, which feels inadequate for holding rods or a big net.  I made extenders out of 1.5" ID thin wall PVC pipe; see the picture below. They only cost a couple of bucks to make, and are a big improvement.  I clip them to the loop on the paddle holder with bungie cord. I understand that the 2022 Pro Anglers will have bolted in rod holders, which hopefully will be deeper than the molded in holders.

6.  Hobie has a long standing arrangement with Lowrance, and designed the Guardian retractable transducer shield to carry Lowrance transducers.  I bought a Humminbird Helix 7 sidescan fish finder, and the Humminbird transducer has a different configuration than Lowrance's sidescan transducer.  Getting the Humminbird transducer mounted on the outside of the transducer shield was a significant DIY project.

7.  The hatch in front of the seat is large, but there is surprisingly little space under the hatch, partly due to all the blocks of foam around the hatch area, and partly due to the configuration of the bottom of the kayak's hull.  There's quite a lot less space than there is under the smaller hatch of my Revolution.  I've had to find other places to store some of the gear I put under the hatch in my Revolution, in particular a couple of lure boxes, a bilge pump, and a large selfie stick.

8.  There are rudder controls on both sides of the kayak, but the 360 drive control is only on the left side of the kayak.  I hold my rod in my left hand when jigging, so I have to keep switching hands to operate the 360 drive.  I wish the kayak had 360 drive controls on both sides.

9.  When paddling my Revolution, I can brace into big and breaking waves and keep the kayak level from side to side even when on the side of a steep wave, particularly when I have thigh straps clipped in.  The Pro Angler feels too wide and flat to perform in that manner.

I like the following things about the kayak:

(a) The primary reason I bought the kayak is for the 360 drive.  I do a lot of jigging in deep water, and the 360 drive makes it a lot easier to hover over fish or bottom features, even in considerable wind and waves.  If the wind shifts or pushes the bow to one side or the other, you can turn the 360 drive and bring the bow over so it's pointing right into the wind, while pedaling enough upwind to stay stationary.  I'm pretty skillful at staying stationary over the bottom with a standard Mirage Drive, but if your bow gets pushed to one side or the other by the wind, you have to pedal forward to engage the rudder to get the bow back in line with the wind, and then let the wind push you back to your position over the bottom.  The 360 drive makes staying stationary over the bottom much easier and more accurate.

(b)  The Pro Angler turns a lot more quickly than my Revolution, which has a large turning radius, and turns rather ponderously even with the sailing rudder.

(c) The seat is comfortable and is easy to adjust.  I have a lot of whitewater kayaking experience, and when I'm in a kayak I prefer my butt to be as close to the keel as possible, as that improves the stability of the kayak.  I always use the lower seat position in the Pro Angler.

The bottom line is that I'm quite happy with the 360 drive, but there are a lot of things which I don't like about the kayak.  For trolling, I'll definitely use my Revolution.

I waited several years before buying the Pro Angler, hoping that Hobie would start producing an Outback with a 360 drive.  But Hobie keeps saying that the Outback isn't stable enough to handle the sidways pressure of the 360 drive.  Which seems odd, because the Outback is only two inches narrower than the Pro Angler.  But I wish that Hobie would come out with a light fast kayak with the outfitting of the Outback (no raised H Rails!), and a 360 drive.