Hobie Outback going in circles...

For those of you who have Hobie Outbacks - do you notice that when paddling (and not using the mirage drive or rudder), that you tend to list to one side and end up going in circles no matter how hard you try to paddle strait? This even happens on flat water. Sometimes when paddling through thick kelp or when beach launching/landing  I need to take out the mirage drive and pull up the rudder. Seems to me that the Outback will be useless w/o mirage drive or rudder. I'm not sure if this is just my outback or if it is common with all outbacks.

Yup!  That's basically how all Outback's act without the rudder deployed.  The hull design is not great for tracking, but instead it's great for turning.  The wide width and short lenght are a trade of stability for tracking.  The Revo, and Adventure are both longer and thinner, and track well when paddling.  Launching and landing isn't usually a problem for me in the OB though.  The drive is leashed and stowed on deck (I wedge the fiins between my FF) Launch with the paddle and after a few strokes I deploy the rudder and when clear of the surf zone, put in the peddals and away you go.

 

  Yep, what Al said!

Thanks for the feedback!

So technically this would mean that if I were a mile or two out and anything happens to the rudder or mirage drive on the OB, I would have a wonderful time trying to get back in. Hopefully this doesn't happen whilst the landord is coming around to collect rent.

What year is your outback? I know the older models did this because the hulls are different from the newer ones.

Anthony

its a design feature so that you never paddle out further than you can paddle back

Model is 2012 - purchased brand spank'n new from Mel Cottons last month. Been taking it out every weekend since... and  paddling w/o rudder or mirage drive was driving me nuts, granted it's not that often. But most of the fishing I've done on it so far has been around kelp beds so I need to remove the mirage drive and pull up the rudder when doing this or else I'll get stuck.

I love the stability and speed when the mirage drive and rudder are both deployed, but if I ever run into issues with either one of them during an inopportune time, I can see myself in quite a predicament. Something as simple as a rudder control line coming loose or snapping would ruin the whole day.

I'm just shocked at how poorly the OB tracks w/o the rudder. I'm literally going around in a circle when peddling or paddling without it. One would hope that this SUV would at least track in sort of a zig-zag pattern such that you could get somewhere by overcompensating with paddling strokes, but once it decides to list to one side, it won’t correct its direction unless I break on the opposite side and stop the boat completely and start over again. Imagine if there was just a bit of wind or if the swells were significant the predicament could get hairy.

Don't get me wrong, I really like my OB - this is just one of those things that I'm trying to work through after taking it out half a dozen times.

@BabyManBen - the problem is, you're peddling out and not counting on paddling back in! LOL

maybe your just stronger on one side,i dont have one but i saw a guy at del valle trolling with his paddles and he was going pretty straight

On my Revo sometimes I find myself doing three strokes on one side to one on the other to make the boat go straight in current or wind with drive & rudder pulled. I wait until I'm completely stopped & stuck in kelp to pull my drive & rudder when trying to transit thru kelp. Most of the time I can weave my way thru without having to even pull them up. When I eventually have to pull them it's hard to even paddle cause there's so much kelp in the way of my paddle stroke.

I have broken my rudder line twice and it's actually no big deal. I was able to keep on fishing with only one intact line. What happens is you lose some control and it takes longer to turn. You will get back in. Hope you can adapt to your new ride. jim

@dune12, the last time out I actually took about 20 minutes (on completely flat water in a cove) to specifically test this out because I thought exactly as what you said. However, I still got the same results. I have completely inspected the hull and there doesn't seem to be any deformities or such that would cause this. The boat just wants to list to the left and once it turns to the left, it won't go back to the right even if I strictly paddle on the left side to push it back to the right. Like I said in one of my previous posts, I have to bring the boat to a complete stop and start over again. After about 5-7 paddle strokes, the same thing happens again.

@Salty. - For a time there I was regretting not getting a revo because of this issue. I'm surprised to hear that you have experienced something similar with your revo. I had a Stealth 14 for a number of years and it tracked true even though it was sort of an SUV itself. I'm starting to have some remorse that I sold it.

Well I have always had to paddle multiple strokes on one side or the other to make up for current & or wind on my previous paddling kayaks too. It's not any different with the Revo. Have you put anything inside or on the hull that could be weighting down the left side? If not then maybe you could try tossing some foam pool noodles or something else in the right side of the hull just to see what would happen. I know there has been times when I brought my fishing & dive gear along were I had too much weight on one side and it was noticeable. jim

It's called Hillbilly GPS. Find that big fish honey hole, land a fish, pull the drive, and paddle till  your circle brings you back to your fishin hotspot.  

@Salty. - If that were just the case where I had to paddle multiple strokes on one side vs the other to keep the tracking straight, I wouldn't worry at all. The issue I'm having is that the boat only wants to go to the left side and once it starts going to the left, I cant correct it no matter how much I paddle to do so. There is nothing on the inside of the boat other than my dry bag (which is attached to the sail mount so it's held right in the middle of the boat inside of the front hatch). I'll keep on testing this thing out. Crossing my fingers that the drive and rudder won't fail me out in open water.