Hobie Mirage i12 inflatable wanted

I've been searching for another kayak, this time one my wife can use and is portable enough to take with my truck camper without needing to tow. 

I'm curious if anyone here has or has experience with the inflatable Hobie Mirage drive kayaks.  I've seen them from time to time, but unable to quiz their owners. 

And if anyone has one for sale or knows of someone, that would be great!!

We have a demo i12 at the shop. They are nice boats, fold it up & roll it away, super sturdy too. I haven't seen another inflatable with a sealing hatch either. Not sure what type of time line your on but maybe I could bring it down to an event or you could come up and take it for a spin. Are you going to crabfest?

Jerry I have a i9s that I'm trying to sell.  I personally like it a lot, but don't need the portability anymore, so I moved to a revo 11.

I bought the i9 at the beginning of this year at Wind Toys in Santa Rosa and have used it for about 50 days on the water. I usually fish small local lakes but had no problems fishing on Lake Tahoe with it. I bought the i9 primarily for the portability and ease of packing it into a small hatchback. I can have it inflated, rigged, and in the water in about 10 minutes. It takes about 15 minutes to get out of the water, dried off, and packed up.

Hobie came out with more accessories this season to make it more fishing rigging friendly. Once I install all the new Christmas toys, I will post pictures of mine fully rigged. 

I don't think it is recommended for ocean fishing though. I would not want to take the chance boating an angry spiny fish.

Let me know any specific questions you have. I will post a full review with pictures in the coming weeks.

Some reviews, rigging, and info can be found at the Hobie forum. When looking to buy mine I found very little on the internet about these kayaks and fishing from them. 

http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=47

jbaker; Yes, DW and I will both be at Crabfest 2012.  Do you guys sell off the demo's occasionally?

BabyManBen; Rob stopped by the house last night and said he thought you had one and might be for sale.  I'll PM you about it. 

I'm not on any particular time line other than if a bargain comes along, I'm ready.  Otherwise, when May rolls around with the warmer weather.   

Thanks everyone!

ZBrewski; You like it?  If you had a choice to do it over, would you rather have the 12 or keep with the 9?  How stable is it? (DW will be using it when I'm on the PA and she's not all that athletic. ) 

http://seattle.craigslist.org/search/sss?query=hobie+mirage&srchType=A&zoomToPosting=&minAsk=&maxAsk=  may be a bit of a distance issue, but there's one buried in this list.

I also owned an I 9S. was great for small water fishing. gave it my nephew as a gift for coming home alive from Azcrackistan.

Just spent over 9 months in the coastal areas of the southeast. While the local rental shops were pushing another makers boat that was ok for tidal flats fishng, i'd have killed for an I12 or even the I9 due to the portability. Caveat: i spend about 300 days a year on the road and usually have a rental car. However, corporates rental agreement does not allow us to carry cargo on the roof, so having a trunk portable yak is a good deal in this case. I probably would not have used the drive as much as a push pole but it would have opened up even more waters to me.

Since they come with their own roll away carry case, you can pack it all, including paddle, pump and drive into one nice package that UPS or FedEx will ship for under $100 anywhere in the US except AK & HI.

I9's 400lb capacity is pretty awesome for such a small craft, and it's very stable. BUT I would not advise standing attempts if you are ungainly or a person over 230lbs.[DAMHIK] I12? probably the better choice all around for what it sounds like you intend it for. Larger platform and it lends itself more towards standing to sight cast if that's your game.

I really like the i9 but only bring the essentials (2 tackle boxes, 2 poles, water, food, net) when fishing. I  weigh 160 lbs and have no problem standing in calm to moderate water. The inflatables are really wide but initially slower to get going. I have the sailing rudder and it maneuvers really well.

The i9 is smaller, lighter, and easier to transport. If your wife is taller than 6' she could feel cramped in the i9 and have even less storage space due to seat adjustments. If you only bring a small amount of gear the i9 is great, but if you bring alot of gear go with the i12. If I could do it again I would seriously consider the i12 just for more storage space so I could bring the dog fishing.