Hobie AI vs Adventure with Hobie sail kit & sidekick amas

So I finally got to try out my new sidekick amas on my Adventure with the regular Hobie sail kit. I tried it with & without the daggerboard &.............

I COULDN'T BE MORE PLEASED!   

                                                 I thought long & hard about 'dropping a kit in that bitch', as all my moto friends say 'put in a big bore kit', no replacement for added displacement, etc'......but my primary focus has always been the fishing. The kayaking has always been a means to do the fishing & after buying & trying a sail I realized that 'the sailing' was going to be like 'the kayaking'.
 It's fun but it's not the BIG FUN.

So the AI can
                    1. go faster
                    2. go farther
                    3. have more space ie: tramps
                    4. sail with less wind
                 
but the A with sail kit & sidekick amas can
                                                             1. still sail & have fun
                                                             2. maintain a slower drift with less wind drag as you can stow & deploy both the sail & amas much easier.
                                                                 ie: you can't stow those AI amas & akas in the tankwell or hatch
                                                             3. pack away in much less space. both in my truck & in my garage.
                                                             4. maintain the focus on fishing. I've done a couple of sail/fish days were I'll only slap the sail down into the
                                                                 mast hole after I'm done fishing. I haven't seen anybody do that with the 15ft AI sail. I like being able to
                                                                 not have the sail or amas in the way while I'm fishing. I see a lot of people using the Adventure with a single
                                                                 ama & I don't see why. It's very stable with no amas as long as you're not sailing. The daggerboard
                                                                 definitely makes a noticeable difference but I wouldn't worry about that except for longer distance runs or
                                                                 heavy wind. & it's cool the daggerboard actually fits in the 8" hatch!

Now with all of that being said we are back to the limitations of the sidekick amas. I've read about the sidekick akas breaking under heavy wind/waves conditions so I wouldn't push the envelope on the distance or conditions, like current, factors. I wouldn't try sailing out under the SF bay gate or even around Tomales point. But I'm thinking with a better one piece aka I just might. Time to call in another favor from my home boy at the machine shop.   


What am I missing Scott? Other than more time under sail of course......
                                                                 

Thanks for the write up Jim.  I think you're into something good here...

Jim -

I think you have summarized the pros and cons well. The AI has more rigging options for both fishing and sailing and has more speed, range and load carrying ability. I went with the AI package to make runs to the Soquel hole but rarely use the full sail package except for salmon or trout trolling. You can take the mast down OTW and lay it on a the aka's and I have done that. Most of the time I roll with one ama and no sail. For salt water big game, maybe the best all around boat out there. The one thing you left out is fixed hull weight. The mast receiver and aka crossbars add weight to the hull which makes it harder to rack. The other thing you left out is being able to take another person sailing on the AI and the coolnest factor. My daughter and I sailed Sausalito earlier this year and it was really fun.

Scott

I took both my daughters (8 & 10) out on the Monterey Bay with me a month or so ago for a day of sailing & wildlife watching.  Was a lot of fun & no noticeable performance issues.

CON: NO stripper pole so we cannot watch you shake that azz!

great review. I had the Revo set up you mentioned. The one thing I didn't like was the cheesy connectors they used to mount the straight part of the cross bar. They used well nuts that seemed flimsy at best. Did you use something different?

I got the AI partly b/c I can take both kids out on it. They are a bit young to have the patience for fishing so we do that for a bit then sail, then fish. Set up time isn't a big deal for me. The two biggest issues are the load/unload and a few extra trips from the car (akas, amas, sail....)

great review. I had the Revo set up you mentioned. The one thing I didn't like was the cheesy connectors they used to mount the straight part of the cross bar. They used well nuts that seemed flimsy at best. Did you use something different?

I got the AI partly b/c I can take both kids out on it. They are a bit young to have the patience for fishing so we do that for a bit then sail, then fish. Set up time isn't a big deal for me. The two biggest issues are the load/unload and a few extra trips from the car (akas, amas, sail....)

Get a trailer & that setup time is limited to plugging in the mast!

I knew I was missing some other key points.     Scott, can you take down the AI mast with no tramps installed or would you need at least one tramp installed in order to pull that off OTW?


Eric, Hobie sells a kit to utilize the existing holes for the AI akas on the Adventure. It consists of 8 SS screws & two aluminum plates with four holes each. Two for the existing screw holes in the Adventure & two for the clamps that come with the Sidekick ama kit. This seems very sturdy. My only concern is the Sidekick akas themselves. They are a thinner wall material than the AI akas but I'm sure some heavier gauge material could be used/fab-ed up.

great review. I had the Revo set up you mentioned. The one thing I didn't like was the cheesy connectors they used to mount the straight part of the cross bar. They used well nuts that seemed flimsy at best. Did you use something different?

I got the AI partly b/c I can take both kids out on it. They are a bit young to have the patience for fishing so we do that for a bit then sail, then fish. Set up time isn't a big deal for me. The two biggest issues are the load/unload and a few extra trips from the car (akas, amas, sail....)

Get a trailer & that setup time is limited to plugging in the mast!

I am trying....I think I am gonna do this with a simple cross bar mod.

http://www.harborfreight.com/600-lb-capacity-boat-trailer-with-8-inch-wheels-and-tires-5002.html

I have a 25% off coupon. So should be out the door 300ish. My feeling is I will need/want the longer tongue.

I'd really like to use the small 4ft one but I am guessing I will need to extend the tongue.

http://www.harborfreight.com/1090-lb-capacity-40-1-2-half-inch-x-48-inch-mini-utility-trailer-with-12-inch-four-lug-wheels-and-tires-90153.html

Thoughts?

I knew I was missing some other key points.     Scott, can you take down the AI mast with no tramps installed or would you need at least one tramp installed in order to pull that off OTW?


Eric, Hobie sells a kit to utilize the existing holes for the AI akas on the Adventure. It consists of 8 SS screws & two aluminum plates with four holes each. Two for the existing screw holes in the Adventure & two for the clamps that come with the Sidekick ama kit. This seems very sturdy. My only concern is the Sidekick akas themselves. They are a thinner wall material than the AI akas but I'm sure some heavier gauge material could be used/fab-ed up.

Oh that is WAY better Jim. Do you run the amas in the up, middle or down position? or just change based on conditions?

Yeah, you need the Gene Simmons trailer.  Don't get the Richard Simmons version

   Though they can be fashioned, I would highly suggest the Hobie cradles.  All you need is 2 crossbars which can be made from 80/20, Item or Rexroth-Bosch aluminum extrusion fairly easily.

~Bill

Eric, I run them in the up position.

Jim,

Nice looking set-up!

I started on the AI road almost exclusively sailing for the first 5 or 6 months. The fishing was more an add-on at the time. I gradually shifted gears into pure fishing mode, but really couldn't until I finally left all the sailing stuff at home and learned to KAYAK. That was another learning curve. Turns out the kayak itself is so good for fishing that I sailed less and less. As part of my training wheels, I did fish with the full sailing stuff (including tramps) and found the rig performed outstanding as a fishing barge of sorts with TONS of room and stability. Very comfortable to just sit around and night fish for crappie etc. with my legs over the tramps and all my gear to the sides of me positioned out on the roomy tramps.

These other guys who are WSB fishing etc,. can fully utilize all the positives of the full sailing package (range. speed, seaworthiness, room for extra gear and fish hauling on the tramps). I can also see a big advantage to using the one ama/tramp set-up for offshore ling jigging etc. due to the much increased stability in the choppy water and also to counteract the affects of bringing in a large fish (halibut etc.) as there would be very little inherent roll factor in the boat with the heavy ama/aka attached.

Your rig has advantages in ease of set-up and a higher portability factor. You get the best of both worlds (in a sense) with some limitations.  There must be a more substantial material out there to beef up the amas. Then the difference between the full AI vs Adventure and add-ons would probably blur even more.

So how fast does your rig go????   




 

 

I think some guys run the one ama as a shark shield 

Not nearly as fast as your AI Karl, but that's ok with me......for now