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PostPosted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 5:10 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:46 pm
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Location: Escondido
Great innovation! Sounds like it has excellent potential. It will be interesting to see how the zip ties hold up over time. I would imagine it's pretty quiet as well (the ring clips could be rather noisy at times). It definitely looks like a nice performance improvement! 8)


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PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 9:50 pm 
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siravingmon wrote:
Image

3.6 mm zip ties with 2 extra heads as spacers for each drive, screws set up with eyes in line with fins and with hole in eye centered on edge of fins

Tried it out today with fins tethered with light line just in case. Big difference in acceleration from standstill. Much easier. Cruising seemed to require less effort too. Didn't notice any increase in top speed.... No noticeable wear on the zip ties :-)
Siravingmon, I've been trying out your zip tie connection idea and so far it's been working great! I've got about 25 miles on it currently and no no problems to date.

I had a different size cable tie on hand so that's what I used. It's a little larger so I mounted it differently as you can see below. It's about a 4.5 or 4.6 mm (3 16"), outdoor rated, with a 50 lb load capability

Image

I agree on the performance gains over stock -- improved pitch angle, easier to push, less fatigue on extended cruise and I got a little better cruise speeds. Haven't tried sprinting yet. If it continues to hold up it should be an excellent mod without having to mess with the Drive geometry! Great idea! 8)


Last edited by Roadrunner on Mon Dec 15, 2014 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 13, 2014 12:45 pm 
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Joined: Sun May 25, 2014 4:35 am
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Location: Singapore
Thanks Roadrunner,

You inspired me to do it :-)

I really like your interpretation of the idea, It will certainly be more failsafe, albeit perhaps with slightly less pitch angle for the same height(?)

Mine is still going strong. Acceleration is sooo much better than stock. It makes wave catching a breeze so gives it a clear advantage over my kayaking buddies and has really impressed them. Not sure about top speed in a sprint as my gps died so looking forward to your thoughts on that.

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PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:32 am 
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Location: Singapore
My zip tie failed so I'm trying your method next Roadrunner with the fatter zip tie, It was a clean break at the screw end. I noticed it was suddenly easier to peddle but the sail didn't come off the mast, even though I'd recèntly removed the nylon safety back up line attaching the sails to the yak :-)

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PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 2:05 pm 
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So far I have 83 pedaling miles with these zip ties (and several sprints riding boat wakes) and they still look good. I'll keep monitoring them. 8)


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 7:11 pm 
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Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 6:21 pm
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Roadrunner,
I recently purchased my first hobie (PA 14) and have enjoyed reading your posts on efficiency. I am very new to the mirage drive and got a little lost reading through this thread. I was wondering if you could post some before and after pictures from a normal mirage drive to the most recent setup? My main questions include the following: do you put the zip tie on both the masts or just the front one? Do you have to extend the mast with this set-up as it appears on the most recent picture they are not extended? Does more slack (i.e. a greater diameter) in the zip tie allow for more freedom which translates to better efficiency?

Thank you,
Tampa fisherman


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