The Adventure, where will it go?

I posted the questions below on the Hobie Board on KayakFishingStuff.com and got an answer from Matt which reminded me to post here, too. I want your opinions, please.

I have been wondering, those of you with Adventures, where do you use them? The Mirage won't work in shallow water; the Mirage gets clogged in trot lines, etc, that cross rivers; the Mirage is a great system it sounds like, but there are a variety of limitations as to where you can use the system.

Many of you live on the Atlantic or Pacific; there I guess you have access to water pretty clear of obstacles, but not all do. Casper and J.J. live in North Texas, so they should be much the same as me. How, where are you all going to go.

I had thought about getting one and selling a Prowler for use on the flats on the Coast, but Jon said the system would not work in that shallow water, 6 inches to 3 feet mostly over miles. The Adventure sounds great, but not for all areas or circumstances. My basic question is where will those of us who don't live on an ocean or the Gulf going to use the Adventure often and heavily. Wouldn't another kayak that paddles and doesn't peddle be better in our circumstances?

I want an Adventure because of the 3 methods of propelling it; I just need to be convinced!

Ray

_________________
Harold Ray Emerson
419 Lake Air Drive
Waco, Texas 78710

Phone: 254-772-3520

He are my comments from KFS:

Certainly anywhere you can use a motor boat. Anywhere you can get a good paddle stroke. Unless you are dragging the bottom of the boat on the bottom all of the time...I would think most places you can paddle, you can pedal. That is, unless you are just mud polling all the time. I pedal through and over weeds and branches. I slide over ropes and bouy lines pretty easily. At worst I have had to use the paddle to push a line down to clear the drive. I pedal right up onto the beaches I land on. Short "flutter" strokes to keep the fins shallow and parallel to the waters surface. You can go pretty fast doing that too.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

Thanks, Matt, I had seen and appreciated your post. It sounds like my worries are unfounded; you just pick the time or place for using whichever method of power you need or want to use.

I wanted to get as much knowledge as I could before deciding what I wanted to do. I had also hoped the Adventure would be good for using on the Texas coast in the flats, 6 inches to 3 feet of water. From posts by those living on the Atlantic and Pacific, I knew the Adventure would do well on open water.

Ray

_________________
Harold Ray Emerson
419 Lake Air Drive
Waco, Texas 78710

Phone: 254-772-3520

The Adventure is 16 feet long. My paddle kayak is 16 feet long. They both paddle, right? My paddle kayak gathers dust unless I want to kayak through shallow grass.

There are tons of rivers and creeks, most of them eventually ending in shallow dead ends around here. There are also tidal flats, shallow bays, and many more places motor boats can not go. Yes, I tend to choose my routes differently (as opposed to using a paddle kayak) because of the limitations of depth.

If all you have in your area is very shallow water, you may want to take that into consideration when determining which mode you will be propelling the kayak with the most. Will you be going upriver and fighting currents? You may need a long narrow kayak so as to be able to get enough speed to get from point A to point B. Going to use it to fish all the time? Narrow is not good for fishing.

Determine you needs in order to determine the appropriate kayak. I personally like to be able to go into the open waters and shallow waters. Sometimes I like to paddle. Sometimes I like to pedal. There are even times I like to sail. The Mirage Outback or Adventure lets you do all three.

Try looking here: http://www.mobilepaddler.blogspot.com/

Ray, Are you convinced Yet? Can you tell? We all like our Hobies.