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PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:39 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:33 pm
Posts: 11
Item #1:
Went fishing with a friend on the beautiful Black River in Collier Seminole State Park here in SW Florida on Saturday. I was in my Adventure and my buddy and his girlfriend were in their new Outfitter. Often while casting to spots on bends in the river or to mangrove banks, wind or current would make it difficult to hold position. We found that our anchors often would not hold the bottom or we chose not to use anchors because we thought the probability high that we might drag them into mangrove roots with a swift current running - not fun.

The thought struck me that a reverse gear would be pretty useful. What the heck, I pulled the Mirage Drive and reinserted it backwards. The peddles were then too close so I moved them from the #7 slot back to #2 (a tether shackle is in the #1 position).

I peddled away and sure enough the boat reversed. After a bit of playing with the rudder, which is more sensitive in "reverse," I found that I could hold position pretty well against wind or current. With a bit of practice I found peddling and making quick rudder adjustments easier to manage while casting than paddling and casting.

Another time my buddy ran hard aground on a mud bank, which is easy to do at low tide in dark tannin-stained water. They could not shove off with paddles and when he got out to push, he immediately sank past his knees in mud. I paddled close and threw a line over his stern carry handle and used my ersatz reverse to pull him free. I liked being able to face his boat while pulling so I could keep an eye on the situation.

Item #2:
What have you found to most effective in scrubbing accumulated gunge from the hull? I seem to collect bits of tar-like substance and brown streaks from pilings and tree roots. This stuff seems impervious to hot soapy water and even mild degreaser isn't particularly effective. Is Soft Scrub too harsh? The Mirage Drive well in particular get pretty dark, I suspect the WD-40 I spray on after every outing contributes to this as well.

Item #3:
I use turbo fins and had had the masts pull out several times. The dealer apparently did not have the machined slots in mast lined up so the mast retention screws fit into the slots. I think that issue is behind me, but I can't find photos anywhere of the turbo fin setup and recommendations or specifications as to minimum depth to set the fins into the outhaul block. At the moment I have the adjustment screw set so the top of the fin is about 3/16" deep in the outhaul. The dealer had set them up so the top of the fin cleared the outhaul - they were very loose, probably too loose.

Item #4:
I just bought a Garmin 478 GPS chartplotter with sounder and a SKU #10327 transducer from Get Feet Wet - by the way great people to do business with. Has anyone found a preferred spot to mount a transducer on an Adventure? How about the sounder amplifier?

A cursory glance last night suggested transducer placement either just aft of the peddle well, or right under my butt - the flatest places on the hull. I thought the sounder amp might go on the underside of the hatch cover forward of the mast step.

Thanks in advance for your help. Tight lines and tailwinds everybody.


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PostPosted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 8:28 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:46 pm
Posts: 3017
Location: Escondido
Hi Dennis,

I also tried peddling around in reverse to see how it would work. Not bad as long as you don't go too fast, at which time your rudder becomes susceptible to slamming to one side whereupon you lose control. Nevertheless, fun for a change. In your case, you actually found some practical use for reverse -- that's forward thinking! :wink:

You can check your masts -- if they wiggle or twist, they're still not installed correctly. As to the clew position, I like about 1/8 inch into the outhaul; check it the first few times to make sure the clew adjustment nut position is stable. If not, a drop of Lock Tite (blue) should help. 8)


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 6:43 am 
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Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2003 7:35 pm
Posts: 1369
Location: 315 N. Hwy 79 Panama City Beach, FL 32413 850-235-2281
your transducer needs to be forward for the mirage drive, the mirage drive causes turbulence and will "smoke" your screen, the unit will think the air bubble are solid and blank your screen until you stop long enough for the bubbles to disappear!

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 09, 2007 9:32 am 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sun Nov 05, 2006 8:33 pm
Posts: 11
Thanks Roadrunner.
For just standing-off a particular spot on the shore staying straight wasn't too much of an issue. If the hull got too sideways I just threw the rudder all the way over and could get the hull close to where I wanted it. The time or two I got too crossed up it was possible to center up the fins and simply use a couple of paddle strokes to get back in the ball park such that maintaining position with the turbos in reverse worked again.

I'll back the fins out of the outhaul a bit. I suspect being slightly on the loose side facilitates sustained peddling on long trips or bursts of speed. A Hobie rep once told me that when he tightened the turbo fins all the way the feeling was akin to stirring concrete and wore him out in mere minutes.

Sunjammers: thanks for the tip on transducer placement. The Big A hull is not very flat there so I may rethink which transducer unit I use. A transom mount unit with its slightly rounded bottom may be easier to mount in that location. As per the KFS site I can just carve out a foam block and Goop it in place. A Garmin rep even suggested that it may be possible to epoxy a transom mount unit directly to the hull which would make it real easy.


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 Post subject: dawn dishing soap
PostPosted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 2:44 pm 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2005 12:07 pm
Posts: 5
After three days on the Pocomoke river in Maryland, my kayak was stain solid brown from the tannin in the water.I used DAWN dishwater soap and a soft brush (car wash brush) it came right off.


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