Fins drifting apart

My drives will always drift apart no matter what I do. One set even always goes to the same "side" (left pedal forward / right pedal back) even if I push the right pedal forward. Soon as I start sailing the pedals slowly shift to the other extreme.

On my TI (where it doesn't really matter) I just wedge a foot against the base of the arms to keep them more-or-less centered. Mainly because at speed the blades will flutter and knock against the hull which drives me nuts.

On my Outback (just got back from 3 hours of sailing with it today) surprisingly that drive didn't drift all the way to one limit, maybe because it's pretty worn out...? Or maybe just the speed - I didn't get anywhere near the TI's usual speed. Anyway, it just went partway and occasionally pushing it back to center was sufficient today.

You get less drag/more speed if the fins are up against the hull but of course the compromise is that there is no daggerboard effect (which is OK for me because I have an Adventure with a daggerboard).

You get even less drag if you pull the drive and insert the blanking plug in its place (make sure you have the drive attached to the boat - you don't want to lose that over the side or in a capsize now, do you?).

To centre the fins (if I am not using the daggerboard for whatever reason - happens very occasionally) just rest a foot on both pedal shafts. Or you could slide some sort of pin through two adjustment holes to hold the fins at a given angle, though I would suggest using something with a bit of give in it, just in case you start pedaling before removing the pin.

These days I almost invariably sail and pedal with the drive attached to the boat via the bungee. I do this so that I don't have to worry about losing the drive at all in the event that I pull the drive or if I were to capsize (which hasn't happened for several years) in which event I am not sure that I would 100% trust the click'n'go locks not to unlock and let the drive slide out while the boat is inverted.

How do I do this you ask? Well, I have replaced the bungee's little plastic hook with a marine stainless hook with a spring clip on it which I have tied on to the bungee with my favourite marine knot - the buntline hitch (this is one GRRREAT little knot & worth getting to know IMO!). The hook clips into one of the adjustment holes on the same side of the drive as the bungee just perfectly. I can choose which hole to use (because I have longish legs and so I have the pedals well forward and several holes to choose from) so I can have more tension to hold the fins up under the hull if I want to or less tension depending.

Having the drive hooked on in this way doesn't impede pedaling at all because the hook I use does not fill the central gap in the drive. Of course every time you press that bungeed pedal forwards your leg has to stretch the bungee as well as move the pedal. The additional effort is not noticeable and in any case I reckon any additional effort required to press the bungeed pedal forward is gained back in the tendency of the bungee to assist when you press the other pedal forwards.

Just my $0.02.

I have an Oasis. When solo sailing, I bungee the fore mirage drive together to act as a daggerboard. I always pedal (full strokes) to maximize speed.


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Longbikermike
Valle Vista, CA

Umm, off topic please forgive, Longbikermike do you own a Longbike bicycle as made in USA?

http://www.longbikes.com/2/Bikes/Slipst ... tream.html

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Fair Skies, Max.

I don't know about anyone else but whenever I kayak sail I continue to pedal 100% of the time always. Lets face it the amount of energy you expend pedaling lightly is nothing (like a walking pace around 40cpm). Seriously at that pace any of us can pedal for 5-6 hrs without breaking a sweat. It makes kayak sailing so much more productive, your rudder remains responsive, your tacks are much crisper, and because of your forward motion the boat side slips much less.
Just being honest here, all these guys that are sailing purists and remove there mirage drives and try to sail their Hobie kayaks as if they were a laser or a sunfish, are missing out on 3/4's of the boats design capabilities. The boat is designed from the ground up around the mirage drive system. My question is you are doing nothing with your feet anyway, why not put them to good use. Removing or not using the mirage drive turns the Hobie kayak into the suckiest sailboat ever (I used to own and sail a Sunfish, and have sailed a few lasers). It would be like sailing a sunfish but being told you have to remain seated in the center of the boat no matter what, yea it can be done, but there goes 3/4's of your capabilities. The mirage kayak is not a sunfish and never will be, why not use all designed in features.
Now I have peaved off most Hobie kayak owners, I might as well get off my chest my other pet peave about Hobie Kayak owners. Everyone complains how unstable Hobies kayaks are in rough conditions and surf, and most avoid these conditions. Fact of the matter is the Hobies stability wise are no different from most other kayaks out there. The key difference here being the paddle yakers already have their main stability tool in there hands (the double ended paddle). If you ever watch expert sea kayakers or surfski's in action even though their boat is sometimes just a foot wide and up to 24 ft long the have no issues handling rough water. Every Hobie has the double ended paddle strapped to the side of their boat. I'm just suggesting that your double ended paddle is much more useful to you in your hands vs strapped to the side of the boat in rough conditions and only being used to push off docks. The True beauty of the Hobies is you have both at your disposal anytime.
Ok I got that off my chest, let the criticism fly.
FE

I'm with Fusion on this, my first boat was a white water 9ft kayak, compared to that the Hobie is a tank that can ride over incoming shorebreak and it is difficult to destabilise.

And I believe soft-pedalling upwind in my Revo 13 points upwind more efficiently than Fins held down, but Pedalling is not always desirable.

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Fair Skies, Max.

Daft,
I'm one of those that disagree with Bob over this 'kayak isn't a Sunfish' thing.
I understand what you are saying by not wanting to pedal all the time while sailing. When I had an Oasis, I too just wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride. Also, I found pedalling while hiked out a bit and on an angle very uncomfortable. If you don't have a daggerboard, you do need to have the fins in the vertical position to stop slippage. I used to use a 6mm eyebolt pushed through the pedal shaft adjustment holes (the post I linked to above) to keep the fins straight.
I sail my AI in kayak Adventure mode a lot and never use the drive while sailing. I do always use the daggerboard though, which has a dual role of stopping slippage and adding stability. If you are serious about sailing you can add a daggerboard to any miragedrive kayak by modifying a drivewell plug into a daggerboard holder.

"..maybe due to their flop factor they don't resist slippage that much in the first place'. good point this.
On this subject how well do these lee Board kits work on Hobie's, anyone got one?

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Fair Skies, Max.

I don't have a leeboard kit fitted to my Hobie Sport but there is an interesting video on the homepage of the KayakSailor website https://kayaksailor.com/ that shows a beamy sit-on-top kayak, not unlike a Hobie mirage kayak, that is sailing with leeboards.

To me, the single solution to the issues of floppiness, fins drifting apart and greater centreboard/daggerboard/leeboard effect is an appropriately shaped and easily detachable sheath that fits over the mirage drive fins. When you want to pedal, you simply lift out the mirage drive and remove the sheath.

Anybody done anything like this?

It has been done before but there were problems with too much drag. Look for Skua's post in this thread:
viewtopic.php?f=32&t=10831&p=58249#p58249

There are these rubber coated wire ties thst can be used repeatedly that Inuse to keep the pedal shafts together for hanging on double peg hooks in my garage

I think the company is called "Night Eyez" and are found in many hardware and big box stores. Worth trying imho...

Can you post a photo of the modified Coke bottle?