Adventure Island or Tandem?

I am new to this site but I have been reading a lot on here. My question is I fish a shallow salt water lake 4 to 6 foot in depth nine miles long and 4 miles wide.
It is pretty much always choppy and one to two foot and sometimes one to three seas are not uncommon. Twenty percent of the time it is flat. I debate these two kayaks and need some input from you to help me make my decision. My wife does not fish at all I love to fish she may go along for a ride maybe 30 percent of the time. The places I would fish are about four miles across the lake one way. Another place is about 6 miles away one way. I have never sailed before but I do kayak a lot paddle. I am 53 average shape a lil over weight 5'10" 215 lbs most of my time I would be fishing alone she and the grandson will come occasionally. I will trailer it to a boat launch and pull off trl into water and pull back on alone. Does the TI handle that much better in choppy waters? And is all the extra weight and girth and money worth it? When I know going in it will be just me 70 percent of the time? Or should I just get an Adventure island and and a revo for about the same money what would you recommend?

Thanks
Butch

I started out with a TI thinking that my family members would go out with me. I found out that for what it took to launch the TI by my self the AI would have been the better choice. Both boats are very seaworthy. As all multihulls you need to watch the weight you put on the boat. The TI can carry a lot more weight. For a single handed day trip, too much of a boat. The AI is more responsive in close quarters. If your partner is light enough, the tramp can be a nice place to lounge...

_________________
Paul
DogsLife
2011 Adventure Island


http://dogslifeadventures.blogspot.com/

Thanks Paul would you also consider the Adventure Island a better fishing platform?

Butch

I think the TI is better if you're planning on having passengers 30% of the time. I can't imagine your wife would have much fun on an AI unless she loves getting really wet and/or was willing to move between the tramps (not a trivial task for most 50 year old ladies in choppy waters). Of course, 3' chop will be getting everyone wet in a TI, too. Your grandson probably will enjoy sitting on the tramps of the AI though but I don't think it will sail well unless he's jumping to the windward tramp on every tack.

My wife loves sailing with me, she's even talking about taking up fishing! I'm stoked.

I use a little Harbor Freight trailer I built for about $400 to haul my TI and it is very easy to launch and load single handed from a paved boat ramp. If your lake is salt water you should probably spring for a better trailer than mine (so I'm told). I only have used it in fresh water.

Either way you're going to have a blast with your Hobie. Welcome aboard, mate!

_________________
It's a good Life, Let's sail!

iHop

Dune TI - 6/4/2011
Camas, WA

Thanks IHop do you fish primarily off your TI and is it a decent fishing platform or is it a lil too much. From what I have read and videos that I have watched it appears to handle the rougher water better than the Adventure Island is it as easy to fish off of the TI as the Adventure? Or is the Adventure better at fishing? My main concern is probaly the safety of the boat than next it's fishing ability. Thanks

Hi Butch
Welcome to the Forum.
Dogslife's and ihop's advice is dead on concerning trailers and boat pro and cons.
Even if you only use your trailer in fresh water, Bearing Buddies are a good idea to keep the water out of your bearings. In saltwater they are a must.

Hope your choice is a good one to suit your needs. Is there a dealer close to you that would allow you to rent each boat for the day?

A 'sea trial' is standard before you sign the cheque. It will also give you some experience as you learn how each boat handles.

Regards
Trinomite

_________________
Always looking for ways to make good things 'Gooder'

I've owned an Adventure Island, and a Revolution. I have not owned a Tandem Island, so keep that in mind as I say the rest. To me, the AI and Revo, are a great combination that were perfect for my wife and I to kayak together in. The AI is very manageable single handed, where I imagine the TI to be a little more difficult. If you are Trailering, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The only thing that I'm thinking is 30% of the time is a lot. If you take your wife with you that often, then you can't sail 30% of the time. That might be something that you don't like to do. I enjoyed sailing my AI so much that I almost never used it as a kayak unless I had to because there was no wind, or because my wife wanted to kayak with me in her Revolution.

I ended up buying a Bravo because I enjoyed the sailing aspect so much, and we plan to get an Oasis Tandem kayak so that we can still kayak together. If you're like me, and you REALLY love your wife, you might want to consider a tandem. My wife likes the idea of coming sailing without having to do any work. You can always use the Tandem as a kayak, (even with just one person) but you have the option of sailing with your wife. Once again, if you're taking her 30% of the time, she might enjoy sailing with you, and you won't be limited to only the kayaking spots when she wants to come.

So in summary, the biggest downfall of the Tandem Island is the ability to move it on land. If you're trailering just about everywhere anyways, then you gain all the benefits, without many down sides. The other question that needs to be asked, is how often does your wife want to kayak alone. She might want her own kayak for that reason. For us, my wife really only enjoyed kayaking together so a Tandem kayak (the Oasis in our case) will work perfectly for that.

_________________

Butch:
My wife is into a treasure hobby called Geocaching and found out many of the goecach's are accessable by Kayak only, so she wanted to buy a cheap 3 or 4 hundred dollar kayak for geocaching. I did some research and found that the Hobie Kayaks with the mirage drive system are by far the best on the market.

We went to the dealer and purchased an Oasis (for me), and she was intending to just buy a cheap paddle kayak. To make a long story short (too late) The dealer convinced us that was a really bad idea, because with her in the paddle kayak (regardless of brand) there would be no way for her to keep up with me when out together and would get very frustrated. So we bought Revolution as well. Looking back on that fateful day, the dealer was right on the money, making sure we had comparable boats. We were very happy going out every weekend for 3 years together.
In spring 2010 we traded in the Oasis for the then brand new Tandem Island, boy oh boy did that change our lives, we have more fun every single weekend on the TI than I ever imagined you could (we have well over 1000 miles on the boat now). We still have the Revolution and room on top of the car for both boats, but whenever we go out I ask her if she wants to take it along, she says no. We have only had the Revo out maybe 3 times in the last year and a half, and that was for river kayaking (without any sails or AMA's on the TI, turns out the TI is an awesome Kayak as well, who knew...).
The AI/TI boats are in a class by themselves and will open up a new world to you. I guess what I'm saying is if you take an AI and a Revo out together, somebody is going to be left in the dust. Turns out our Hobie dealer was right on the mark, now whenever we are out on the TI together I'm not allowed to sail it, she does (who would have thought). I end up taking it out solo when she is at work just so I can drive. Now we are thinking about getting another TI and trading in the Revo.
Of course everyones circumstances are different, we live in South Florida and are out on the water (Ocean) every weekend year round, Scuba diving, Island hopping, etc. We got rid of our Sea Ray which was costing us a fortune ($60k + $350mo storage, + $3000 yr maint). It cost us nothing now to have way more fun than we ever had with the Sea Ray.
BTW we have had 3-4 people on the TI many times when kids and grand kids come to visit.
Hope this helps.
Bob

I have both. All the advice you are getting is pretty much on the money.
Providing you intend to trailer it and launch from boat ramps the TI is the better boat for your purposes. It's no problem taking it out solo. The main drawbacks with the TI are its extra size and weight can make it difficult to store and manage on land. If these factors aren'ta problem for you get a TI.
It is also a significantly dryer boat than the AI.
I usually trailer both boats and when I launch a boat ramps I just back my trailer into the (salt) water NO FURTHER THAN THE BOTTOM OF MY TIRES.
This avoids all the hassles of frequent wheel bearing maintenance. I always wash my trailer down - along with the boats - when I get home.

_________________
Mickey
2016 AI Hibiscus
purchased NEW Nov 2021 - My 5th
Adventure Island Sailing since 2008

Hiyas

It is tougher than nails to get a trailer in the water to get just the bottom of the tire submerged. If there is a any wave action, your bearings will be soaked with a corrosive solution that will turn your axle grease into a form of mayonaise that will destroy your bearings.

http://www.bearingbuddy.com/

This puts axle grease into your hubs under pressure that will keep out any water.

Of course a wash down on all your gear with fresh water is needed to prevent corrosion on the rivets, electrical connection and any other nasties that salt water will eventually do to your rig.

(Btw: Stainless steel can still be corroded if salt water is left to crystalize. The amount of steel versus the Chromium percentage makes or breaks the 'Stainless, corrosive' factor)...the more Chromium, the higher the cost, yet pure Chromium will not work as the strength is needed by steel.

Regards
Trinomite

_________________
Always looking for ways to make good things 'Gooder'

Errr, why don't you do what Stringy does and keep the trolley in, then slide the boat off the trailer up on land and wheel it down to the water? Or is that a problem with the TI?

_________________

Good point chrisj

I still wonder if there is a cruel joke being played on us by the 'Gods of Water' to turn 70% of this planet into a highly corrosive soup that we constantly seem to battle...

Curses, Neptune, you could have also changed the same nasty soup into a nice vintage wine (or pure crystal clear water) if you had wished...

Just an off topic subject, and yes I've seen all the reasons for this on the Nat Geo Channel.

Regards
Fred

_________________
Always looking for ways to make good things 'Gooder'

I do fish off my TI and I think it's a fantastic platform. It's so stable there's no problem standing up to fish, even fly fishing. I leave the amas out and use the trampolines for storage or standing further out. I troll with the Mirage Drives, I've even put one drive in backwards so my buddy and I can maneuver backwards against wind and current. Really nice way to fish.

So many possible ways to rig it for fishing. I've built a simple little "roll bar" to mount in the rod holders behind the rear seat and have mounted three Scotty's Rod Holders on it (one fly rod, one spinning/baitcasting and one larger one that I use for either a fishing rod or my camera pole).

Yesterday I bought a Humminbird Fishing Buddy 140c color fish finder. It clamps right onto the rear aka, I'm going to try it out tomorrow. I like it because I don't want to drill holes until I'm really certain how I want to rig my TI.

I'm new to the great Pacific Northwest and also to kayaking and am just "getting my feet wet" when it comes to fishing up here but I'm having a lot of fun learning.

This forum has lots of great info on fishing, lots of guys take their Islands out into serious salt water and catch some amazing fish.

One of my heros is Halibu77 on Youtube (I haven't seen him on this forum), check out all the cool mods he's added to his AI.

_________________
It's a good Life, Let's sail!

iHop

Dune TI - 6/4/2011
Camas, WA

As an owner of both an AI and a TI, and both on a trailer...I prefer the TI in just about every situation. Yes, the TI is certainly a larger boat but that also has advantages. It is more stable both sailing and fishing. The much larger amas and hull help the TI ride waves better. The TI rides swell better, submarines less, and usually has less spray over the bow. If you plan on having a passenger along frequently, the TI carries the weight better and having a second Mirage drive also helps.
The negative aspects are again the larger size and weight (and price) of the TI. I never even considered car-topping the TI...my back could never stand the stress of putting the hull up that high. In a strong on-shore wind/waves, the TI is more of a handful when beaching.
The AI is now a secondary used by friends and relatives.

Thanks for all the replies I do appreciate it! I am pumped up I think from what I have read I am leaning towards the T.I. I just have to rig my trailer for it for a easy one man load and unload job. I read somewhere about a Thule roller or something if anyone knows about it or have experience with it let me know please.
Thanks again

Butch