Return to Hobie.com
Hobie Forums
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 6:39 am

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 16 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next
Author Message
PostPosted: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:35 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm
Posts: 17
Hello everybody,

My husband and I are very anxiously awaiting the next couple of weeks, we are selling our boat and want to get two PA14s. We have been reading the forums, watching youtube videos and even some of the Hobie kayak shows on TV. I can't wait. I think it will be an awesome experience and a great way to be close to the water and have fun fishing.

Two questions I have that I either haven't seen or would like a little more input on are these.

1) This one might be kind of silly, but I haven't had personal experience with the mirage drive so I'm just curious. I've seen in several videos where users pull the mirage drive out of the slot when going over very shallow or weedy areas and use the paddle to propel the boat in those areas. How does the kayak keep from swamping with a hole in the hull? Is there a plug you can put in the drive area when the flippers are removed?

2) This is kind of a biggie. Most likely we will get a trailer to transport the two kayaks when we both go out together. Although I was also wondering if there were a way to put two kayaks in the bed of a full-size pickup?

Also though, every now and then I go fishing on my own. Hubby is either too tired, or is working. Usually I just shore fish, but I'd love to take the Hobie out if I had it and just relax on the water and fish. However, I have a two door car and the rear windows do not roll down. Is there a way to put a single PA14 on the roof of a 2 door car with only front side windows that roll down?

Any thoughts or suggestions are much appreciated.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 9:35 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 8:32 pm
Posts: 16
Location: Redding CA
1) no the boat doesn't swamp with the drive out. Same at the scupper holes. The drive well is low and drains water from the rest of the boat. Hobie does include a drive well plug with each boat but I've never seen anyone use it in a pro angler.
2) with out some sort of rack your not going to be putting 2 pa 14's in the bed of a truck easily. Sure you could stack them but that's going to be a hassle. I would suggest a trailer either hobie's or a Malone are a nice option. As far as your car you could get a roof rack. Thule makes a rack for 2dr cars that would work for a PA. Keep in mind you'll need to be able to lift the 120 beast up there. I would suggest looking at a hitch for your car instead. I've towed 6 kayaks on a Malone trailer with a 4cyl Subaru, so I'm sure you would be fine. You might even try demoing a PA 12, the 30lbs difference is huge when it coes to loading solo after a long day on the water. Welcome to the madness that is kayak fishing

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Mon Mar 25, 2013 10:50 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Sun Jul 31, 2011 3:01 am
Posts: 151
u can build a kayak cart for your pa's on castors that sits in the garage and loads into truckbed easily.....pull the pa out of the bed and slide cart wheels in at the launch site...makes things pretty easy...trailer is nice too


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:24 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm
Posts: 17
Thanks for all the info. As far as the car transport, you're probably right, I wouldn't want to have to hoist that bad boy up there. Might not be impossible going out, but after being out all day and tired, it would be a real chore. I'll look into getting a hitch. Guess we'll need two trailers then, a tandem one for the truck when we both go out and a single for my car when it's just me.

I could try both of the PA sizes and see, but really, it's probably not going to be fun loading either on top of a little car at the end of the day.

The rolling truck bed rack is a cool idea too. That's something to really look into doing.

Thanks for the info on the drive well Jbaker. It was really a puzzler for me. I know if we left the drain plug out of our big ole cruiser and put it in the water, it would go "glub, glub, glub" down to the bottom of the slip pretty quick. haha


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 6:55 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:01 am
Posts: 138
Question one,

More to the point, there are 9 penetrations from the cockpit to the bottom of the hull in the PA14. One very large opening for the Mirage Drive, and 8 scupper holes. Two of those have screw in inserts. All of them are constructed such that they are "tubes" with attachment at both the cockpit floor in the area as well as at the opening in the bottom of the hull. They are molded in when the hull is molded so no water can get into the inside area of the boat between the upper and lower surfaces.

Question two.

You have a number of answers here that should help. I would add that for car or truck topping a front mounted receiver can accept a small boat winch that can make loading the PA14 up top very easy. Just turn a crank handle. I load up my PA14 with everything that I strap down inside the front and rear cockpits, and then pull it right up on top of the truck with a front mounted winch. My rack is made from stainless steel handicap shower bars, along with a very large foam pad area. I even put the little cart for towing the boat with the electric bike up there where it gets captured by the front of the Yak. I don;t have to lift the Yak at all. The strap system pulls it up and turns the nose down when the nose is up in the air. The straps go through the Mirage Drive hole so that pull point is at that hole. A secondary strap hooked to the front handle comes tight when the mirage hole is just below the roller and tips the front of the Yak down. The roller system has those two rails on the sides to keep the yak centered and it will not slip off on a side hill. If I had it to do over I think I would use the shower grab bars longitudinally to fit the hull. (about a foot apart)

Image

Image

Image

_________________
Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

Some random Modification Pictures


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:24 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm
Posts: 17
VERY cool on the roller hoist idea! Love that. It would make it a breeze. However, my biggest problem is that none of the racks that I've seen are designed for a 2 door car with stationary rear windows. I've seen those pads you can buy, but even those require a rolling window in the back don't they?


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:36 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:01 am
Posts: 138
FreshWaterLover wrote:
VERY cool on the roller hoist idea! Love that. It would make it a breeze. However, my biggest problem is that none of the racks that I've seen are designed for a 2 door car with stationary rear windows. I've seen those pads you can buy, but even those require a rolling window in the back don't they?


Home Depot and Lowe's are your friends. Get two of the longest Handicap stainless steel shower bars that they sell. Then buy some large self drilling screws that just fit through the three holes in each of the mounting circles on the bars. Put the bars on the top of the car spaced to fit in the hollows made where the tri hull design has depressions (where the scuppers penetrate. That is about a foot apart. Then using a power driver screw the bars onto the roof of the car after putting down some silicone sealer at each of the holes. Yes it is permanent. Yes thee are holes in the roof. Who cares? You want to fish don't you? Then get four 1/4 20 eyebolts and drill through the shower bars down near the mounting plates. Put those four eyebolts with the eyes pointing out on with the nuts provided with them. Tighten it all up. The get four ratchet straps and four of the stainless d ring mounts that come with the inserts for a pickup truck hole in the rail. Take apart the D ring assemblys and just use the D ring with the stainless retainer for the loop. Get some #14 stainless screws about an inch long and with the driver put them at the very aft end of the Yak (about two inches ahead of the rear handle on each side, and two just forward or the mounting board beside the hatch opening. Now run the straps from the eyebolts on the rear of the bar on each side to the rear d rings. And put the straps from the forward eyes to the forward d rings running forward. When you tighten the four straps the Yak will be tied down and will be restrained fore and aft. We have traveled tens of thousands of miles with those four straps and the Yak is fine. We have gone up to 100 mph with the Yak on the top but not towing our travel trailer in which we live full time.

Good luck.

_________________
Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

Some random Modification Pictures


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:42 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm
Posts: 17
Thanks, that's an awesome description of how to do it. I don't care about the holes as long as I seal them well. I just want a way to get the yak on top of the car. Of course, I'll have hubby and son make it a project... things I build tend to look nice until a strong breeze hits them. :o


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:20 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:01 am
Posts: 138
Shoot me a pm when you are ready to do the carrier. I can provide a lot more info on the strap system etc.

_________________
Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

Some random Modification Pictures


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:36 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm
Posts: 17
Thank you AllElectric. I really appreciate it! I'll do that.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:58 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Admiral

Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:16 pm
Posts: 160
Location: vero beach, fl
Maybe don't over think or over accessorize.
A trailer that will haul both boats, does a great job of hauling one as well. Leave the ol' man on the sofa and his boat in the garage while you are out fishing.
Spend the money you would on home made racks, on the hitch for your car.

I know guys do it--I sure ain't gonna, mentioning loading even my PA12 on the roof of a car is enough to make me think of taking up golf instead of kayaking.

Cheers
Drew

_________________
Cathedra Mea, Regulae Meae.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:38 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:28 pm
Posts: 17
LOL funny but understandable Uno Mas


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 10:53 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:06 am
Posts: 734
Location: Amelia Island, FL
Some things just are not intended to happen. You loading a PA on top of a car without help just ain't gonna happen.

I agree with the trailer concept. There are plenty of bargains out there on small trailers.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 11:14 am 
Offline
Site Rank - Captain

Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:01 am
Posts: 138
islandspeed2001 wrote:
Some things just are not intended to happen. You loading a PA on top of a car without help just ain't gonna happen.

I agree with the trailer concept. There are plenty of bargains out there on small trailers.


Anyone that can turn a crank in the correct direction can load a PA14 on the top of my truck. No lifting required. No different than loading the Yak on a trailer with the winch. Any place beside the water is accessible. With a trailer you have to have some place to park the combination rig. Then there is the backing the trailer skill to learn. A hitch is not always available for many of todays small cars. So you may have to do some work to make something universal fit. For example, there are front hitches available for my truck. Unfortunately they are very expensive and they are too low for my liking. So I took a bumper hitch some two inch angle and my little carry along welder from Harbor Freight and made my own front receiver.

_________________
Hobie PA14 with a mod or two

Some random Modification Pictures


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:14 pm 
Offline
Site Rank - Old Salt

Joined: Sun Jul 18, 2010 12:55 pm
Posts: 420
Unloading a PA from a car top is a problem also.

You can put 2 PA's in a truck but it's not easy. You have to stack them or turn them on their sides and have someway to have then stand there ....... puts a bunch of pressure on the sides too while bumping down the road. Then you have to figure out how to attach them on a hitch extender. Trailer is best if you have 2 PA's ......... a PU truck with a hitch extender makes loading 1 a breeze ......... loading 1 on the roof is a TOTAL pain compared to the hitch extender.

Oh .... and the mirage drive hole is built into the PA ...... enclosed on all sides. They come with a plug if you don't want it open without the Mirage drive in.

Allelectric ......... you have some awesome setups ......... hats off to ya .......


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 16 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2  Next

All times are UTC - 8 hours [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
© Hobie Cat Company. All rights reserved.
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group