Tried the new fins on the Adventure

Did 7 1/2 hours in L J today with my new fins. At first I tried to muscle
the fins. Then I realized you just keep a steady pace. Going to take a
while to get used to. Hey Matt what is the thumb screw for?
I have the new rudder, and with the new fins, the turning radius has shortened. With the new fins, I start to go as soon as I push the first stroke. This helps when you need to turn around fast. The pedals
where a little stiff with these fins when pedalling. I will dial the system in to loosen it up some.

I can see my legs getting bigger.

Other than starting to move on the first stroke, can you compare the new fins to the old ones ? Thanks.

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StocktonDon - fishing, diving, sailing, and wondering what's just around the next point. (A pen name for quasi-fictional-hopefully-amusing stuff by dwest.)

I got to try the ST Turbo fins yesterday in Oceanside. They worked great!

The adjustment nut is for tensioning the leech (back edge of the fin). Tighter should be stiffer and better for top end. Looser for better low end. Same as a power boat prop. More twist (looser leech nut tension) for low end torque. Flatter pitch (tighter nut tension on the leech) for top end. This is described in the installation instructions.

Check the low end torque here!



This is also a preview of the new SIDEKICK ama kit. We were testing stability issues.

Now...we do recommend the Outback as a one person craft and everyone should wear life vests. This was a controled R&D enviroment just feet from a dock.

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

Stock Adventure with no cargo and a GPS. Calm protected ocean waters. Tested out the two sets of fins with several trips on a ¼ mile course. The original fins were 5.8 mph and turbo 6.9 mph. Looks like a twenty percent increase in speed.

There are too many variables to state this test would apply in all conditions. Fins are adjustable but for the test I had them as neutral (non-pitched) as possible.

I don’t think the new fins will be good for everyone. The speed increase comes with more torque applied to the pedal. It fills like a bike up hill. Hopefully you will be able to try them before you purchase.

When standard pedaling I had the tendency to pedal slower with the larger fins resulting in no real speed increase for cruising. After my legs get built up or rather accustomed to the new fins I suspect the speed will increase.

PS Top end sprint was 7.4 mph.



While I was there I got to meet two of the Hobie Pro Staff. Mike Allen and Den Farrier. Great guys but didn’t leak any new info on upcoming accessories.

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See ya on the water,
OffRoad

I took the Adventure out for another long day. Its amazing
how the thumb screw adjusts the fin. The first day, I left
the fin tight. This did feel like a 10 speed bike in 10th gear.
Yesterday I played around until I found my comfort zone
with the adjusting screw. Don't be afraid to change the setting.
Its like having a kayak with speeds. Still going to take some time
to see how this is going to help. So far its thumbs up for the
new fins.

Okay, back into the trunk of the Taurus. Brought the Mirage drive (a fine wicked piece of gear) and the original fins/masts/etc. in to work out this speed adjustment thing.

Carl from Adventure Sports put the upgrade instructions, allen wrench and cotter pins together with the original stuff. At the bottom of page 2 of 2 of the instruction it says:

"Tuning Your ST Turbo Fins

The ST Turbo fins are equipped with an adjustment knob located in the upper rear corner of each fin to change the tension of the fins."

Okay, there they are, brass thumb screw thingys (a technical term).

"To tighten up the fin, turn the thumb screw clockwise and to loosen the fin turn it in the opposite direction. By having more tension in the fin, it will become stiffer and faster with more resistance on the pedals. With having less tension on the fin, it will be more flexible with more torque and less resistance on the pedals."

Hmm. Clockwise seems to mean the brass thumb knurl is pulling the threaded part [clew tension screw?] "down" away from the body of the drive. [Righty tighty , lefty loosey?]

Did I see a parts diagram anywhere? Page 11 of the 2004/2005 kayak accessories and parts catalog has the 80010 Mirage Drive parts. No clew tension screw. Maybe something new?

Okay, first thing is the thumb screws are not quite the same distance from the body of the drive, that is, there is a different amount of the threaded part [clew tension screw?] showing on each fin. Wait a minute, looking at the opposite side they look pretty much the same.

I'm going to the loosest setting on both fins because that's pretty much where they seem to be set now and will be the smallest adjustment. Knowing my mechanical aptitude I probably got this all backward, but moving the pedals manually seemed to confirm the drive is "looser."

I wouldn't want to be doing this with wet, cold, water-softened fingers. Maybe those Hobie Thunderwear gloves on page 7 would help. Is there a thumbscrew turning tool other than the Mark One Thumb And Forefinger?

Okay, going to turn the thumbscrews to loosen the tension and reduce the pedaling effort [hey, I'm a newbie, remember?]

More later: it's late I'm getting confused.

Appreciate some feedback. Thanks.

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StocktonDon - fishing, diving, sailing, and wondering what's just around the next point. (A pen name for quasi-fictional-hopefully-amusing stuff by dwest.)

Your legs, your adjustment. It’s easy to change while on the water. You will have to try them and set them to your liking. I saw in new advertisement that the pedals were tethered if not you want to tether them before you go out and start adjusting them on the water.

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See ya on the water,
OffRoad

Thanks for your support,. I thought for a while I was going to need a 12-step program to cope with my frustration. Squeezing the BOTTOM of the assembly handle in against the pedal shaft easily disengaged the pin and allowed adjustment.

Unclipping the top of the adjustment handle was absolutely the wrong starting move. Fortunately my urge to unclip and crank down hard on the adjustment handle set off my normal you-don’t-know-what-you’re-doing alarm and I had the kayak community to which to turn.

Crew (aka darn cat) indicates he knew it all along.

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StocktonDon - fishing, diving, sailing, and wondering what's just around the next point. (A pen name for quasi-fictional-hopefully-amusing stuff by dwest.)

Bump!