hinserra wrote:
Why does everyone think they are better engineers than Hobie's team.?
Hobie Engineers are people just like the rest of us...But...Hobie is a BUSINESS also, that is in the business of making money, TO STAY IN BUSINESS...The engineers did the best they could, to think of and design a quality kayak that would serve the needs of the kayak fishing community, for which the Pro Angler was intended, and to be able to maintain a reasonable profit margin...Including everything that you would need, but leaving enough room for personal customization...Sooo...In the case with the PA, they designed a great fishing platform...But...Everyone is different, and everyone has a different idea of what would work better for them. No matter what design, or who designs it...There will always be someone that thinks of a modification to make that design better...You don't have to be a paid engineer to come up with a better design. Thats one of the things that make this forum so great. You can listen to other people's opinions and ideas...Look at their pics...Then decide if you like their design changes and want to include the changes onto your PA
Its always been human nature to want to design a better mouse trap. No-one is disrespecting the Hobie design team, just because they might have thought of a better design for something on the PA than the Hobie Design Team...
Hobie monitors this forum and I'm sure thay get many ideas for future PAs from listening to comments from the forum members about possible improvements. For example...I bought my PA in 2009. It was/ is a great fishing platform. But...When I bought mine, the steering knob was located under the seat (not so easy to reach or adjust) and it was too easy to oversteer...Hobie was made aware of these issues from listening to discussions between it's forum members, and so they came out with a larger steering hub replacement that helped to solve that problem. And as far as the steering knob placement...The same thing happened. After listening to the forum members discussions, Hobie decided to include an upgraded steering knob design in the 2010 PAs where the steering knob wasn't attached to the seat anymore...I hope that I've helped with your question