Hobie Cat Forums

I am interested in buying a double Miragre Drive kayak - I have owned an Outfitter and have experience of the new Oasis - neither of these boats really suits my purpose.

I also own an AI and don't really want or need another sailing trimaran - so my question is - does Hobie have any plans to make the TI hull available as a double kayak only?

No, but you could purchase the hull as a replacement part... hull only.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Better Hobie dealers might sell you the hull and keeping the unwanted parts themselves.

If you were here, I'd consider buying at least your aka/ama if not all non-kayak only parts. Splitting up a new boat into spare/replacement parts is much cheaper than buying the parts new separately, just like a car.

Good luck!

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http://KayakingBob.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2007, 2009 & 2010 Hobie AIs and a 2010 TI

With the centerboard and trunk. Huge rudder. Hardware molded-in. Mast receiver... not the best choice as a stand alone tandem.

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Matt Miller
Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Hobie Cat USA

Without the centerboard, you might find it is almost impossible to steer/control in windy conditions. The first time I tried to turn my TI (sail furled) into a good wind I found it almost impossible to do until I dropped the centerboard. Honestly, I was headed downlake with no chance of turning back upwind until I deployed the centerboard. Too much boat otherwise.

Seated in front or back ?

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Alan W.
'07 AI dressed in Golden Papaya

... because it fades to Golden Papaya

A stripped down TI in kayak mode works very well. We use ours as a double kayak regularly. It performs slightly better than the Oasis (early model) we used to use. On longer kayak only trips I have taped up the Dagger board well to streamline the hull a bit more. You can hear the water sloshing in the well on each pedal stroke if you don't.
Being able to use the TI as a kayak just adds to it being the most versatile craft in Hobie's fleet IMHO!

Check out Roadrunners excellent earlier review for more info:
viewtopic.php?f=71&t=22808&p=110310

The rear seat, which probably lifted the front just enough to worsen the situation. But even when I tried it from the front, it wasn't much better.

The centerboard makes a huge difference in how this boat reacts to the rudder, and no doubt reduced the ability of the wind to push the bow around.

Hmm, the idea of purchasing the TI hull as a hull only has some potential appeal. I guess it will depend upon the purchase price and what would be included in that price.

For example not having to buy drives would possibly be OK as I already have two but with only 2 drives would mean that four people would not be able to go out at once which would almost defeat the objective.

Then there's the question of the rudder, seats and the various padeyes and cleats which are fitted to the "normal" boat.

The decision would be a whole lot easier if hull-only was offered as a package in the same way that the Adventure is available fitted out off the shelf with an option to upgrade to a tri at a later point... My guess is that buying the hull only plus all the parts to fit it out properly & fully (drives, rudder, seats, etc) would work out very expensive...?

Because the Hull only is a full TI with the sailing parts stripped out, or dealer ordered from Hobie without the sailing parts, it should come with everything else (mount points, seats, even drives) unless you specified otherwise. I still think the cheapest would be to buy a full TI and sell off what you don't want.

Someone needing a replacement mast, sail, or even aka/ama would pay much more to order as replacements from Hobie.

TI aka & ama on an AI (ie. the BatBoat) IS Great!!

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http://KayakingBob.com - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2007, 2009 & 2010 Hobie AIs and a 2010 TI