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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:23 am 
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Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 10:11 am
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I just bought a brand-new older Mirage Tandem (the one with the older rudder system) and the sail. The price was good, considering the high cost of new Hobies here in the United Arab Emirates.

I'm kicking myself for not researching more thoroughly. I didn't realize that the newer kayaks have a far superior upgradeable rudder system (especially for sailing). In my opinion, the older rudder system is cheaply and poorly designed, especially considering the cost of the kayak.

Anyway, we're looking forward to getting out on the water! Our first problem is that the kayak has to be launched from a pier without a ramp, so we'll have to drop it into the water (2-4 feet, depending on the tide), and pull it up out of the water. Any techniques for making this easier greatly appreciated!


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 1:03 pm 
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There is no way to get the the land to walk the yak into the water? I would try to get access to the land for launching the yak... My two cents worth. Good Luck


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 1:42 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Hambone70:
We were staying at Meidera Beach,FL one time and the only place to launch my Tandem Island was over a 4 ft seawall, what a pain that was. What I did was lined up the sail, mirage drives, AKA bars, and AMA's on the sea wall. I then lifted the back of the kayak over the sea wall (the wall was about 1 ft above the parking lot, but on the other side it was 4 feet down to the water. I then grabbed the bow and slid the boat backwards down into the water, I then climbed down and grabbed all the components off the sea wall and assembled the boat in the water. It actually wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. When I came back I did the reverse, lining all the components up on the seawall, I then grabbed the bow and lifted it onto the sea wall, I then dragged the boat out of the water. It scratched up the bottom a little dragging the bottom of the hull on the seawall, but it was suprisingly easy since you are never lifting more than half the weight of the boat at any one time (about 50 lbs). I'm pretty sure I would not have been able to pull the assembled boat over the wall.
Another time we had a campsite at Bluewater RV resort down in keywest that had a dock. But the dock was about 4 ft above the water. I did the same thing to get the boat into the water. Fortunately we were there for a whole week so at night, I would just park the rigged TI at the dock, then go out every day. It was just a short paddle out the canal out to the atlantic so we had great fun.
You might want to look into what I did at Bluewater, when your using the boat often, just leave it parked at the dock.
To get it there initially I would look into launching the boat at a more convienent location close by, then sail it to your dock, then just use it for the duration of your stay, docking it in the water at night (remove your sail,mirage drives, and paddles, plus anything valuable). When your done for the weekend or the week, just sail it back to where you launched from and load it back to your vehicle.
Alternately if it's your dock, or you can get permission to do so, you can get or make a small crane to lift the entire boat out of the water (thats what I would do). If your creative, you can probably build the crane for under $100 dollars using a manual winch. You are only lifting a couple hundred lbs, so it doesn't need to be anything fancy (2 inch steel water pipe would probably work fine, then add a cable or belt manual winch, like they use on boat trailers (you can get them for $20-$30 bucks at places like Harbor Freight in the US).

Just some ideas
Bob


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 6:45 am 
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Thanks for the tips!

The maiden voyage was a success. It was almost a disaster, though, as I foolishly had the Mirage Drives loose in the kayak, and as we lowered it toward the water from the dock, the kayak rolled 90 degrees, almost dropping the Mirage Drives into the water! I certainly won't do that again.

Getting it out of the water was proving difficult, mainly because of reaching out away from the dock to lift from the front and back handles. That proved impossible, so I just grabbed the front handle, and pulled it up onto the dock from the front. That was easier than I thought, so that's the way we'll pull it out. It was high tide, so I expect it to be a little bit more difficult at low tide.

The rudder proved more effective than I anticipated. All in all, a success. (My wife may disagree, as she was the one getting splashed in the front seat due to choppy conditions!)


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 9:14 pm 
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Joined: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:17 pm
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Location: Auckland NZ
If it is a "twist & stow rudder" it should be fine. The even older flip straight up & down were perfectly OK too but I suspect it may not be one of those. Anyway if a twist & stow there are 2 blades made for this style of rudder - if you don't have the big blade (which I think may be standard on the double) you should upgrade - you will get much better turning ability.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:16 pm 
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It is the older flip-up rudder. I don't think there is a replacement larger rudder for the flip-up type.

We're going to try sailing today. I'm hoping the existing rudder is sufficient.


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 01, 2013 12:42 am 
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Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2007 2:25 pm
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Location: Central Coast NSW Australia
I upgraded our Tandem lift up rudder to the newer twist-n-stow with sailing blade. It wasn't too difficult and it worked well
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16964&p=86942


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PostPosted: Sat Mar 02, 2013 9:04 am 
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Thanks for that!

We tried sailing today. I quickly realized that the rudder was ineffective and unable to stop the kayak from weathervaning into the wind.

We may try the twist-n-stow mod. It would be so much easier if there was a larger rudder for the older system.


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