hobie kayak

[Kype]

anyone here own or have paddled a hobie kayak, whether it be the mirage drive or a standard paddle kayak? looking for a new rig for this spring/summer. will be using it in freshwater rivers, lakes, and saltwater bays. 

 

or would you suggest a different brand. hobies are friggin expensive. looking at 3500$ for the mirage drive, and a paddle kayak is about 1200$. 

 

reason why i am leaning towards hobie is because they have that built in transducer mount. so hooking up a depth finder would be a breeze. i had an ocean kayak years ago and rigging a depth finder on it was a hassle. plus the ocean kayak material seemed flimsy to me. i ran it on gravel beads a few times in the river and made pretty deep grooves. 

[jerseyhunter]

Had a Hobie  Tandem for years. The wife and I loved it.  Hardly ever paddled it as the mirage drive was great, perfect for hands free trolling. Worth every cent.  The mirage drive has a bungee so when beaching, you push one pedal forward to flip the fins up tight to the hull and just clip to keep in place. The Hobie hull is pretty thick and can take a beating. 

[DRBetz]

We've had two sit on Hobies for over twenty years and they out perform our ocean kayak brand boats by miles. They've taken a beating over the years and still paddle great.