Hobie V2 Mirage Drive Conversion to GT version

Some useful information about how to upgrade a V2 Mirage Drive to a Glide Technology Mirage Drive has been posted at http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/printthread.php?t=24376 . But I still haven't seen many opinions about how upgrading affects the performance of the drive, and whether it's worth doing.

Here is a link to Hobie's GT upgrade instructions.......mind you, they are not using marine grease.    http://static.hobiecat.com/item_attachments/80010401_80013401_81123001_81127001_81129023_81129123_81175001z117.pdf
This was dated Jan 14, 2015

I just bought the upgrade parts today for my revo 13. I will post a review as soon as I can.

So, today and this is not an April fools joke, I got my PA-14 into 41F water at Lost Lake.....there was snow, sleet, wind and just above freezing weather to try my GT Upgrade.
I covered just short of 6 miles and I can say, the upgrade is a small improvement over the original Hobie design.
I seemed to troll a bit faster per my GPS in conditions I am familiar with.......I feel it fits into the same category as installing the larger rudder on the PA....something under a 20% gain and if you really use your Hobie, more than just a casual user, that is all good.

When making the upgrade,  I did apply a "very generous amount of Evinrude-Johnson Blue marine grease" on all of the new bearings......after I pulled the Mirage drive today, the results were about a 3/16"wide  ring of grease that  oozed out of the main shaft and a smaller amount on the fins shafts and idler pulley...but the good news is, it was easy to wipe off with a paper towel and it did not migrate to anywhere else......this stuff is really sticky and stays in place locally.
The next time I service the bearings, I will use less grease.

After a fun filled day and three glasses of wine, I am off to bed early tonight as the weather pounded my older body 

V2 to GT complete! Tomorrow I will go test it out.

Alright. Sorry I took so long to post. Maybe because I was to busy fishing and planning new trips. Anyways, I think it was a great choice to do the upgrade. First off, it seems like it takes less effort to peddle. Also, getting up to and maintaining speed seems easier. I have a revo 13 and I go out almost every weekend. The difference was very noticeable. The one thing if you do the upgrade is make sure you push in the center chain piece on the center tooth or else the chain willn't go on right.