Mirage drive chain slip

I recently picked up an older outback from another member here. I love it, but the other night when I took it out, I wanted to see how well I could fight some heavy current, and one of the fins slipped. I took the chain off and readjusted it tonight based on some instructions on a hobie forum.  Is it normal for this to happen, or was I putting too much strain on the drive in the current? My drive is the original drive, and I understand the new sprocket on the V2 drive doesn't slip. Is it worthwhile upgrading? It doesn't look to be too expensive of an upgrade.
Thanks!
Dan

I'd try it out after readjusting the chain.  If it still slips I'd might get new sprockets or chain assemblies.  I've had some of the cable crimps slip on my older drive and replaced them.

Thanks. Going to give it a go tomorrow. Does Next Adventure stock mirage drive spare parts?

Thanks. Going to give it a go tomorrow. Does Next Adventure stock mirage drive spare parts?

Not usually.  Give them a call though and they'll be happy to get parts on order for you.

This does not address your issue, but is something to watch for, particularly on the older mirage drives.

When handling the mirage drive be careful NOT to disengage the pedal cog.  It's easy to do when you grab it in the one-handed logical place.  What can happen is the pin holding the pedal in the central plate becomes not completely seated.  Applying pressure can then strip the hole in the central plate.  It became such a problem for Hobie that they redesigned the plate as a plastic/metal/plastic sandwich. 

I think I figured it out. I took it out yesterday and it slipped again. When I got home I inspected it and it appears the rod that the idler pulley sits on is out place. I am surprised it worked as well as it did. I will put it back together tonight and see how things go.

Here is a picture.

And now I now why the pulley shaft came loose. When putting it back together I noticed the spine was cracked. I epoxyed it back together, but went ahead and ordered a new spine. I doubt my glue will hold up. Luckily the spine is only 20 bucks.  Glad this happened in the river and not out in the ocean!

What's the spine?  I looked at a parts diagram and "spine" was listed, but not identified.

That's the pig plastic piece that everything else is mounted to(#81181001, new for 2013).  Only reason I know that is because I spend way too much time in the Hobie parts catalog.   

I tried it out the expoxyed fix today and it worked like a champ. No problems in heavy current, and it seemed smoother than before. I will probably go ahead and swap out the spine anyways when the new one shows up, because I would hate for it to fail at an inopportune time. 

That's the pig plastic piece that everything else is mounted to(#81181001, new for 2013).  Only reason I know that is because I spend way too much time in the Hobie parts catalog.   

I guess I should have known that as I replaced both of mine when I stripped one of the pedal pin holes.  The new spines have the aforementioned metal plate for the pedal pins.