Best all-use hobie?

In my humble opinion it's about weight. If your in the 150 range a revo is great, or you have incredible balance. If you venture 200 plus then I would go outback. Draw backs of the outback are, if you have to paddle it. it can be done, but its harder. Draw backs of the revo, try to fit 12 rockfish and 4 salmon on board if you are over 200 pounds.
I would also say get the turbo fins but don't get the sailing rudder. If you surf land and take it in rivers you may bust it off because it sits below the haul. Unless you are doing a trick show on the water, or want to do really tight donuts. It's nice to be able to use your rudder when landing in big surf. once again in my humble opinion.

Thank you everyone for the input! Now to try them out.

One question though. On a couple other forums, I noticed some people were having issues with water accumulating in the seat well area and having issues with the drain plugs. These issues were on some older models, is this still an issue for the 2013 revo?

Yes, please try them out. You'll probably want one of each.

As far as water is concerned, if your backside is on the same level as  the body of water you're in, you're going to be sitting in water. You might read that some boats are drier than others. Keep in mind that "drier" does not equal "completely dry". The easiest is to expect that most things will get wet and plan around that.

In my humble opinion it's about weight. If your in the 150 range a revo is great, or you have incredible balance. If you venture 200 plus then I would go outback. Draw backs of the outback are, if you have to paddle it. it can be done, but its harder. Draw backs of the revo, try to fit 12 rockfish and 4 salmon on board if you are over 200 pounds.
I would also say get the turbo fins but don't get the sailing rudder. If you surf land and take it in rivers you may bust it off because it sits below the haul. Unless you are doing a trick show on the water, or want to do really tight donuts. It's nice to be able to use your rudder when landing in big surf. once again in my humble opinion.

Just curious ... what do you paddle and how much do you weigh?  And how much other stuff/weight do you carry onboard?

-Allen

In my humble opinion it's about weight. If your in the 150 range a revo is great, or you have incredible balance. If you venture 200 plus then I would go outback. Draw backs of the outback are, if you have to paddle it. it can be done, but its harder. Draw backs of the revo, try to fit 12 rockfish and 4 salmon on board if you are over 200 pounds.
I would also say get the turbo fins but don't get the sailing rudder. If you surf land and take it in rivers you may bust it off because it sits below the haul. Unless you are doing a trick show on the water, or want to do really tight donuts. It's nice to be able to use your rudder when landing in big surf. once again in my humble opinion.

Is there somewhere in OR/WA where you can retain 12 rockfish and 4 salmon? I have to disagree with you about a few of your points. I've seen the Revo do just fine with anglers that are 200-225. Even one that was 225 and had his 60 lb dog on the back with him. It does not have the lateral stability of the outback, but it's still a very stable kayak. It is a kayak after all, so it feels.....like a kayak. If you don't have a lot of seat time in kayaks you may feel it's tippy when compared to an outback, but the tradeoff is better speed and range.  The sailing rudder also works great for making tighter turns on a river and also improves the tracking in open water. Surf landings aren't a problem with the sailing rubber either, just pull it up when you get knee deep or so. Your turbo fins are going to hang a lot lower than the rudder. Otherwise I agree completely with what you said 

In my humble opinion it's about weight. If your in the 150 range a revo is great, or you have incredible balance. If you venture 200 plus then I would go outback. Draw backs of the outback are, if you have to paddle it. it can be done, but its harder. Draw backs of the revo, try to fit 12 rockfish and 4 salmon on board if you are over 200 pounds.

I dunno.  I'm 205-210 and I have no problems hauling crab/shrimp pots or other maneuvering on my Prowler which is probably less stable than a Revo, and according to Fungunnin comperable to an Addy (he has both a Prowler and Addy).  I certainly don't think my balance is any better than average. 

Granted my Prowler has at least 75lbs more capacity than a Revo or Addy, but even still, I don't think I'd shy away from a Revo or Addy if I was the OP if he's 200ish lbs. 

I weigh 204 and carry all kinds of crap on my Revo. Never felt unstable or had any other problems with it, even when carrying 2 limits of Lings and cabs with some rocks and greenling too.

Edit:  as for wet, yeah, it gets wet, leave the plugs out so it can drain out.  People complaining about wet butts are likely in warmer climates that don't require dry suits. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

First 12  rockfish 2 silver 2 pinks area 4 wa. Second dress down weight 230 plus full weight of gear. It only take 2 eight ounce weights to eqaul a pound.

On surf landings: I would say the less bouyant the boat the more likely to huli. I watched a buddy of mine this weekend ride 4 ft in saturday completely sideways, like a bobber. I on the other hand fully loaded usaully get a nice rush landing in the same size waves. However I have never been able to pull my rudder while riding a wave in. That's unless I'm standing on the ground.
 It could be my giant california condor like wing span, or my huge melon, but being able to apply appropriate upward force on what I would like to say is a large fish but generally is a small snag is easier on a outback.
Since he is buying two boats, I figured that he may not be quite as expirenced as some capitain nemo types on here. In my humble opinion.

First 12  rockfish 2 silver 2 pinks area 4 wa.

Slight clarification.  Rockfish limit in MA4 West is 10, however the aggregate bottomfish limit is 12.

-Allen

Comfortable is subjective - there are some people who would be comfortable sitting on a round log in whitewater, and some who would be uncomfortable in an easy chair on a barge in calm water. Many heavy guys are comfortable in a Revo, many are not. I weigh 210, and  my boy is 6'3" and 200+ and we both are comfortable in Revos.

The Revo vs Outback thing to me is more about personal style - are you a gearhead or more a minimalist? The Revo is harder to mount things on, and it has no side decks to set things on. I carry less gear than some, and am fine with it. I am forced to place my stuff deliberately and carefully - Outback guys just set it down on their side deck. (Notice how the Outback guys seem to knock stuff overboard?) Now Yaksurf - when I saw his Outback rigged up, I thought he must have some surveillance gear and cruise missiles on there somewhere. He probably couldn't do that on a Revo.

I guess it's worth mentioning also that I use my 2 outbacks for extended camping trips too. Not to say it can't be done in something with less carrying capacity but a tent, sleeping bags, 2 large dry bags worth of cloths and cooking equipment and a very large cooler is a lot of gear to tote around... And of course an adequate amount of fishing gear is a must. This 'camping' facet of kayaking use is what tipped me in the direction of the outback. Of course many many people camp with sea kayaks around puget sound but I tend to take a lot of gear. That's just me.
Thoughts?
Aaron

According to Hobies website here are the Revo 13 specifications:
Crew: 1
Length: 13' 5" / 4.09 m
Width: 28.5" / .72 m
Capacity: 350 lbs / 159 kg
Fitted Hull Weight: 69.5 lbs / 31.52 kg *
Fully Rigged Weight: 82.8 lbs / 37.56 kg *
Hull Construction: Rotomolded Polyethylene

As Sherminator stated I am 6'3" and dressed in my gear I am about 235 lbs. I still have 115 lbs of "cargo" weight. I am perfectly OK with the stability of the Revolution when I am fully loaded. I have minimized my gear over the year as I have learned what I do and do not need on each trip. Less is more on the water. So, its not all about weight, but that is something to consider. I know a few other guys on here that are at least as tall and one or two that are taller than me that are comfortable height wise.

Oh yeah the water thing, not a big deal if wearing a dry suit or waders because you're anyway, and when it's hot enough outside to not wear a dry suit, its kinda nice and cooling. Face it, you're going to get wet when kayaking. You have to walk into the water to install your drive fins, not that big of a deal IMHO.

Im 6'5" 185lbs and have an Outback, but as of yesterday I broke the mirage drive peddle shaft for the 3rd time in a year on a new 2012 Outback.  2wice left and 1nce right peddle..  Im not sold on Hobies crap yet.  It works good for trolling and staying on a spot when it doesn't break.

Im 6'5" 185lbs and have an Outback, but as of yesterday I broke the mirage drive peddle shaft for the 3rd time in a year on a new 2012 Outback.  2wice left and 1nce right peddle..  Im not sold on Hobies crap yet.  It works good for trolling and staying on a spot when it doesn't break.

How the heck have you gone through 3 shafts!?
Are you hitting the drive on rocks or bottom often? If so, I wouldn't be surprised if you have stress fractures in your shafts that cause them to snap.

No I havnt hit rocks hardly maybe a couple times when launching, but it wasn't any kind of direct hard hit more of a light brush against the rocks.  I tend to fish deep and I do lots of salmon trolling.  Its not uncommon for me to do 20-25+ mile days and be on the water 10-12hrs+.  I tend to cruise at 4.5 to 5.5 mph when the water lets me.  I spend 90% of the time in the ocean.

No I havnt hit rocks hardly maybe a couple times when launching, but it wasn't any kind of direct hard hit more of a light brush against the rocks.  I tend to fish deep and I do lots of salmon trolling.  Its not uncommon for me to do 20-25+ mile days and be on the water 10-12hrs+.  I tend to cruise at 4.5 to 5.5 mph when the water lets me.  I spend 90% of the time in the ocean.

It sounds like you have a bit more leg strength than the rest of us do you cycle?