What the heck is it?

everyone always makes fun of the chubby kid........

Hmmm, looks a lot like this one,,,,




http://www.nativewatercraft.com/ult_14_propel.cfm

It's kinda funny though. It seems like everybody else in the kayak industry was trying to figure out how to knock off the hobie drive and the first real viable contender gets knocked off by Hobie! The Native does have one thing on the Hobie though,,,,reverse. (tad lighter too)

Just yankin yer hair! 

everyone always makes fun of the chubby kid........

yeh, and here i thot i had a weight problem on my trident...

Wali, yeh thot about that too... didnt want a mere paddler upsetting the peddlers here tho, so left it alone..

Once over of the Pro Angler by the boyz @ OEX Oceanside.

I like his comment he threw in the end there about more flat rails on revolutions lol

Looks pretty cool.

So Zee, you're selling your ride and pushing on this a bit.  Are we going to see you in one of these soon?  If so, who are you hiring to help you haul it around?

Rod tubes and a built in icechest!!
Finally!!! I've been wondering for years when somebody would get around to those.

Looks pretty cool.

So Zee, you're selling your ride and pushing on this a bit.  Are we going to see you in one of these soon?  If so, who are you hiring to help you haul it around?

My new rides for '09 are going to be the '09 Adventure and the i9s inflatable. Since I spend most of my time on the sound downriggin' the Adventure will take care of that and the i9s is for drifting rivers and bassin' small lakes. I've been able to test the i9s a few times and it's really great to get into really small put in's (40#'s and 9') and performs really well on the river due to it's stability. I can actually stand up in this yak pretty easily. You can also pop out the MD easily due to the new clips so you can shoot downstream with it out and then when you want to stop, turn 180, pop the drive in and pedal. Quite the little river boat. I'll be "testing" a lot more but have high hopes for it as my river yak.

I'm going to give the Pro Angler a test ride so will see after that.

Z

My thought is that it's 600 lbs lighter than my sled, no permits, gets way better mileage, with that lift handle on each end to stabilise  it,. one could use a pickup cannopy  loader., the elect ones that wind up a car topper alum boat.
    The older i get the less people i want in my boat anyway,,,,

She's in Versus Country.
http://www.versuscountry.com/itemdetail.aspx?id=3526&sectionType=-1

Z

Can a SoCal based kayak fishing writer chime in?

Personally I prefer a more streamlined ride, but I try not to bring too much bias against any one boat. There are many needs out there, many fisheries and body types, so I would never ding a big boat for being what it is.

With that out of the way, I got some seat time in the new Hobies yesterday. In the salt! Al La Jolla, which was not in its millpond quiet state, but still pretty tame by northwest standards. Our timing was excellent, with what passes for monster, tourist eating surf (larger sets to 4-ft) and 3-4 ft west swell on the outside aka yellowtail central (nobody home).

As an aside, I recently played with a Native Propel. The only things the two have in common are pedal power. The Native is not self-bailing; without special equipment (skirts / float bag) it is strictly a flatwater machine. An incredibly fast one - excellent get up and go. But I digress.

The rest of this is a cross-post from NCKA.

I'm not sure of Hobie's official line these days, but I remember seeing this boat in prototype at Outdoor Retailer, where they pitched it as a flatwater chariot. It proved a lot more capable than expected (my take); they are suitable for friendlier saltwater sites.

These battleships handle much better on the water than I expected. Sprint speed seemed slow, yet cruise is a mellow go all day sort of deal. The profile is high, but not ridiculously so, and the pedal drive excels in the wind. We got a breeze of up to about 8-10 mph, it was no bother at all.

The horizontal rod storage is the bomb! More please - why didn't anyone think of this sooner?

Hobie's getting better at fishing-forward design - the little touches make this one mean fishing machine. (Did I really just write that? What a geek!)

Seriously, the square hatch in front of the cockpit is brilliant, sized to hold tackle trays. No need for a Plano, what you need is right at your fingertips. The seat is high and dry; the boat stable and confident in swells. It is truly 'standable' for those with good sense of balance.

Because the PA is no speed demon, surf returns mean sitting through at least one or two waves. Unlike the other Mirage Drive boats, which in my opinion don't respond well to the rudder while in the surf, the PA steers easily. It should; the rudder is under the boat set quite a bit forward of the stern. It's new spring-loaded mechanism is a joy to use - a big step forward.

And yes, these things are heavy, a bit of a pain to lug about on land. Hobie trucked these two demos on a trailer.

So, NorCal salt approved? Not in my opinion for the host of reasons already posted here. But fine for SoCal bays, the average La Jolla day, and probably killer on the flats of the Gulf and FLA.

Note - photos show the boat on smaller surf.

Thanks for the review PAL. Always good to hear from the SoCal braddahz but for real... trunks in March?? It snowed just a few days ago here! Good to hear about the windage. Looking forward to giving one of these a spin in the local bass lake... now to just get a trailer. 

Z

Thanks for the review PAL.

The horizontal rod storage is the bomb! More please - why didn't anyone think of this sooner?

I'm pretty sure I've seen kayaks from the Gulf pimped out with pvc tubes running along the bow to store rods in much the same way the ProAngler does.

Don't be fooled by the skins and board shorts! Those guys took one for the team. The water temp is a soothing 55 F. I know, you guys consider that tropical. Personally, I was wearing four layers when we launched pre-dawn (that was fun, taking an unknown pedal craft into the invisible bonus surf), and had only removed one when I was shooting the wave play.

We were using stock boats except for the fishfinder clamped on the port rail and the Hobie Bait Tank in the well. Really, nothing more is necessary, the Pro Angler comes so comprehensively outfitted. If I had one of my own (not going to happen, big boats aren't to my taste), I'd add a seat-back storage pouch, some deck loops to leash off my game clip, and that's about it.

I'm pretty sure I've seen kayaks from the Gulf pimped out with pvc tubes running along the bow to store rods in much the same way the ProAngler does.

I'd like to see more factory installs, although there's really nowhere to put them in the shallow cockpit 'yaks that seem to own the fishing market. Bungee straps fore and aft along the gunwale do much the same job, although its still rough on the line guides.