Revolution Mirage test drive

I test drove a Hobie Revolution Mirage yesterday at Hobie Cats NW on Sand Point.  It was the angler edition with 2 8" hatches and molded rod holders behind the seat on the rail.  My current boat is an OK T13 Angler, so that is my point of reference for camparison.

Dan took me down to the boat launch and stayed on land while I pedalled/paddled around.  I brought my own gear, paddle, PFD, and drysuit, and spent about 30 minutes on the water.  It was a beautiful day with an 8-10 kt sustained north wind raising up to a foot of chop.  Travelling into the wind occasionally brought water over the bow. 

I got to try both the standard and the turbo fins on the Mirage Drive.  Turbo is the way to go.  The pedal resistance is a bit firmer and for me more comfortable.  They also move the boat considerably faster than the standard fins.  Steering with the left side rudder hand control works well enough.  The boat under paddle seems to be more efficient than my current T13 which seems to sit lower in the water, though rigged it is also carrying a bit more weight.  The Mirage drive is fast, probably twice the top speed of paddling my T13. 

I crawled all over the boat.  I scooted myself forward over the pedals and opened the hatch, flipped around in the seat and straddled the boat, sat side-saddle, and flopped the seat down and scooted over into the livewell and opened the rear hatch.  The boat felt as stable as the T13. 

I was very impressed with the Mirage drive and boat performance.

I was not so impressed with the boat's layout.  The drive takes up a lot of space and renders all the space forward of the seat useless for storage.  There are only 4 eyepads on the boat, 2 to secure the seat, and one under each knee, presumably for leashes.   There are no other eyepads on the boat to lash/bungee gear.   The only lines on the boat are the livewell and forward hatch bungees.  There are no deck lines.  It is unclear to me how I could carry two crab traps over the livewell and have any place to put the line reel and buoys.  The livewell is considerably shallower and more sloped than the T13's and struck me as more of a place to stash a kid.  I could toss a bleeding fish or crabs in the T13 livewell, cover them with the fish bag, and not worry.  The rear slope of the Revo livewell renders it less secure.  Even finding a place to stow a few Plano boxes is a problem.  Again, it seems the slope of the livewell could allow gear to slide out in chop/swell.  The boat's layout forces one to place a milk crate in the livewell, which then renders the live well useless for catch. 

The 2 8" hatches are well placed.  With them and the forward hatch one can reach any point needed to install an anchor trolley, deck mounts, etc.  However the round hatches are too small to fit anything other than the smallest Plano gear box. 

One could install a pair of compact scotty deck mounts on each gunwale forward of the pedals.  These could be used to mount a bar or RAM balls for FF and/or rod holders.  The rear molded rod holders are more sturdy than the T13s and would be handy for stowing rods/net/gaff.  I suppose I could hang the OK battery bag in the bow forward of the hatch, but that would probably render the hatch useless to stash the Wheelez balloon tires. 

In short, the drive is great, but the boat is not laid out well nor adequately equipped as a fishing platform as received from the factory.  Seems fishing was an after thought to an already designed boat.  At least access to the inside of the hull is easy and would facilitate the installation of 8-10 eyepads and 6-8 deck line attachments.  With  lash/bungee points, a cart, fish bag, crab traps, and such could be secured.  However I have no idea how one might carry everything at once, cart, crab traps/line reel/buoys, anchor/line reel/buoy, fish bag, personal gear, and fishing gear. 

Despite all this, I think I am going to be forced into a Revo by my chronic elbow problems, so I have a lot of figuring and research to do. 

Some questions come to mind. 

Do the large Wheelez tires fit in the forward hatch?  This would be REALLY nice, and they may, but I didn't think to bring the cart to the demo. 

Is a milk crate standard practice with the Revo? 

Where do folks stash their terminal fishing gear?

I am a minimalist...so take it for what it is worth.

I installed two Ram Ball mounts on the gunwhales, as you mentioned, for rod holders,and stick the extended rod holders in the rear ones...  Keels my reels high and dry, and allows me to have a nuce spread when trolling.

I do use a milk crate and a bait tank livewell.  The crate has all my terminal tackle in plano boxes and worm pouches (I prefer the latter more and more...)

One trick is to store worm pouches inside the hull under the 8" hatch in front of the seat.  Tie to lanyards, and toss in, then pull lanyards when you need to recover and get access.

I have a smaller ram mount for a fish finder, which I have yet to install..   Damn procrastination...

The front hatch is handy, if you are competent at moving around on top of the kayak..  I know many who don't...  I occasionally stand on my Revo to look for reds, so a little nmore adventurous than most...  Of course, I fish flat water, that is real shallow, and very warm most of the year...

As for fish storage, what little I harvest, I store in a collapsible cooler I can put right behind the seat, in front of the crate.

I would recommend a triangular fish bag for this in your case, as you catch and keep larger fish than I tend too..  Plus your crabs would fit in there too.

As for the crap pots...  Maybe attach them to a boogey board or similar and tow out behind you.   

Have you tried the Adventure?  I am in the process of trying to decide Revo or Adventure...  Right now leaning heavy toward Adventure.  Seems like a better big water boat.  How did the Revo feel stability wise?  I'm used to a Fish and Dive so anything will seem less stable but after watching Zee rock his Adventure salmon fishing I have the feeling they are plenty stable.

Thanks for the review DN. Glad to hear you gave it a paddle as well.

A little back story on the Revo. When the Revo was being developed the other popular fishing kayaks in the line were the Outback and the Adventure. The Outback was short and stable and the Adventure was long and fast. So they created a kayak that was middle ground between the two. The Revo was pretty much a shortened down Adventure but then they wanted to add more storage, specifically dry storage. So instead of a regular tankwell where the rear hatch is pretty useless they ballooned the rear of the yak under the hatch. The tankwell is still pretty standard size.

I think with a regular box or crate in the tankwell there's plenty of room for fish. Only reason I say that is there's a lot of people out there who use them and I have yet to hear complaints about it. Check out this guys packing job.


As for crab traps I don't think there's any yaks that can carry them comfortably. What I recommend to do is put the traps on top of all your gear and secure them to your box or crate. I tie a loop of bungee to my box and put a carabiner on to that which clips on to the traps. As for line and buoys I put them under my legs and paddle out to drop traps.

There are only 4 eyepads on the boat, 2 to secure the seat, and one under each knee, presumably for leashes.

The one padeye under the knee area is for a bungee that secures one MD pedal back so the fins stay against the hull. Makes it easy to beach or paddle w/o having to remove the drive. BTW I count 7 padeyes in the back. A cool thing about the padeyes is they are all mounted with inserts. So you can pull some if they're in the way or to add other acces.


Z

After chatting with Yaknitup about him and PP's reasoning for a Hobie, got me thinking there is definitely some method to their madness.  I would not go so far as to say I am going to hang up my T-13 anytime soon, but reading about the water coverage a guy can do with the pedals, and tying off a pedal to keep the fins tight against the hull for beach launching gets my respect.  Before I can even consider a yak with no internal rod storage, I'm gunna need to get better at staying upright upon reaching the beach. 

Does the paddle strapped to the side ever get in the way of the "legs over the side" kind of seating arrangement?  I find myself doing this ALOT on my T-13 while fishing.  Kinda lazy seating I guess? 

Before I can even consider a yak with no internal rod storage

Does the paddle strapped to the side ever get in the way of the "legs over the side" kind of seating arrangement? 

There's plenty of internal rod storage on Hobies. Wouldn't surf launch any other way. The paddle strapped on the side has never bothered me yet.

Z

Before I can even consider a yak with no internal rod storage

Does the paddle strapped to the side ever get in the way of the "legs over the side" kind of seating arrangement?  

There's plenty of internal rod storage on Hobies. Wouldn't surf launch any other way. The paddle strapped on the side has never bothered me yet.

Z

How do you get the rod inside?  Through the front hatch, center hatch?  Zee can you shoot a pic or two how this works?  The Adventure looks like it would be a killer yak to fish from, and hiding my gear from a huli would be sweet!

I am a minimalist...so take it for what it is worth.

I installed two Ram Ball mounts on the gunwhales, as you mentioned, ..."

Did you install Scotty Compact Deck mounts in the gunwale?

...The crate has all my terminal tackle in plano boxes and worm pouches (I prefer the latter more and more...)

One trick is to store worm pouches inside the hull under the 8" hatch in front of the seat.  Tie to lanyards, and toss in, then pull lanyards when you need to recover and get access.

Worm pouch - soft sided, zippered, "portfolio" of plastic bags?

I occasionally stand on my Revo to look for reds, so a little nmore adventurous than most...  Of course, I fish flat water, that is real shallow, and very warm most of the year...

Stop yer killin' me.

Have you tried the Adventure?  I am in the process of trying to decide Revo or Adventure...  Right now leaning heavy toward Adventure.  Seems like a better big water boat.  How did the Revo feel stability wise?  

My storage constraints rule out the larger adventure.  The Revo was plenty stable.  I rocked the heck out of it and crawled all over it without feeling like I or it was going over.  The water yesterday was not flat.

As for crab traps I don't think there's any yaks that can carry them comfortably.

I have a nice system for my T13 that works very well with the Danielson collapsible traps.  Fit a PVC 'H' into the livewell scuppers and drop the collapsed traps over the uprights.  The traps rest on the gunwales leaving the livewell free though covered.  The line reel and buoys fit right behind the seat and what should go behind the seat (Planos and water bottles) just gets thrown into the livewell under the traps.  

There are only 4 eyepads on the boat, 2 to secure the seat, and one under each knee, presumably for leashes.

The one padeye under the knee area is for a bungee that secures one MD pedal back so the fins stay against the hull. Makes it easy to beach or paddle w/o having to remove the drive. BTW I count 7 padeyes in the back. A cool thing about the padeyes is they are all mounted with inserts. So you can pull some if they're in the way or to add other acces.

Okay, I guess I missed the eyepads securing the livewell bungee.  

+1 on wanting to know how to do underdeck rods storage - I've got the Outback, and there is no way I can get a rod into the hull while in a sitting position, and with the drive in place.  Front hatch?

Pretty straight forward, just put the rods in through the front hatch. Then after paddling past the surf, straddle the yak and shimmy up to the front and get them out. Madoc, w/ the Outback being a lot wider it's going to be hard but that's a big one so kinda comes w/ the territory.

I have a nice system for my T13 that works very well with the Danielson collapsible traps.  Fit a PVC 'H' into the livewell scuppers and drop the collapsed traps over the uprights.  The traps rest on the gunwales leaving the livewell free though covered.  The line reel and buoys fit right behind the seat and what should go behind the seat (Planos and water bottles) just gets thrown into the livewell under the traps.

I guess you read my article on crabbing in NWS. ChuckE down in NorCal came up w/ that system.

Z

Too bad the center hatch didn't have a steeper angle to it, so you could shoot them right through there and under the seat.   

When you shimmy up to the front, are you removing the drive system so Pete and the twins don't get bruised?

Do the large Wheelez tires fit in the forward hatch?  This would be REALLY nice, and they may, but I didn't think to bring the cart to the demo. 

Revo has a wheel system that works really well. Fat beach tires, the frame two posts slip under the boat up into the scuppers behind the seat when using on land.  Push the Revo into the water until there is some clearance then reach down, pull out the wheel frame, turn it upside down and drop the posts into the same scupper holes right behind the seat.  The Wheels fit nicely behind you and infront of the crate. Also if bungied in you have more flotation in a hullie.

I place rods through the front hatch. It is easy to reach as Zee says.

Am finding there is lots of storage under the deck, it is just different. Not as much as a completely open under deck yak, but sure seems to be plenty so far.  My FF battery hangs just aft of the peddle housing and is accessible from the center hatch.

I am thinking of adding an 8 inch hatch where there is an indentation for it, so that access is easier behind the seat, I have shortish arms and there is a no reach zone between the center hatch and rear hatch for me.

Did you dump the Revo and do a self rescue?  A good thing to experience, and is an easy process.
holt

Too bad the center hatch didn't have a steeper angle to it, so you could shoot them right through there and under the seat.   

That's actually a really good idea. Would love to see something like that done.  

When you shimmy up to the front, are you removing the drive system so Pete and the twins don't get bruised?

It's usually the first thing I pull to get out of the way.

Z

Do the large Wheelez tires fit in the forward hatch? 

The wheels fit in the Addy front hatch so I'm sure they fit in the Revo too. The cart itself doesn't fit in though. Really quite a bummer. Recently I've been stashing the cart somewhere and lock it to something.

Z

When you shimmy up to the front, are you removing the drive system so Pete and the twins don't get bruised?

So far, I have left the mirage drive in (bunge one peddal back) on the Revo and have found it to be easy to work around.