I will buy a Kayak not a motorboat. Two mfr (Hobie and Native) have foot driven propulsion. To me (avid cyclist) this seems like a smart thing. Re that, is the cycle motion of the Native easier to do for a long time than the ‘leg press’ motion of the Hobie?+
But being pragmatic, I ask:
Foot propel are considerably more expensive. Over years, will foot propel take me more places with less exhaustion? Or are distances paddled for fishing so small that pedal vs paddle is less relevant? My fishing will be 100% inshore, focusing on structure and breakers.
One thing I like about the foot systems is that you can troll without setting down rod. By doing this I could troll the breakers trying to find the cuts which wash bait to hungry fish. Or troll breakers from out to in seeking flounder.
Opinions? Cost increment is not a huge issue with me as I have at least 10-15 more years of fishing before I am called to Burial At Sea. $4K vs $500 is no more than $350/year difference - still WAY less expensive than a motorboat and its requirements.
Talk to LGB or Justin Carter (LostatSea) about the Hobies. There are some minor ongoing maintenance issues with either. Wildy will be introducing a pedal option as well. I think it debuts at ICAST
Not that I am buying one anytime soon but, I looked at both just a few days ago. I like the fact that you can go in reverse in the Native but, the Hobie sounds a little easier to deal with. One of them is on my list of “wants” somewhere down the road.
“Apathy is the Glove into Which Evil Slips It’s Hand”, but really, who cares?
The Hobies and Natives are both nice - both have their pros and cons. My knees didn’t like the circular motion of the Native Propel system. The Hobies are more of a push-push system. The Natives have reverse, the Hobies don’t. The Native Propel requires so much water to function or you’ll have to pull it up - and that unit sits up high when it is retracted. The Hobie MirageDrive can be operated with a half-stroke motion and move the kayak in skinny water, and when you pull it up out of the plug it can lay flat on the deck.
Take a demo of both and find the one you like the best! The pedal-driven yaks are worth it if you like to cover a lot of distance with minimal effort, and there is the somewhat hands-free aspect to moving on the water and the ability to manipulate your rod and reel at the same time.
Bought a second hand Native Propel whose original owner had tired of it quickly, as did I. At that time I was doing a lot of large stream/shallow river fishing and the mechanism was just too intrusive. Handy in swifter moving water where I might not want to stay long enough to bother anchoring, but that’s also generally not how I spend most of a day on the water. In those situations it was just as easy to paddle in, drop anchor and clip my paddle along the gunnel. I’m a big guy (6’1" - 265 lbs.) so I already pose quite a a significant ballast challenge without gear. Sold the Propel and bought a Native Ultimate 14.5 Tandem that converts to a solo, mainly for the extra capacity, but it also offered a built in excuse as to why I needed a fourth kayak - “just think honey, we can go kayak fishing together…”, (yeah, like I’d ever let that happen).
Anyway, rigged the Ultimate for fishing with all the usual suspects and googaws, which with my substantial displacement made for something of a pig boat, but perfectly good for extended time on the water. Standing was just okay, but then again my gravity issues are pretty extreme. About four years later I got hurt and couldn’t paddle for a while, so I bought a compact electric trolling motor to keep me fishing. I’d never recommend the company because of their horrible attitudes and lack of support, but once connected to a nice set of foot controls it has proven more than capable, albeit limited in strong currents long term due to battery life, but even off of the juice you can still easily paddle home.
Shoulder got better and I tired of the lazy boy approach, although I keep it for taking non-paddlers with me (yeah, like da wife… I never stood a chance). These days I prefer a more minimalist approach with a small bungie attached board in front of the cowl to mount a pair of rod holders and give me a small work surface that doesn’t add too much weight or interfere with paddling, but that’s just me.
“To sit alone with my conscience will be judgment enough for me.”