Okay, so I know with the Hobees (and the new biyak eza88 made) you have the pedal drive with the “fins” and you push and pull your feet back and forth. Now is there an advantage to this, instead of a pedaling motion with a motor like the Native Mariner has? Maybe its a dumb question but iv’e been pondering it for a while.
Carson, I don’t think it’s a dumb question. I pondered it a lot myself. I’ve not pedaled a Native. They seem to push boats around just fine, but one difference is clear. With all of these, the pedals travel in an arc, but only with the Native do the pedals have to make complete rotations in order to create thrust. This means that when one pedal is at its closest point to the operator the other pedal considerably far away. In other words, one of your legs would be bent a lot and the other would be almost straight. The Hobie requires much less range of motion.
Also, since the pedal arm of the Native has to point straight down at a point in each rotation, the device has to be mounted higher up relative to the waterline. This is probably less comfortable for the peddler, but I don’t know for sure.
The pedal drive in the Hobie is easy to remove for shallow water. It also folds flat to the bottom of the yak if one pedal is all the way forward. One advantage to the propeller on the Mariner is that it functions in reverse.
Chris
Wilderness Systems Ride 135 “Sauer Trout”
Hobie Adventure Island “Rogue Wave”</font id=“size1”>
You can also do the short pedal-strokes with the Hobie Mirage Drive to move through shallow water with the fins up next to the kayak…
I am a lazy paddler -
Look at this Bass Yak system - I have had my 14FT Malibu Stealth out now over 100 times and never problem #1
We are the Malibu + Bass yak Dealer for SC
Capt Dave
You don’t really ‘pull’ your feet. You push one leg, then the other. Pulling sounds uncomfortable. There is a strap that you slide your foot in, that would give the impression that you pull. My wife places her foot on the tops of the strap. The half strokes are good for a couple of purposes. I end up in shallow water more often than not, and can still manage the half strokes. Also, turning radius can be of concern. I’ve wrestled with some strong currents, and find I can turn faster with half strokes than full strokes (don’t know the physics going on here). But most of the time, when I need to react fast, I just grab the paddle to get away from dock or bridge or whatever. But as far as the peddle, I would say it more of a pushing, than a bicycle cycling motion. Don’t have any experience with the Native though.
I would say it is like a stair-stepper motion, except it is not too hard on the knees.