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Changing to a New Ride... The Hobie Oasis

Written by Paul Belmudes
Tuesday, 12 October 2021 17:05

Salvage of the Hobie Revolution

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I've been kayak fishing for just over four years now and I remember each of my kayak purchases...

My first kayak purchase was a Malibu Kayak "Extreme" model. Not knowing much about kayaks when I started, this kayak was setup for fishing with all the hatches, rod holders and reinforced with extra plastic which nearly made it puncture proof from the bottom of the hull. Unfortunately, it was a slow moving vessel. Every time I went out fishing with my friends that owned Ocean Kayak's, they out performed me in speed and effort.

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My second kayak purchase was a recreational kayak. I chose the Ocean Kayak "Malibu 2 XL" tandem so that I could get my family involved. I used both the Extreme and the Malibu 2XL for fishing taking friends with me that wanted to go. The 2XL was a better ride than the Malibu Extreme and I outfitted it with rod holders and a portable Humminbird 343c fishfinder. When I started catching a few fish here and there, the open hull was a plus when it came to fish storage. It also had a weight capacity of 500 pounds which was a plus. Then I was lucky enough to win the June 1998 "YakAttack" fishing tournament using the Malibu 2XL.  First prize was a new Ocean Kayak "Prowler 15." So now I had three kayaks.

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Then I got this brilliant idea... maybe Kelly at P&P Kayaks would let me trade in the Prowler 15 and I would pay the difference to upgrade to a Hobie kayak. I always hated paddling and after 10 to 15 miles, my shoulders always ached. So I asked Kelly before I used the kayak and he agreed. That's when I chose the Hobie Revolution. I had a yard sale the following weekend after purchasing the Revo and sold both my Malibu Extreme and Ocean Kayak Malibu 2XL to compensate for the money I spent on the kayak upgrade.

 

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What a difference pedaling made in comparison to paddling. I now out performed or stayed even with my friends who had Prowler 15's. My shoulders became pain free after kayaking. I could travel farther with the strength of my legs using the mirage drive. Kayaking and fishing were now being fully integrated and having the Revo was a value-added plus kayak. I carefully thought out all modifications that I wanted after I started to boat 20 to 50 pound pelagic fish. However using the Revo, storage of fish is a big problem here in Hawaii and especially the balancing of the kayak when one 50 pounder is on board. That's when I decided to add the amas and the trampoline to the Revo. Then I discovered the YakAbout website... now called YakAss.net featuring Josh Holmes. Following his site, I thought it would be incredible to incorporate sailing with fishing. So I gave it a try and outfitted my Revo into a sail-fishing kayak.

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Four months later after adding the sail, I realized a crack on my hull where the sail mast tube was mounted. I took pictures, emailed them to Kelly at P&P and under the great service plan of Hobie, they would replace my Revo under warranty. I just had to wait a month until my new 2011 replacement would arrive. With the Aquahunters Makahiki tournament ending at the end of September, I started thinking about purchasing a new kayak and just selling the replacement kayak without using it at a discounted price on Craigslist. I was leaning towards getting the AI by Hobie. But on the last few days of the Makahiki tournament, I realized that sailing was a novelty when it comes to kayak fishing. And after fishing with Shawn Zenor, a.k.a. "DriftingSon" who was very primative to his kayak fishing setup, I just wanted to go back to the basic roots of kayak fishing. Sailing is now not my main attraction... just catching fish and where I could store the fish (...well until all others make the change to the AI that I fish with). So I investigated the other Hobie options (also...I did not want to give up the mirage-drive system) and discovered that Hobie was redesigning the 2011 Oasis tandem model that would give me what I am looking for... SPACE! After reading the 2011 Oasis review on the HobieCat forum... I was definetly sold!

The timing could not be better as I found out that one of the Oasis was on the shipment that had my Revo on it. So I asked Kate about it with P&P and told her my plans that I was going to sell my Revo when I got it. She suggested to Kelly and asked if I could pay the full retail difference for the kayaks and swap out the new mirage and everything associated from the Oasis to the Revo so they could sell the 2011 Revo new. Everything fell into place and now I am a new owner of a 2011 Hobie Oasis.

For the last week, I've been making it fishing ready to my likings. My plans are to keep it basic as much as possible. I still plan on utilizing the Spring Creek Stabilizers and I look forward to her maiden voyage in the next couple of days.  For those who have been asking me to share more details on how I setup my Revo, I will continue to answer any questions you have about it in the future. I have taken the spare parts off the Revo hull, saving some of the plastic and now have a few backup parts. As for my trampoline, I probably will not have any use for it on the Oasis. Photos and stories to follow on the 2011 Hobie Oasis. Thanks for reading... Aloha! {mos_fb_discuss:5}