re: The Official Kayak Thread

cmon baw. Can’t judge it on today’s conditions

I've never done well there, but almost all those times have been with crappy weather. I refuse to tamper my hatred though

No we went over 2 miles from the launch before even making a first cast.

East. I had rented a Compass for the weekend, had I been in my Cuda I wouldn't have gone that far.

Boo! Lol. I still want to demo the Jackson. I know I won't buy it, but I'm hoping they put that drive in another kayak with more room.

I'll try not to screw this up again.

Thoughts on the Compass...

I'll be upgrading to something pedal driven in the spring and aside from a PA12 with the 180 drive, the Compass is the only pedal-driven kayak I've tried. I also want to check out the Outback, Cruise FD, and Slayer Propel 13 before pulling the trigger. I fished PAC on Saturday and Cypremort Point on Sunday with it.

First, I loved the open layout, tons of flat space. The rear tankwell is pretty large but even still my crate/fish bag both wouldn't fit in the rear so I put my AO36 sitting on the front nose but it was too big to be my permanent solution if I get one. The front section was narrower than I expected so I think one of the Hobie bags or even one of the triangular shaped Native bags would work best mounted on the front. I did like the no-frills, add what you want concept, and aside from the drive there's not really much to snag a line on. As far as the seat goes, it was decently comfortable, I'd say not as good as the Native seat from my Slayer, but better than the seat in my Cuda. It's not height adjustable which isn't a huge deal breaker to me, I'd never use my seat up high in either of my paddle kayaks but I think I'd still like to see it about 1" higher up. I saw people online complaining about the seat wanting to move when you push the drive but didn't find that at all, and I made sure to watch for it as it was a concern.

It feels quick and quiet, faster than the PA12 I had used before. It was dead even with my buddy's 2015 Outback with turbo fins, I'd imagine putting a set of turbo fins on the Compass and it would pull away. I think I was able to get it up over 4mph and a comfortable pace was around 3mph. The pointed front seemed to get rid of the hull slap that the Outback had. Sunday at Cypremort Point had 30mph winds and a 12"-18" chop in some areas and I found the ride to be wet, or atleast moreso than I recall my Slayer or Cuda being. A few times the front had ~6" of water come over, enough to get my arse wet, had it not been for waterproof pants I'd have had to go in. I don't find myself in open waters very often and never once felt in danger but it is something to keep in mind, I wouldn't want to cross much open water in the cold.

It's very stable, standing and fishing will be no problem, I stood in conditions confidently that would have been questionable in the Cuda or Slayer. Paddling and poling standing wasn't bad either, we didn't dedicate any time to sight casting but I did it for a few minutes with no issues or complaints. Paddled it for about 100 yards or so and didn't see any issue with having to paddle it in the rare occurrences that you'd have to do so.

It comes with the old-style(G2?) forward-only drive, I'm still undecided if the lack of reverse is a dealbreaker or not. It's no big deal in open water but there was a couple times in PAC where the lack of reverse forced me to break out the paddle. Though I'd blame a couple of those instances on not being familiar with how to maneuver, and the fact that the rudder cables were backwards, right = left, left = right. This apparently is not supposed to be that way and I guess was incorrectly installed at the factory. Even still it mindfricked me all day on Saturday. When I used the PA with the 180 I didn't really care for it much, it felt clunky when switching from forward to reverse, wasn't hands free, and there was a couple times when engaging one direction to the other the drive wouldn't lock in all the way and was still in the wrong direction.

It's light too, with only the seat in it it was just as easy to handle as my Cuda 14, maybe even a little easier since it was 2' shorter. This is a big factor for me, and might be the thing I appreciate most, on some tournaments I load/unload 2-3 times a day and do plan to roof rack it sometimes on a lifted F250.



TLDR Version: I like the Compass

quote:

---

It comes with the old-style(G2?) forward-only drive,

---

Was looking at the blue one at P&P when I picked up my drive, its a good looking boat with nice options but it just baffles me why Hobie wouldn't just go universal with the 180 drive on all their yaks??

Having reverse has got me out of a lot of bad spots and saved me more than once, not having on a boat is a deal breaker for me

They say it's to cut cost and keep it under $2000. I they're scared putting the 180 in it would make the Outback obsolete.

quote:

---

Outback

---

does it come with the 180?
I haven't seen them side by side so don't know whats different bout those boats?