Hobie/Lowrance fishing “kayak” & Simrad TripIntel

Ben Ellison

Ben Ellison

Panbo editor, publisher & chief bottlewasher from 4/2005 until 8/2018, and now pleased to have Ben Stein as a very able publisher, webmaster, and editing colleague. Please don't regard him as an "expert"; he's getting quite old and thinks that "fadiddling fumble-putz" is a more accurate description.

4 Responses

  1. Karl says:

    I’m not ready to spend $3500 for a kayak, then add electronics. Looks too heavy to be lifted onto a pilothouse roof by another old geezer, either.
    Also, kayakers should do whatever they can to increase visibility, like an orange flag on a light-weight fiberglass mast.
    We have had two local fatalities, the result of kayaks being run-over by power boats…in both cases, the kayaks were further offshore than where they would be expected, and the boaters were more obsessed with watching their down-riggers than what was in front of them, in one case, running auto-pilot.

  2. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    Karl, in Maine the fishermen often call the sea kayakers “speed bumps”! But I’d like to think they’re kidding, and I don’t recall a fatality though there are lots of cruising kayakers and fog in the summer. You can paddle and camp on islands all the way from Portland to Cutler thanks to the wonderful Maine Island Trail Association:
    http://mita.org/
    Come to think of it, a Pro Angler or one of its many Mirage drive relatives might be a great boat for camp cruising Maine. Orange flag and radar reflector would be easy to rig, you’d have room for loads of food and gear, and I swear that pedaling is easier than paddling, though you could do both. The Torqeedo motor and solar panels are also an option.
    It’s true that the Mirage series are neither light nor inexpensive, but they are not really kayaks anyway. Lots of folks transport them with pickup trucks but a small trailer is really the way to go. So I think that all-up cost of a well tricked out fishing kayak (but without electric drive) can be in the $7,000 range. But, damn, I just saw a really nice radar at that price, and it’s useless without a compatible and hopefully large MFD or two.

  3. Butch Davis says:

    At the Mobile, Alabama Boat Show this PM I visited the Hobie display and spoke with the staff. I then went outside to test drive one in the small pool set up for that purpose. Great fun, plus I was told that Motor Guide was now making a small trolling motor to serve in much the same way as the Torqueedo for much less cost.

  4. Ben Ellison Ben Ellison says:

    Thanks, Butch, that’s interesting. Lucas Stewart would probably prefer the MotorGuide as they tend to be much quieter. But the futuristic aspect is that larger MotorGuide trolling motors can already deeply integrate with Lowrance MFD’s, as I saw a year ago:
    https://panbo.com/archives/2015/02/lowrance_motorguide_xi5_smartsteer_trolling_control_life_changing.html
    So how about a “fishing kayak” with not only with advanced autopilot functions but also station keeping regardless of wind and current, sort of like a new multi-million dollar yacht with dual IPS or Zeus drives?

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