Retrofitting Mirage Drives

[Huntrava]

Has anyone had any luck retrofitting new Mirage Drives into any of the old Hobie models? I'm now two generations behind Hobie's technology, and while I'd *love* to upgrade to a Mirage Drive 360--or heck, even Mirage Drive 180--I haven't seen anything online explicitly saying whether that's possible. On top of that, I really, really like my existing Hobie, and wouldn't consider buying a new one just for those changes.

A while back there was a guy doing Mirage Drive 180 conversions--taking the standard Mirage Drive and converting to a Mirage Drive 180 with official off-the-shelf Hobie parts--but I think he was told to cut it out.

Anyone have any experience on this topic?

[Yakmac]

I have the same dilemma,I think I saw a guy retrofit one on YouTube. It didn’t look to difficult but if you mess it up you may not have a drive at all. Buying a new 180 drive for $900 dollars is out of the question and the new 360 drive only fits in that boat.

[ronaultmtd]

I have seen so many “You tube” fixes of broken 180 drives that I am very happy with my Hobie “legacy” GT drives...boring, dependable, reliable drive...never have had a single issue in eight years of use...

[Mark]

Cross my fingers, my 180 has performed reliably for 2 years.

I did once disassemble my original pre GT and pre 180 drive on my 2012 Revo to repair a cracked spline that I caused by overtightening a set screw. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to put it back together properly. But I did. I took photos of every step along the way and labeled the parts. Thank goodness for digital photography.

I presented a kayak fishing class at the FSFF clubhouse yesterday. I held up my 180 and informed the students that the drive alone cost as much as the Ultimate 12 kayak I had on display in the classroom. I think I convinced a lot the students to stick with paddle kayaks.

[ronaultmtd]

If you had a 360 drive to hold up you could have said four kayaks...

[Mark]

If you had a 360 drive to hold up you could have said four kayaks...

[Yak67]

+1 Mark

Funny But true Ron

Yak67
2017 Hobie PA-12 Camo
2019 Hobie Outback

[mchottie]

I thought the only one that was not backwards compatible was the new 360?

Everything else was just the 'mounts' change now they lock to the hull. Or so I thought.. I could be wrong...

[Huntrava]

Found the answer.

In a nutshell, MD-180s are backward compatible with old models, MD-360s aren't.