Hobie Mirage Revolution 13

I owned one of these kayaks for a short while. It wasn't for me.

First, it was about the slowest kayaks I have ever owned. The Mirage drive is nice for the hands-free aspect, but not great for efficiency. Also, the Revo 13 is a heavy boat, and there have been many problems with hull cracks.

I did hear that it handled poorly without the rudder and paddled terribly. I did not see this. Handling with the rudder up was OK, and it paddled about as well as I would expect for a boat with these dimensions.

Stability is fine. Surf handling is mediocre.

My rating overall would be good, but not great, at least for the way I fish.

This is an awesome fishing kayak for salt or freshwater. I can troll all day hands free thanks to the Mirage drive and you have plenty of speed to get out past the breakers on a surf launch. The rear deck offers plenty of room for all of my gear and fish. The gunwales may not be as wide as an Outback, but I can still mount my Scotty mount for my rod holder. The mast mount is an excellent place to mount a fish finder as well.

There are a couple upgrades that I would recommend though. The sailing rudder makes turning this so much easier. The turbo fins are also a great addition.

My first fishing kayak was the Ocean Kayak Scrambler back in 2007 which I purchased used for $200, which was a nice introductory fishing kayak. My first experience kayak fishing was from an Ocean Kayak Prowler 15 which prompted me to get into kayak fishing :-) That was a nice, but expensive kayak. I started saving my $$ to get one of those. But as time went by, I started seeing how popular the Hobies were becoming for hands free kayak fishing. I changed my goals to save up for one of them. I started reading review after review, trying to decide on the Outback or Revolution. The Outback came out with a Hank Parker Edition, seemed was nice. After reading reviews, I decided on the Hobie Revolution. In 2010, I purchased a demo model 2009 Revo, outfitted with the fishing and navigation package all for $1800 from my friends at OEX Oceanside Kayak and Dice shop!! They brought it over to Phoenix when they were slected to host a kayak fishing clinic at our First Annual Paddle Fest here in AZ (2010). My kayak was the model for that seminar. I new I was going to love it, once I sat my butt in it! Hands free kayak fishing! I fished quite a few lakes since then, from cathcing stripers in Lake Powell, to trout in Parker Canyon Lake near the Vineyards of Southern Arizona. I have never had any problems with my kayak and love all the features, from the good amount of storage both up front and rear, the speed and steering outfitted with turbo fins and bigger sized sailing rudder.

Today (2/12/2012) I purchased a 2010 Red Revo for the lady in my life for $1300. Now she can keep up with me and will not get tired on those distant fishing spots. I will have to get some turbo fins and a sailing rudder, but she has always wanted one after trying mine out. She calls it a Dude Magnet, because everywhere I have taken mine, guys would always come over to check it out and ask how I like it.

You know my answer :-)

When I was looking for reviews on this kayak, I couldn’t find what I needed pertaining to the style of fishing I do so I am writing a detailed review for shallow water salt marsh fishing on the gulf coast.

I’d been considering a peddle kayak for some time now and had narrowed it down to the Hobies because of the ability to tuck the fins flat against the hull when shallow. The Pro Angler is too big for me as a 5’5” female, the Outback too slow and so the Revolution 13’ it was. Earlier this year I test drove a Revo 13 in deep water but I am a marsh rat and if it isn’t useful in the super shallow marshy stuff then it’s not for me. I needed to take a Revo shallow first before I committed. Well, about a month ago, I won one in a kayak tournament! After several delays, I finally got a chance to add a little rigging and get it out on the water. It did not come with an anchor trolley so that was the first addition.

The stock paddle that comes with the Revo isn’t a great paddle, a little heavy, but its decent and functional enough. I don’t care for the black blades since they do nothing to aid visibility of the kayak on the water but the paddle does feather one setting each direction so thas good. It also came factory set up with a bungee paddle keeper on each side so I use one for the stake out stick anchor. The bungee paddle keepers aren’t going to be easy to switch out to paddle clips if you are so inclined because of the way they are mounted but they are sturdy and wont be breaking any time soon.

The Mirage drive is VERY easy to pop in and out, couldn’t be easier really. I leave it out until I actually launch the kayak and then pop it in because I launch into deep water off my dock. When launching in shallow water you are going to have to put the drive in first and use two people or a cart because the fins need to be straight down to get through the scupper in the floor of the yak (I wouldn’t try sliding the kayak on the bottom because you will catch the fins.) Either that or launch and paddle out deeper and then pop the drive in. I realized that this would also work in reverse for taking the drive out if you get too shallow. I wont be able to get the drive out if I am already grounded and will have to back up into deep enough water to get the fins vertical under the kayak. Fortunately it doesn’t look like this will be an issue often, maybe only rarely. I can see the fins under the kayak being a problem for hanging up feisty redfish that like to dive under the kayak. I didn’t have any bad wrecks in the 8 reds I brought to hand on the maiden voyage but it will happen eventually.

The storage seems to be adequate. The front hatch is big enough to store the mirage drive if you have to take it out while on the water. I do like the hatch right in front of the seat and thought I would use the specially made round tackle box provided by Hobie that fits right into the hatch but what I found instead is that I preferred to use it for things I wanted to keep in easy reach like my dry box with phone, camera, etc. I traditionally have used a short milk crate in the tankwell behind me for my small tackle box, stringer, lunch, and a few other odds and ends but I am used to having my dry box at hand. I ended up putting the dry box, lunch, scupper plug for the mirage drive hole (in case I needed to take the drive out), rain jacket and a few other things in that tackle box hatch which means the tackle box was in the way. I might have to come up with a better system but I can still forsee using that center hatch for things other than tackle which makes the round tackle box that fits in there useless for me. I do like the netted “nooks” on each side of the hull for waterproof camera, sunblock, etc. Those were very useful but I can see them being treble hook magnets so the jury is still out on those.

I do not like the factory molded rod holders but then I rarely like factory mounted ones on any kayak. The ones on the Revo are too far back to be useful for me. I prefer to mount a couple of rod holders on my milk crate and have my rods (2) right behind my left shoulder vertically so that I don’t catch them on a backcast. Plus I like having the reels higher up away from the water since I fish salt. Since I don’t troll or fish offshore I don’t forsee using those factory holders. Its possible to make a pvc rod rack of sorts to fit in them though. What I have found that I was wanting is a vertical short rod holder right where the cup holder is. When peddling, I want my rod right there at my right hand but I dont really want to be hanging onto it all the time. I may try to find a way to mount a short rod holder vertically down in that cup holder. This will render the cupholder useless but I don’t use those anyway. Even though you will have to put your rod behind you when paddling, that rod holder still needs to be short or you will bang into it on your paddle stroke.

As for comfort, its ok. The seat that came with mine (not sure if it’s the standard Revo seat) was adequate although I found myself squirming around after a few hours. When shallow and needing to paddle, I thought the mirage drive would be in the way since one peddle has to be all the way forward and one all the way back but its not bad, there is still room for my legs and knees to be comfortable. The product reps will tell you to “feather” your peddle stroke when shallow, meaning to take little half peddles with your legs so that the fins aren’t going all the way vertical. What I’ve found is that yeah, this works but its annoying and slow so I just end up paddling when too shallow to make full peddle strokes.

As to how it did in the really shallow stuff, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought that perhaps even with the fins tucked up as far as they would go up against the hull that the inch or so that the mirage drive sticks down would be inhibiting. I purposely took my maiden voyage around a very familiar 8-mile loop that I have traditionally made in my Ultimate. There are many spots where I am shallow enough to rub the hull along the bottom. I found though, that the Revo does fine. Sure I have to paddle quite a bit but thats expected. I do rub in some of the same spots as with the ultimate but I don’t think I rub much more, maybe a hair. I think I lost maybe a half inch of draft with the Revo which is acceptable for me. Now what I haven’t done yet is take it in many oysters. I know they will tear up the fins and Im not ready for that yet. An added bonus when peddling is that it is very quiet.

When the rudder is up, it has a tendency to wind cock pretty strongly. The rudder is short enough that it can be down most of the time when shallow although you may not be able to lock it down. I did have to put it up part of the time and was a little bit frustrated at the way the wind likes to catch the stern. I am used to paddling a rudderless ultimate and the Revo seemed worse than the ultimate in the wind with the rudder up, rudder down it did just fine and it turns very responsively with use of the rudder.

All in all, now I can say that I would buy one and may end up getting one for my husband. I loved peddling down my canal and out into the bayou to the mouth of the marsh, a journey of a mile and a half that is always slow and irritating to paddle. I could finish my morning coffee since I had at least one hand to use (the other was on the rudder control). There are many occasions when the fishable marsh is a paddle of some distance though deeper water. This Revo will make it so much easier!

Sorry this is ridiculously long but I wanted to be detailed. Take it for what its worth. Hopefully this info will be of aid to someone who is on the fence like I was.

First of all you should unwrap the sail by releasing the mast Bungee and pull on the sail cord to expose the sail.
You should only use the mast bungee to wrap the sail back on to the mast, Got it?
If you do not know how to do something... First get educated/help about it! Good luck to you Have never had problems with my Hobie sailing or otherwise.

I have been using the Hobie Revolution since 2007 and it has always been a popular fishing kayak with myself and others. I pretty much wore that kayak out so it was time for a new one and I am even more impressed with the craft as the have fixed a few of the issues, and I am not sure they were issues more of areas that needed a bit of tweaking. the new up/down rudder system is a breeze that takes very little effort to make work. The new Mirage drive is amazing and now the drive never gets loose or moves. Even little things like the drive pedals always facing you instead of spinning are now addressed. I love it!

What can I say, it is the perfect blend of speed and stability and easy to outfit.

Tried all the Mirage Kayaks and it just seems that the revolution is the best of all worlds, it has speed, stability and is east to load.
Reviewer: Jeff from Waterbuty, CT

I bought this kayak last year from the local Hobie dealer. I've had it out on some small lakes, decent sized reservoirs and in saltwater. Overall, a great kayak in terms of stability, speed and versatility. There's been a bunch of times that it's been very windy and rough. Other paddle kayaks were making little headway, while the mirage drive on the Revo sliced through that wind with ease. When I did have some issues with the kayak, Hobie and the dealer got them squared away in record time. I can't say enough about the customer service of both. You have to be a little creative about rigging on the Revo. The side rails are fairly tight, but you can get most of what you need in there (fishfinder, rod holder, etc). I would not hesitate to get another Revo if I had to do it again; great kayak!
Reviewer: Yakn4fish from Kinnelon, NJ