It is all subjective as far as speed goes with the Outback. The Hobie Mirage drive is an outstanding design, and allows for some easy paddling. But the hull design of the Outback, while nice, wide and very stable, does not lend itself towards speediness. It is amazing how much of a practical lesson in physics a short, wide boat can give.
Of course, I didn’t purchase the boat to go fast on. I bought it because of its stability. A stable platform means that I can experiment and learn various things about moving around on a SOT kayak and not be overly concerned about a huli.
I clocked my speed over ground using my GPS the other day at about 5.5mph. This translates to about 4.8 knots. Not bad, considering I am out of shape, I was pushing against the current and the wind, and I am out of shape. Since I was measuring my speed over ground, and not how fast the boat was actually moving in the water, it is hard to judge. If I really wanted to get picky, I could probably pickup a pitot tube to figure out my speed in the water, but speed over land is actually more important.
To give myself a little mechanical bump in speed, I installed the ST Turbofin upgrade from Hobie on the Mirage drive. The standard fins on the Mirage drive are teardrop or blade shaped. The ST Turbo fins are shaped more like wings or airfoils, and are about 3 inches longer and larger overall. In addition, the ST fins have a rigid section in the middle of the vertical plane, which alters their hydrodynamics even more.
The upgrade should equate to more torque from the fins and an increase in speed.
Of course, I am still out of shape. Unfortunately I can’t fix that in 20 minutes like I did with the fin upgrade.
More soon,
M.Yng
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