Hobie Mirage Tandem On a cat?

[LeeV]

Has anybody carried, or seen somebody carry a Hobie Mirage Tandem sailing tri aboard a cat? It folds up and comes in under 200lbs and would be a great water toy.

Regards,

[Bean Counter]

We have had a Hobie Outback pedal kayak, stored along the lifelines and a Hobie Bravo hung from the Davits in lieu of RIB (bolted a 2 HP on a bracket and used it as a dinghy as well). Mast with wrapped sail in a UV sock lies along the deck. This was aboard a 38 ft cat. The Mirage Tandem is quite long but I would say do-able if you want to take it all apart each time. If it clutters the deck could make up brackets so it can sit outside the life lines.

[LeeV]

Thanks for that. I don’t have the specs to compare lengths but will find them. We’re looking at a cat between 40 and 45’, so I’m thinking it’ll work.

Regards,

[sailorcherry]

Not on a cat but a mono. Pretty sure we're the only boat out there who is doing it. I will pm ya.

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by sailorcherry

Not on a cat but a mono. Pretty sure we're the only boat out there who is doing it. I will pm ya.

Great; I look forward to seeing a photo!

Thanks!

[mikereed100]

We have a mirage tandem, not the trimaran, and love it. We use it almost daily for exploring and visiting. Nothing like silently pedaling through the mangroves at 4 knots. We find that it is easy to just haul it up on the side deck after removing the seats and pedals.

The tri will me more of a challenge at 18.5 feet and 4' wide. Do you think you would use the sailing rig a lot? Most cruisers with sailing dinghys/kayak aboard, ourselves included, rarely use them as they require a certain amount of effort to rig. If you find a cat with (very) wide side decks it should be doable, though. Keep in mind that you will not be able to open the deck hatches on that side and/or see out the salon windows while the kayak is on board.

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by mikereed100

We have a mirage tandem, not the trimaran, and love it. We use it almost daily for exploring and visiting. Nothing like silently pedaling through the mangroves at 4 knots. We find that it is easy to just haul it up on the side deck after removing the seats and pedals. The tri will me more of a challenge at 18.5 feet and with folding amas, but if you find a cat with wide side decks it should be doable. keep in mind that you will not be able to open the deck hatches on that side while the kayak is on board.

Nice. I just saw a cat the other day with hook-like brackets with very long kayaks but they were outboard of the lifelines. Not sure how they’d do offshore, though.

[catsketcher]

We really liked taking our two sea kayaks with us last cruise - mine is 5.8 metres long. Our boat has an aft deck where the dinghy sits and at sea the kayaks can sit on top of the dinghy. For mucking around in lighter winds the kayaks can stay along the guardrails.

If you could go something smaller than the Mirage it would be easier to stow. Our kayaks were fun as they were launchable less than a minute after I wanted to use them. As they are fine to lift on your own, I could have a quick paddle on my own, or go with my wife. Exercise is sadly a little hard to find sometimes when cruising and we enjoyed the ability to get some exercise when there were no tracks on shore.

Another reason not to go the trimaran is that we found most of our paddling was done in clam anchorages and then exploring up mangrove creeks or small rivers that we could not access in the boat. So consider something that allows you to see something different than what you see from the deck of the cat. We often were exploring up creeks so small we had to push with hands and a tri would have stopped us from exploring half of the places we liked.

In the one attached photo (kankama Tongue Bay) you can see the dinghy on the aft deck. The dinghy is flat on top and we can store both kayaks back here when it blows. My kayak is stored along the inside of the rails as it is a calm and light day.

On the second photo, we are heading into a nice 15-18 knot breeze for the day and the kayaks are tied on top of the dinghy. They are low windage and safe from any problems (kite sheets have been an issue with them up front)

cheers

Phil

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by LeeV

Nice. I just saw a cat the other day with hook-like brackets with very long kayaks but they were outboard of the lifelines. Not sure how they’d do offshore, though.

Right, I have done this when coastal cruising, but would not want any toys on the outside of the lifelines offshore.

A note on the Mirage, leaving the sailing rig aside for the moment. It really is a revolution in kayak design. We had a tandem kayak for the past 8 years and liked it, especially for beach landings and poking around in mangroves and caves. But the mirage is something else altogether. We can chug along at 3.5 knots all day with almost no effort which has really expanded our "paddling" or rather "pedaling" range. We think nothing of a 6 mile round trip whereas with the paddle kayak 1 or 2 miles was an effort. If you want a little cardio, which is often difficult while cruising, just push a little harder. Now you are cruising at 4.5 to 5 knots and feeling like you are getting some exercise. In addition, the thing is silent with no splashing paddles so it's easier to creep up on wildlife and your hands are free to play with cameras and binoculars, not to mention the cup holders, one size that can hold a beer bottle and another that can hold a margarita glass.

[LeeV]

All great notes, and it's nice to hear, Mike, that it can be enjoyed just paddling.

Nice Chamberlin, Phil. Always liked the lines on the boats from that area. Wished Jeff and/or his brother could have had an office in the US! ;-)

Thanks, all, for the great notes. We're thinking that when our trimaran sells we can have fun getting to know the T.I. until we have our cat. Now to find one.....