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Geeking Out the Hobie Revolution Kayak

The addition of a fast multi-mode kayak to the Nomadness mothership has created the need for a level of system integration constrained by size, weight, and proximity to seawater. This article will track developments as the pedal/paddle/sail boatlet is turned into an environmental exploration probe.

Since this is not only a Hobie "Revolution" but also my ninth human-scale boat, it is naturally named Number Nine. (Youngsters: see this reference for the connection.)

© 2007 by Steven K. Roberts
Nomadic Research Labs

last updated: Oct 14, 2008

NOTE: An updated article section here on the Nomadness website will include a report on the new kayak... I sold my Revolution and bought an i12s inflatable, which was better suited to life aboard the sailboat. The following content is thus a bit dated, but still based on real information about the Hobie Revo (which I still recommend!).

It had to happen. My trimaran carries a dinghy that works just fine as dinghies go, but it's poky and ponderous... wonderful for paddling over to a fuel dock with tanks or on a provisioning run, but certainly not something that I would use for extended exploration of the waters near my anchorage. I like to see where I'm going, for one thing, and I also have a long-established fondness for pedal power.

I already had a kayak, of course... an Aire Sea Tiger named Bubba that has seen me through a number of adventures. This 19-foot inflatable is the most stable and comfortable kayak I've ever owned, and I even overlaid a trio of linked Pelican cases full of electronics to provide power, APRS tracking, packet communications, LED navlights, GPS, horn, and a few other features (article and photos here). So why not take this aboard the new tri instead of distracting myself with yet another new toy and associated geekification?

Well, it won't fit. The problem is that I have about 14 feet of "net" to play with between the crossbeams, and a kayak has to nestle there when not in use (and not be in the way when scampering to the bow, since the other side carries the tubby dinghy). So it was time to go shopping for something smaller and sleeker.

For years, Hobie has been refining their "Mirage Drive," a clever pedaling system that uses fins the way a penguin swims underwater. Hard-core human-powered boat racers still prefer props, but for most of us this is a beautiful system: minimal problems with fouling, easy fold-back against the hull for shallows, quick extraction for service or beaching, and smooth efficient operation. While the drives have been maturing, they have also been releasing a variety of hull forms, some "SUV-like" models optimized for fishing, others long and swift. Around the end of 2006, they responded to numerous requests for a hybrid by introducing the Revolution. I took delivery of mine in February '07, and included both the optional sail rig and the faster Turbo Fins.

The kayak-fishing community is active, and there are good forums online with lots of commentary from experienced users (KFS and Hobie, among others). I'm not going to attempt to summarize or replicate the excellent information that is available over there, where you can find good advice on fishfinders, maintenance, sealing, stowage, and more.

This article, instead, will capture the process of integrating a rather intensive suite of electronics into the kayak, turning it into an autonomous environmental probe with sufficient communications and power-generating capability to scratch a serious geek itch. I can't help it. Kayaking is already a simple and perfect activity, but it's even more fun with an overlay of gizmology for situation awareness and exploration capability. As this project progresses, I will add sections to this document, along with links to relevant resources (which open in new windows or tabs, depending on your browser configuration).

It appears that the major challenge here is one of packaging... there is not much room for user-interface goodies. Stay tuned... the project is just beginning, and includes some fun stuff: high-brightness LED navlights, 9 watts of LED bow flood, three video cameras with a head-mounted display and mini-DVR, an integral 95 watt-hour Li-Ion battery with smart charger and SMBUS monitor, 30 watt solar panel, APRS tracker, and a combo chartplotter/sounder. These involve interesting packaging challenges, given the proximity to (and occasional immersion in) salt water, so I'm approaching the project incrementally, with "infrastructure" and basic tools being established with maximum reliability before I consider integrating the the more esoteric Shacktopus capabilities that are dependent on software and custom PC board design. (Added note Mar 17, 2007... this is indeed now the plan; please see the Kayaktopus page for more details. This page will be devoted to mechanical and packaging modifications.)

The structure of this corner of the site is general short descriptions on this page, with auxiliary pages where appropriate for additional detail or images. I'll add items as they are completed, and will add an intermediate directory layer if it becomes justifiable.

1. GPS Datalogger

This is fairly trivial, and does not involve kayak-hacking at all, but is so useful that I want to include it here. I bought the wonderful little Lassen iQ FAT16 Datalogger from Spark Fun Electronics and packaged it in a waterproof SealLine Electronic Case. It went with me on the Nomadness maiden voyage (recording all the tracks linked from the articles page), and has spent lots of time in and around salt water without any problems. The four NiMH AA batteries are good for more than a full day of use, and the logger stuffs one fix per second, stripped to the essentials, into a file on an SD card. When I return from a jaunt, I plug this into a media reader attached to my Mac, copy the file into a KML template, and then open the result in Google Earth to get a pretty map of the journey (much nicer than the old-fashioned manual method I used previously). The maiden pedal-sailing voyage of Number Nine between Camano and Whidbey islands (with 10-15 knot westerlies) is displayed here. The unit clips easily to the deck rigging at the stern of the Revo kayak:

GPS Datalogger in waterproof case, collecting Google Earth track logs of the kayak trips. Green thing is a robust zip duffle, also part of the SealLine series from Cascade Designs. There is another photo of the datalogger that shows the innards a little more clearly.