A lot of people who see Hobie kayaks for the first time wonder about how tiresome it might be to pedal a kayak around the water and some people just won't believe you that it's as easy as it is (which is understandable). Often the next question is 'can mount an electric motor onto it?' So even though I probably wouldn't use one myself - unless I had injured either of my legs that is - I know there's a market for a mounting solution for an electric motor onto a Hobie mirage kayak. Someone else thought so to, and went ahead and designed one, incorporating a Jarvis Marine Watersnake leccy motor (with 34 Lbs thrust) with a miragedrive well cassette plug. Ingenious!

I'd be very interested to see how it performs in any of the mirage model yaks. With 34lbs of thrust I imagine it'd tick along quite nicely, though I have no idea how it'd compare to the power of the Miragedrive. Apparently the unit has adjustable depth/draft and 5x forward and 3x reverse speeds. That would also make it an interesting proposal for a dedicated kayak angler craving the ability to go reverse on the fly.

The Jarvis Marine Watersnake leccy motor/Hobie mirage cassette kits are being put together by an engineer local to the Canberra area and are available at Wetspot Watersports, Fyshwick. The retail price is $599.