SOLO SKIFF PROGRESS THREAD

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by NICKWORN

Just waiting on a few more folks to get their skiffs dialed in and become comfortable with the ride. It takes some getting used to riding with and against open water swells and wakes.

Whats the average SOG on one of these when you are cruising around?

[NICKWORN]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

Whats the average SOG on one of these when you are cruising around?

SOG as in soak?

Can i have place of origin?

Can you use that in a sentence?

LOL sorry felt like i was speaking spelling b lingo.

[YakDout]

Speed over ground


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[NICKWORN]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

Whats the average SOG on one of these when you are cruising around?

The fastest I've hit is 15mph, which was yesterday in Lake LJ.

[FISH11]

It was such an easy launch and landing with the small surf and a total blast being able to cover so much ground in just minutes. Even when the wind picked up for a couple hours after 11 am, moving around or trolling a live mac at engine idle and still going 1.8-2.1 mph. It was also the driest I have ever been compared to any of the kayaks I've used. Super fun! Incase you haven't guessed Nick, me and Bob (dsafety) went together yesterday, to LJ for the first surf launch on the Solo Skiffs, Bob in his Revo. One of the best parts, was coming in from the resrve boundry and going 6.5-8.5 mph and just riding in on top of a swell. It was almost like surfing it.

[NICKWORN]

And the first YT off the skiff out at the Jewel. It was a dink, but I'll take it! Thank to Fish11-Mark for the sick shots!

90ft the YT were boiling, i started throwing the colt sniper while dragging my Carolina and Flyline and the flyline went off, called a few yaks In but they sunk out quick as could be!

[JohnMckroidJr]

Originally Posted by NICKWORN

And the first YT off the skiff out at the Jewel. It was a dink, but I'll take it! Thank to Fish11-Mark for the sick shots!

90ft the YT were boiling, i started throwing the colt sniper while dragging my Carolina and Flyline and the flyline went off, called a few yaks In but they sunk out quick as could be!

Very cool, Congratulations! Now that the ice is broken, lets see some posts from the 9 mile bank!

[NICKWORN]

Originally Posted by JohnMckroidJr

Very cool, Congratulations! Now that the ice is broken, lets see some posts from the 9 mile bank!

Need a few buddies to get a custom to the skiff first, long ride, wanna have safety in numbers! Dont worry its coming!! I think OEX second batch of Skiffs is coming this week so more folks will be on board soon too!!

[FISH11]

Here's a video I put together of some of the gopro video I took of the first Solo Skiff surf launch at LJ. The surf is marginal as was forecast for most of last week, but that was also the day with less wind in the forecast. To me the higher wind is the thing that can make being out in deeper water less enjoyable. At least now I don't have to worry about fighting it while trying to make it back to shore at the end of the fishing day. This video doesn't have any fish porn (unfortunately), but hopefully that will change on coming trips. The Solo Skiff delivered everything I was hoping and more. It's SWEET and a BEAST

[FISH11]

I took the Solo Skiff for it's second surf launch at La Jolla Shores on 7-28-2020. As happens a lot the Magicseaweed forecast was not that accurate. The forecast had surf as 1.3'-1.7' with 5 seconds intervals (not good, on the intervals) and the wind at 7-9 mph. The real conditions looked more like 2.5'-3.5' with 5 seconds intervals and the wind was more like 10 mph. First thing I thought, was well this is more of a real test of surf launch conditions and not like a lake. Got ready waded into knee deep water with the Solo, started the engine, short warm up and scan the sets to find a break in the sets. Waited out the larger sets and got one leg up ready to jump on, as the last wave hits it moved the skiff, just enough that my right leg was no longer under me and I fell over. Caught myself with my right arm in 2' water but felt stupid for falling over and getting my sweatshirt a little wet on the right side. After the next set I jump on wait for the next waves to hit so the water is deeper and engage the outboard in gear. Checking the oncoming set I hold just enough throttle to keep a little forward momentum and accelerate when I see the wave break in front and then power on through the sets coming up. The video is unedited and was a much more realistic test of a surf launch. A lot of the same things I have learned on the kayak launches applied to the Solo Skiff launch. The huge difference is having engine power to hold a spot or accelerated through the surf. Neither my Hobie Revo 13 or any of my other paddle kayaks had that advantage and required all the power you could produce to make it through the KILL ZONE. The landing was super easy again because of the power. I was not able to get video because all my gopros battery were dead. As I got to the surf zone I see a couple guys on Hobies checking the sets and waiting for the right time to try and land. I see that there's a break in the sets and as the last wave in the set passes I gun the engine and power on, as I get to what is about 2' I pull the emergency kill switch cord to kill the engine and the slide off the Solo in 2' of water, reach back and tilt the engine, go to the bow grab the handle and allow the small surf to swing the Solo around so the bow is facing the surf. I walk to the rear handle and as the small rollers hit the Solo, it allows me to slide the Solo up the sand and out of the water. The fishing was not good, made plenty of bait and trolled from 6:45 til 12:30 but no bites and did not see any good marks on the FF. The swell rollers and wind made it very rough at times, but after testing the Solo Mission Bay with all the messed up water from boats and personal watercraft and outside the the jetty, yesterday was actually easier out there. The rough water made it impossible to see any fish boils and bird activity was almost non-existent.

[tak100]

Whew hoo! Mine finally arrived. Just a bit longer while they install the bait tank...

Can't wait to get this thing out on the water.

[NICKWORN]

Originally Posted by tak100

Whew hoo! Mine finally arrived. Just a bit longer while they install the bait tank...

Can't wait to get this thing out on the water.

Did you request the switch for bait tank to be on the side of the hatch, if not i would. Your heel will hit it every time u go to reach for the bait, trust me.

[NICKWORN]

Mark-

You riding your motor on the 4th tab here?

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by NICKWORN

Mark-

You riding your motor on the 4th tab here?

Yes, I tried the 3rd from the front on 2 trips to Mission Bay and found the bow was not raising enough for a good plane and had the bow catch a boat wake a couple times and it made the Solo over react to the steering and once it made a scary u-turn. The 3rd trip I set the engine trim pin in the 4th hole from the front and that was a huge improvement. Any more and the engine will hit the hull if turning the engine fully. 4th hole is the bomb from what I found.

[FISH11]

In the last launch video once I got past the surf and I accelerated, I kept the speed down to under 10 mph mostly 9 mph just because of being inside the reserve.

[FISH11]

Originally Posted by tak100

Whew hoo! Mine finally arrived. Just a bit longer while they install the bait tank...

Can't wait to get this thing out on the water.

Congratulations! The long agonizing wait is about over. Now comes the learning curve to get used to how it handles and learning that it's more stable then you think at the start, due to the high riding position. Have fun and see you out there.

[tak100]

Originally Posted by NICKWORN

Did you request the switch for bait tank to be on the side of the hatch, if not i would. Your heel will hit it every time u go to reach for the bait, trust me.

Yes, I asked them to install on the left side. I figured it would be out of they way over there.

[FISH11]

Here's a short video of surf landing my Solo Skiff at La Jolla on 8-3-2020. The surf was very small so it was not much of a challenge and didn't need to time the sets. The process is still the same but normally I slide of the Solo at 2'-3' and don't end up as far up the sand as this time. It made it harder to turn the skiff around to due to the receding water and the Solo dragging on the sand. Something messed up on the upload to utube, so I fixed the problem and re-uploaded the video. this should be OK, now.

[NICKWORN]

Damn baby surf! Gotta love those days coming in. Did you just leave the engine in gear and allow the sand to push motor up? Im always worried something is going to ding the lower unit if i let it push off the ground.

[FISH11]

Yes, the engine still in forward gear but pulled emergency leash to kill motor in I guess about 3'-4' of water, that way it's not running and if it hits sand before I can reach back and tilt it up, the engine prop won't get scratched up or suck any sand into the cooling system. That time the surf was so small, that I didn't need to Gun it as much as I did. That's why I ended up almost out of the water and it made it harder to spin the Solo around. Still trying to get used to that. Last week in larger surf it just flew over the set in front of me but I slid off in 2.5' of water, it was perfect.