Hobie Revo 16 review?

[King Saba]

Originally Posted by cris

I can't speak to the Revo 16 but in my Oasis (15' tandem) I cruise at 3-3.5kt on flattish seas with the 180 standard fins on my own and can hit 5kt pedaling hard. Length makes a big difference.

That's what I've seen too. Got smoked by this guy in his adventure one time at Dana. Thanks.

Originally Posted by alanw

Looking up hull speed on Google for a basic calculation - square root of the boats waterline times 1.34 equals hull speed. So, a 12' boat has a hull speed of 4.64 knots (5.34 mph), and a 16' boat has a hull speed of 5.36 knots (6.17 mph). That's less than 3/4 of a knot difference.

That makes sense since I remember expecting to haul ass in my 16' boat but really only gained about 1/2 mph in easy cruising speed over my 12' boat. Sure I could get the 16' going faster than the 12', but the amount of work required made it unsustainable for long distance for me anyway. I seem to cruise at around 3 mph no matter what boat I'm in.

Good to know. I've been in wider kayaks before my Revo and, the width certainly plays a big role in speed IMO. 3/4kts may not seem like much but factor that in a 6 hour trip, and it can mean the difference between making back to the launch a hour earlier than planned. But yeah, I've read online too that top speed for a 12' yak vs. a 16' doesn't equate to too much gain even with intense effort. Still, a 2-3kt top speed gain is enough to convince me since my trips are usually on a time constraint.