Here’s a quick look at the reverse function of the Hobie 180 Mirage Drive. Basically you reach down and pull a lever and the flipper fins flip backwards, and then you can pedal in reverse.
It’s a cool mechanism, but I’m not sure how much it makes sense for our application. For me reverse is most useful when you’re about to crash into something, and even though the video shows me easily operating the mechanism with one hand, that’s just because we shot it sitting next to the dock. When I was actually pedaling and moving forward, it took a very hard pull with both hands to reverse the fins against the force of the water flowing over them. Effectively this means that you’re not gonna be doing any rapid evasive maneuvers.
Moving in reverse I found that it was very hard to keep directional control with my current rudder set up, which is why I have it kicked up here and I’m using the paddle. This could probably be improved.
I will keep playing with it, but I think for my uses the standard drive which costs a few hundred dollars less probably makes more sense. It’s just quicker to deploy the paddle and there’s less parts to break. I’m glad to have both of them though because I’m imagining that when I get the second canoe built and I catamaran these together, I should be able to flip one drive in reverse, and spin the catamaran on a dime!
By the way, if you’re wondering why we usually have music it’s because our filming spot is under a highway. So I decided to leave the sound natural this time for everyone who keeps telling me that it would sound better!
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