Going Minimalist

I finally came up with a rig that works for two of us and gets decent gas mileage. I can carry up to two paddleboards on the locking Thule racks on the Veloster and the Hobie Tandem Mirage Outfitter on the Yakima Rack and Roll trailer. With big paddleboard on top and the cargo box on the trailer loaded with gear, I managed a 24-25 average mpg on the backroads to Panama City Beach. I like traveling light and this rig forces you to do that. The next thing on my list of things to try is an inflatable paddleboard. I'm hoping to try one without buying it first.

I assembled the trailer from a kit that I got from rackwarehouse.com and it really only took a few hours. The parts are of very good quality and it seems a lot of thought went into the engineering of the trailer...I sure hope so because of the high price. There really isn't much else like this for a small car that is not built for pulling a trailer. The only difference I really noticed in my Veloster was that I really needed to prepare for sudden stops. Even with the light weight, it took a bit more time for me to stop.

The Hobie Tandem was a decision we came to when we realized that there were times when Pam didn't have the energy to pedal and I could keep going. It's great, we don't yell too much at each other while out on the water. One cool thing about this kayak is that you can steer from the front OR the back, so I let Pam do the steering and I make sure that the pedaling gets done. The boat is significantly faster with two of us pedaling than me by myself paddling my old Hurricane kayak. We had no problem at all yesterday pedaling against the outgoing tide. The one thing I would have done differently is there is another model called the Adventure that is two feet longer and has a slightly different shape...same price. On ours, there is very little room to bring anything along, even lifejackets. On the other hand, I did want to travel light, and now I have to. The Hobie came from Travel Country and those guys are great for support and tips on fishing from Hobie kayaks.