kayak fishing question

[johnsmith7724]

Hi,
was going to add this to the kayak form but it does not appear that I get the new topic button in that form. So thought I would post it here. I have been spending a kind of miserable summer without a boat this year and very limited fishing access (pretty much nothing but a few times out in the spring for crappie). I was given the opportunity to rent a fishing kayak for a week. I reserved a hobie pro agler 12 from Jenda paddle sports (anyone have some expereince renting fromt them). I did not notice til later that it appears to be very heavy. Reading the spec is like 100 lbs. Does anyone have any tips on how someone could load such a think on the top of there car alone (I beleive they will be giving me the standard car top kit which I believe are the foam thingies. I drive a toyota corrolla so the top of the car is not so high but then again it is a sedan which makes sliding it from the back more difficult.

Thanks in advance. Regards, John

[CDF]

Hi John...my thoughts on this...
The Hobie pro-anglers are great, but they are heavy. At 100lbs - in my view, you basically need two people to load on top of your car (even this can be a challenge), and depending on where you plan to fish, finding that second person to help out might not be the case. The alternative for that particular type of kayak is to load it onto a kayak trailer, but having to rent/purchase is an added expense, plus you will need a hitch (if your vehicle doesn't already have one). Personally, I think the hobie pro anglers are actually designed to be transported by trailers and not roof tops.

I myself have a Wilderness Ride 135 - it weighs about 75lbs empty (~80lbs with the seat). I can't load it myself on my minivan as it is too heavy and the van is too high. I have an old '95 accord which I use to transport the yak with. I basically drop the front end on the hood from the side of the car (hood has a few dents on it, but I'm ok with that as it is an old car), then I lift the back end and swing the yak sideways on to the thule roof racks. I used to put a PFD jacket or old pillow on the rooftop just where the kayak front end was going to be dropped so as to prevent scratching, etc., but since the car is old, and I don't care anymore, I stopped doing this. I unload the yak by reversing these steps. I can do this with the old accord, but not the minivan - so I'm keeping an eye out for yak trailer at a good price...

A suggestion you might want to consider is to rent a lighter kayak, such as a Ocean Kayak Prowler (weight is 53lbs) or something similar to this. Kayaks at these weights are more manageable by one person. Not as decked out as the hobie, but at least you can get on the water by yourself...

Hope this helps,
Cdf

[scarkner]

I used to load a very heavy canoe onto my car (a Coleman RAM-X). Originally I had the foam car-top carrier, but they were a pain and didn't help with the loading. I bought a regular set of roof racks with the metal bars and mounted it so it hung out over the driver side about 8 inches. This helped a lot, I could put the tip of the canoe on one of the roof racks, then pickup the end and slide it onto the top of the car. The roof-racks had pool-noodles on them to provide some cushioning so the canoe slid easily and didn't get scratched up by the metal racks, and the whole thing took about a minute to load.

You can probably pickup an old set of roof racks pretty easily for this. I just checked kijiji in Ottawa, there is a page of old-style racks for between 10 and 50 dollars.

Just watch your head getting in and out of the drivers side, I hit my head more times than i can count on them!!!!

[rex.stpierre]

Mine is an 80 pounder...The thing is unbearable to haul around, but my gf got me frustrated once, I grabbed it with the two edges by my seat and lifted it clear over my head in one swoop...Now I just do that every time. Hauling it around by the awkward handles is not representative of its actual weight cause kayaks are long and awkward.

My gfs kayak is 60lbs and after a day on the river, its also unbearable to bring to car but easy to throw on top.

If you have J-racks, once the kayak is on top, you can just throw it in the racks...

But if you have foams, then it's going to be tricky. Asking for help seems like a good way to dent your car.

[snapper]

Heres my loading rack, simple to make, it works for me

[rex.stpierre]

Very nice snapper, perfect for any car! You will not find a better solution than that.

[smitty55]

Nice rig snapper. Simple and functional always works for me.
As of this summer there is a home just outside Carleton Place advertising custom made and kayak trailers. They look nice as I drive by, but I haven't taken a close look. If anyone is interested I can get some info and prices or at least a phone no. for you. Let me know. Cheers