Videos about loading a kayak on to a vehicle

[Twempie]

I've just replaced my ancient Yakima Saddles with their JayLow system. After a bit of post-purchase YouTubing to see what the internet intelligencia had to offer about my new purchase, my search has led to a tongue-in-cheek question (appealing to my warped sense of humour).

Have you ever noticed how all the videos on YouTube about loading any kayak on to a vehicle never include help about how to get the boat off the vehicle?

Well, I thought it was funny.

 

[CPS]

Watch the videos in reverse

 

[SWriverstone]

I'm an extreme outlier when it comes to loading/unloading my kayaks on a vehicle: I do it entirely alone, by hand! LOL

But seriously, I have two plastic boats that weigh 57 and 65lbs. I have cheap Amazon J-hooks on my Subaru, and here's how I do it:

Loading: I set the boat down next to the car; then, using my legs to lift the weight, I grab the front and rear edges of the cockpit rim and in one smooth, quick motion I do a "clean and jerk" (and with a small boost from my lower back muscles) life the kayak completely up over my head. Then I just lean forward and drop the boat into the J-hooks. This might sound scary and dangerous, but I've done it hundreds of times without injury and it works really well.

Unloading: This is easier: removing the tiedown straps, I walk around to the back of my Subaru, grab the boat and slide it rearward, tilting it down in the process. Then I grip the upper edge of the cockpit and continue sliding the kayak until the cockpit rim settles onto my shoulder (as I face to the rear, away from the car).

I'm 62 years old and fairly fit (though I'm far from being "muscle-bound"). The reason this continues to work for me is because I don't rely on brute strength to do it, but timing and leverage.

Eventually, I won't be able to do it anymore...and at that point, I'll probably have to fork out $,$$$ on a load-assist system. But for now, I'm happy to be able to do it manually. (And I'm also 3x faster than other folks who either need a friend to help or spend 10 minutes just getting the boat on or off the car.)

 

[Twempie]

I'm an extreme outlier when it comes to loading/unloading my kayaks on a vehicle: I do it entirely alone, by hand! LOL

But seriously, I have two plastic boats that weigh 57 and 65lbs. I have cheap Amazon J-hooks on my Subaru, and here's how I do it:

Loading: I set the boat down next to the car; then, using my legs to lift the weight, I grab the front and rear edges of the cockpit rim and in one smooth, quick motion I do a "clean and jerk" (and with a small boost from my lower back muscles) life the kayak completely up over my head. Then I just lean forward and drop the boat into the J-hooks. This might sound scary and dangerous, but I've done it hundreds of times without injury and it works really well.

Unloading: This is easier: removing the tiedown straps, I walk around to the back of my Subaru, grab the boat and slide it rearward, tilting it down in the process. Then I grip the upper edge of the cockpit and continue sliding the kayak until the cockpit rim settles onto my shoulder (as I face to the rear, away from the car).

I'm 62 years old and fairly fit (though I'm far from being "muscle-bound"). The reason this continues to work for me is because I don't rely on brute strength to do it, but timing and leverage.

Eventually, I won't be able to do it anymore...and at that point, I'll probably have to fork out $,$$$ on a load-assist system. But for now, I'm happy to be able to do it manually. (And I'm also 3x faster than other folks who either need a friend to help or spend 10 minutes just getting the boat on or off the car.)

I'm in the Solo-Paddle-in-my-Sixties-with-a-Subaru Club as well

I've just added to the fleet, a regular Looksha IV sister to my Looksha IV HV. There's about a 10-15 lb and a foot difference between the two (I think the HV is 65lb) - and I do notice it. Like you, still loading from the side of the vehicle, but still able to unload from the side... for now. But the question still remains, where are the unloading videos for newbies or even us old farts?

 

[SWriverstone]

I had to look up the Yakima JayLow to remind myself what those are? They look nice! Definitely easier to get a boat onto without the 6" high short end of normal J-hooks.

Most folks with sea kayaks carry them flat (cockpit up) on their vehicles. I've never done that. Years ago, Andy Bridge (who was a U.S. whitewater team boatbuilder and worked for Werner for a long time) told me that any kind of kayak should always be cartopped on its side—because the side of a kayak is structurally the strongest part of the boat (especially glass boats with seams), and cartopping them on their side results in zero hull deformation since no weight is on the hull.

This is certainly true of my plastic kayaks—I've had no oil-canning at all by carrying the boats on their sides.

 

[Mac50L]

I use a rack extender, a wooden one or a pole which goes into the rack tube and always fit it to the back rack.

Lift the aft end of the kayak on to the extender. Lift the rest of the kayak on to the front rack. Pull down and swing the aft end into its cradle.
Lifting is half the weight of the kayak. Pulling down on the bow to swing it in gives a lot longer bit of kayak rather than those Youtubes showing the extender on the front rack.

The racks shown here are "kayak on its side" type but the extender is on the back rack where it should be -

Unloading - untie and pull down on the bow to swing the stern on to the extender bar. Lift the forward end off the rack and on to the ground. Lift the aft end off the bar to the ground.

Tying down - I have bungies holding the kayak(s) to the rack. They stop kayak(s) being blown off if it is windy. The kayak(s) tied to the vehicle not the rack. An inverted V to each bow. Usually a straight tie-down to the tow-hitch at the aft end.
The bow lines got to loops under the vehicle as most vehicles have something like that or at the worst a bit of chassis to tie to.

The comment about on their sides or upright - the racks are about where the bulkheads are. Our kayaks are wood so they will not "oil-can", too strong for that.

 

[SWriverstone]

Thanks for that @Mac50L! I'd completely forgotten about rack extenders—now I'm happy that this could be a low-cost option to keep paddling when I'm no longer able to lift the boat myself. (Rather than fork out big bucks on a load-assist rack.)

Of course now the issue is that I just have the mediocre, flat, curved factory crossbars on my Subaru Forester...and I doubt any rack extenders would work with these? (I'll have to look around on Amazon.) But I've been thinking for a while I should bit the bullet and buy a good, strong pair of straight Yakima crossbars...

 

[Twempie]

I use a rack extender, a wooden one or a pole which goes into the rack tube and always fit it to the back rack.

Lift the aft end of the kayak on to the extender. Lift the rest of the kayak on to the front rack. Pull down and swing the aft end into its cradle.
Lifting is half the weight of the kayak. Pulling down on the bow to swing it in gives a lot longer bit of kayak rather than those Youtubes showing the extender on the front rack.

The racks shown here are "kayak on its side" type but the extender is on the back rack where it should be -

Unloading - untie and pull down on the bow to swing the stern on to the extender bar. Lift the forward end off the rack and on to the ground. Lift the aft end off the bar to the ground.

Tying down - I have bungies holding the kayak(s) to the rack. They stop kayak(s) being blown off if it is windy. The kayak(s) tied to the vehicle not the rack. An inverted V to each bow. Usually a straight tie-down to the tow-hitch at the aft end.
The bow lines got to loops under the vehicle as most vehicles have something like that or at the worst a bit of chassis to tie to.

The comment about on their sides or upright - the racks are about where the bulkheads are. Our kayaks are wood so they will not "oil-can", too strong for that.

I basically use the same technique, without rolling the bow of the (glass) kayak on the ground - I lift the kayak on to both crossbars (the bars are long enough to offer purchase) and roll/slide it on to the rack. I also have an old "sand dollar" extender that I've found useful sometimes, and may use that occasionally by loading on to one crossbar at a time - it depends on how the vehicle is parked.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

I also have an old "sand dollar" extender that I've found useful sometimes, and may use that occasionally by loading on to one crossbar at a time - it depends on how the vehicle is parked.

I had one of those Yakima extenders which slid into the round Yakima crossbar. I use standard hull-down cradles, not J-bar racks. When using the extender, the one end of thekayak is put into the cradle at an angle while the other end is supported by the extender. Whenever I lifted the kayak from the extender bar into the other cradle, the pivoting would cause the cradles to twist around the crossbars. No amount of tightening of the plastic clamps would prevent that. But the extender definitely 'saved my bacon' on a couple of occasions when I was dead-tired at the end of a solo paddle.

 

[cougarmeat]

Yakama had a simple system that might work for some. I tried it but it caused too much stress - for me, not the boat. But it might be just the ticket for some people.

Yakama's cross bars are tubular. They sold an insert that went into the front bar. It had kind of a daisy-shaped flange at the end. To load the boat, you'd pull out this insert - I think it locked with a twist - about a third of a meter (a little over a foot). You'd pick up the bow of your boat and put it on the extension, then go to the stern and lift it, placing it on whatever you had for a rear saddle. Then you'd return to the bow and lift it off the extension, placing it on the front kayak holder. Finally, you'd unlock the extension with a twist, push it back in the original crossbar, and twist/lock it there.

Reverse steps unloaded the boat. Pull out/lock the extension, lift the bow over to it, lift the stern off its holder and put it on the ground, go to the bow, lift it off the extension, and put it on the ground.

My stress was because I'd be about 17 feet back, at the stern of the kayak, looking at the bow resting on the extension, with a little daisy-shaped flange to keep it from sliding off should something go sideways. I'm sure it would be just fine. But all I could see was some mistake and the kayak bow dropping about 2 meters to the ground.

Now I have standard saddles up front and Hully rollers in the back. If my paddling partner is tall enough, and maybe I can stand on a curb or a little higher ground than the jeep, we lift the kayaks over the side. If not, to load, one person holds the stern at waist level, while I lift the bow onto the rollers. Once the bow is supported, we just lift and push the boat the rest of the way on.

If I do it myself, I'm still strong enough to lift the boat up to my head with three points of contact - head with two arms a little forward. I march the kayak to the rear of the Jeep (Humming the ~Bridge Over the River Kwai~ theme) and push it on.

If I wanted to retire in style, I'd start a business making/selling a beanie cap that has a little padding inside. You'd put that on before you lift the kayak to your head because the keel is ... "noticeable".

 

[Mac50L]

Of course now the issue is that I just have the mediocre, flat, curved factory crossbars on my Subaru Forester...and I doubt any rack extenders would work with these?

I'll take a photo of the wooden one later today.

On our Sabaru Forester, basically a flat piece of wood resting on the end of the bar and extending out from the end of the bar. The kayak is lifted on to it. Under that piece, two bars width apart the same width as the rack bar. At the ends of these twin bars blocks with holes and a rod goes between them through the holes. That rod is on the under side of the rack bar.

Our Ford Econovan has square tubed rack bars so a rod can be put into one of those.

 

[Mac50L]

The load extender bar -

The load bar. The brown stick is where the rack would be. The bit of wood across on the left is to stop a kayak sliding off if the vehicle is not level. The metal pin's bit of string is to stop it getting lost when stored.

The underside of the load bar.

Pin removed just to show it can be. The rack simulator bar is not shown there.

 

[Tiger Shark]

Thule doesn’t make this anymore but it works well for a truck canopy with a track mount, maybe it’s available used somewhere, you still need a ladder for tie down and I hang a rubber backed floor mat via an attached adjustable plastic headed coat hanger to protect the window area. You lay your boat beside the truck somewhat and then lift the bow onto the roller, pick up the stern and push the boat up onto the roof, of course it helps a lot to be 6’2” or taller. But the rack would be great on a car, but unfortunately as I said it’s no longer available new. This is actually an older photo as now I have a large L bracket at each end, attached via gear clamps to the bar, this prevents the boat from ever sliding off the edge of the rack during loading. The rack bars are about 5 1/2’ apart on an 8’ canopy.

 

[Twempie]

Thanks for that @Mac50L! I'd completely forgotten about rack extenders—now I'm happy that this could be a low-cost option to keep paddling when I'm no longer able to lift the boat myself. (Rather than fork out big bucks on a load-assist rack.)

Of course now the issue is that I just have the mediocre, flat, curved factory crossbars on my Subaru Forester...and I doubt any rack extenders would work with these? (I'll have to look around on Amazon.) But I've been thinking for a while I should bit the bullet and buy a good, strong pair of straight Yakima crossbars...

If you do get Yakima bars, think about a pair that are longer than what the Yakima fitting guide recommends. The bars on my old Subaru have been on a couple of previously owned Toyota Tacoma camper shells, so they stick out a bit on the Subie, but the extra width helps loading. With the help of a small collapsible stool, about 12” tall, a “foot stool” I’m able to lift the kayak on to the extra length of the bars, then slide it on to the rack.

 

[JohnAbercrombie]

If you do get Yakima bars, think about a pair that are longer than what the Yakima fitting guide recommends.

Perhaps stick a tennis ball on the ends of the longer crossbars, or provide passengers with helmets. I have longer crossbars and generally think to warn people after they hit their heads. Not that I've ever leapt from the car and hit my own head....

 

[Twempie]

Perhaps stick a tennis ball on the ends of the longer crossbars, or provide passengers with helmets. I have longer crossbars and generally think to warn people after they hit their heads. Not that I've ever leapt from the car and hit my own head....

After a couple of Charlie Chaplin incidents, the bars are now positioned to inflict minimum harm. But I do remember banging my head a few… Remind me what we’re talking about, again. ‍‍

 

[Bluefoot]

After trying numerous rack systems for my Honda Pilot, including using the old "sand dollar" extender, I settled on Yakima saddles fore and aft as I felt they provide a secure base for my 17', 57 lbs Seward. The best unit I have found for a 1-person load is the Yakima Showboat, with its extendable roller bar. I have now used it for about 7 years. The roller when fully extended just clears the back of the Pilot's roof so there is no chance of hitting the vehicle. While an over the shoulder lift is possible it just seems safer (IMHO) to lift the bow on to the roller and then roll the kayak up on to the saddles from the rear of the vehicle. Taking the boat off is even easier as gravity is your friend and one only has to control it to a nice slow descent. I use old carpet pieces to rest the base of the stern on while lifting and lowering the kayak.

 

[Mac50L]

"Thanks for that rack extenders—now I'm happy that this could be a low-cost option..."

Low cost (free) and I'll use the idea.
Did my father come from Scotland?