Perfect kayaking vehicle

Looking good, Jon. I like how you positioned your forward rack on the cab. I put both of my racks on the canopy and have to play around with kayak positioning to stay under 20 feet on the ferries.

Here's the big question. Have you had a dealer check your frame for rust? Your truck looks in very good shape. But, it is still a worthwhile exercise to have the frame inspected. Do it sooner and Toyota will foot the bill for a frame replacement. Do it too late; you're on your own.

This is the voice of experience. My 2002 Tacoma is about to roll out of the shop, any day now, with a brand new, shiny black, frame (not to mention a whole lot of other new parts) - courtesy of Toyota.
 
Layback, always good to meet a fellow "Taco" owner. My Tacoma (2000) seems to have avoided the frame rust issue. I really like the rack setup that I've been using...a product called a "bedrack" that was discontinued a few years ago...I love the fact that I don't have to modify my truck at all to lug my boats around. And, like you said, very easy to centre the boat to avoid ferry over length charges.

I really tend to buy quality stuff and look after them. My truck is 15 years old now and my boat (Kevlar Telkwa) is 17 years old....and both look near mint.

If I feel I might be abusing a boat on a paddle, I trot out a slightly beaten up Current Designs Solstice GT. :)

Anyway, I've been lurking on this board for YEARS...I've been retired for about a year now and last Summer I used this status to its fullest... I must have paddled a few hundred kilometres total...most around my Southern Gulf Islands home base.

Look forward to contributing to this forum in the future.
 
jon_snow said:
This is how I roll. :cool

BTW, I'm new here.
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Where are the ropes from the ends of the kayak to the vehicle? Any side wind and the kayak will probably be ripped off the rack or the rack ripped off the cab (as happened in this country and ended up as international news) - unless you don't have wind where you live.

When the front rack was ripped off the vehicle, due to wind, and shown on the news media with the kayak mounted across the vehicle It ended up as international news because the driver was originally quoted as being Irish, which annoyed the Irish.
 
unless you don't have wind where you live.


Wind, around here? Not really. We just have mostly breezes.

Mind you, we really appreciate when a breeze comes along. The 50 knot breezes tend to blow away those basketball sized mosquitoes. And, they give us kayakers a chance to get out there and work on our skills. That way we'll be ready if a real wind does come along.
 
Here are a few more pics of my Focus with my Eddyline Caribbean 12's and with my P&H Scorpio and bike. I travel from NY to Florida a few times a year to play!
 
Tatlow said:
......Subaru Outback.... :popcorn:
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My recommendation would be a Malone trailer c/w dual bike racks between the boats.......

Terry
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or
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I'm sure it works for you, but I'd be concerned about that much overhang in front - going down the freeway at the posted 70 mph speed.

What do you do with the trailer when you are out overnight? For example, if you leave it on the vehicle, that's a loooong parking space. But if you disconnect it and pull it along side, it is sort of "free standing".

I had that discussion with some commercial Adventure guides in the area - they would park their extended van + boat trailer parallel to the parking log where most cars park head in. So they would take up about 7 parking spaces. They said no one was at the lake when they showed up (hence the real estate claim) and if they disconnected (unlocked) the trailer from the van, they were afraid the trailer might not be there when they got back.
 
An FJ is not recommended - particularly one that has a 2 inch lift. It is a real pain getting the kayaks on top. Once those are on it is fine. I use a Swagman bike rack as load assist - I attached a couple of Malone stax (same as the ones on the FJ) to act as braces to stop the kayaks from slipping off to the side, I also use some pvc piping as braces to stop the kayaks from slipping once on top.
 
designer said:
I'm sure it works for you, but I'd be concerned about that much overhang in front - going down the freeway at the posted 70 mph speed.

What do you do with the trailer when you are out overnight? For example, if you leave it on the vehicle, that's a loooong parking space. But if you disconnect it and pull it along side, it is sort of "free standing".

I had that discussion with some commercial Adventure guides in the area - they would park their extended van + boat trailer parallel to the parking log where most cars park head in. So they would take up about 7 parking spaces. They said no one was at the lake when they showed up (hence the real estate claim) and if they disconnected (unlocked) the trailer from the van, they were afraid the trailer might not be there when they got back.
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Those outfitters are not thinking much. What I do with a disconnected trailer is to put the coupler on top of a flat rock or similar item, then lock the coupler latch closed with a padlock. That keeps someone from hitching the trailer to another vehicle. However, in the case of very light kayak trailers, a thief could, with helpers, simply lift the trailer and kayaks together and put them inside a moving van or onto a long flatbed trailer. But that is much less likely to happen than someone grabbing an unlocked coupler and towing the trailer away.

Thieves could still unbolt a locked coupler, then attach their own coupler to the tongue and tow the trailer away. BUT they still could do that even if the trailer had been parked attached to the van.

Trailers can be easily fitted with a folding wheeled tongue jack that keeps the coupler off the ground, for those who do not want to pick up the coupler themselves when moving the trailer by hand.
 
The Malone trailer, designed for hauling yaks, is a good solution. Turns out with some assistance from a welder buddy, I think a more or less standard boat trailer, in the range designed for 14 to 17 ft skiffs, can be configured as a yak hauler.

The rub, as designer notes, is that the tail(s) of the kayak(s) stick out quite a bit, even with the bows nosed up near the coupler. Be a while before I have mine done, but overhang is a necessity if your tow vehicle is small and short. I am thinking bright flag on a wand similar to what the dune buggy crowd uses. An off the shelf skiff trailer comes in at about a third what Malone wants for their complete outfit. Using surplussed Yakima hardware from past lashups, the principal added cost is beer for the welder.
 
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