Kayak Loading Adapter for SUVs

It's great to see the problem solving creativity people come up with. One of our local kayakers made this cool extender to load his Outback. This does a nice job of keeping his boat off the rear of the vehicle.

It works with his factory rack, can be made any length according to the extension needed, and it's dirt cheap. Here it is in action:

Thanks for sharing that great idea Roadrunner. Friends of mine with a similar vehicle will be very interested to see your pics!
A great solution for vertical opening tailgates!

Now that's thinking things through.
To go along with the rack it looks like he has a rug on the ground to protect the end of the kayak.

An alternative is to buy the cheap foam knee pads from Home Depot or wherever. Place one knee pad on the end of the boat that you want to protect and tie it on with the strap. And you have an extra if needed.
I trailer my kayaks but ones I have told about it say it works great.

I'm just passing this along and don't take credit for this idea as it was posted on this forum a year or so ago.

Bruce

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Everything before 60 is just a rehearsal!

That is a really neat idea for those that load their yak from the back. A few of things I would do to make it better:

1) put some large PVC pipe over the cross bar so it acts like a roller bearing = less friction.

2) make the pieces that go forward and backwards a several inches longer behind the cross bar to form an "H", so that if the yak slide left or right on the cross bar, it won't totally fall off and hit the ground.

3) Hook a line to both corners of your bumper and the center to your stern carry handle making a triangle. This can serve as your stern tie-down too. Thus, when you lift your yak up to the cross bar (really high), it won't have a tendency to slip backwards.

What is the reason for loading the kayak upside down? I see other kayaks on the road like this also. Just wondering.

Well its two fold.
One, the Hobie kayaks are flat on the top so if you load them upside down you don't need a cradle.
Two, if you have a boat with no cover it will get very heavy with rain water.

Bruce

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Everything before 60 is just a rehearsal!

In the Hobie's, the water will just drain right out the mirage drive holes.

or have one of these,

http://www.oakorchardcanoe.com/suvroller.php

Or take 2 double suction-cup-handles and bolt a roller in between them.

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hobie Quest