It has been a busy summer so far, and between weather, other commitments and vacations, I didn't have time to get the AI out until today. All went well loading at home, and my daughter and I headed to the lake nearby. Upon unloading, the telescoping support post for the Rhino loader collapsed with the kayak on it. Fortunately nobody was hurt, though it did break the passenger side mirror off of our van. Kayak was apparently unharmed. I thought the post was tightly assembled, and I don't know exactly what happened because I was at the rear holding the kayak and couldn't see.
We went on with our morning, and after a brief trial run, added the amas and tramps. I did the driving and my daughter rode on one tramp. We had a great time and the Mirage Drive is absolutely fantastic. I didn't try the sail this time - perhaps next outing.
After a few hours we decided to head home. Then I discovered that I could not tighten the Rhino support post at proper length. It has a "twist to tighten" design, but every time it would start to get tight, the next little twist would send it loose again. So I gave up, put a thick towel on the van's rear spoiler and prayed I wouldn't break that off, too. Fortunately, while the spoiler did flex a bit, I was able to carefully load the kayak from the rear and we headed home.
All in all, I'm very pleased with the AI. I do wish it wasn't quite such a beast, though. Am a bit gun-shy of the Rhino now - I think I need to make a fixed post for sure, but even then... Am also going to give serious thought to buying a rack for our pickup truck, though it's even taller than the van.
_________________ Steve
Mirage Adventure Island
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