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PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:13 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:59 am
Posts: 7
Location: Perth, Western Australia
We are looking at buying a TI, we went for a test run on one today and it was awesome. Only thing is, we're trying to figure out a way of transporting it without a trailer as we live in the hills with a steep driveway and not much room to store a trailer, not to mention the extra cost of buying and licensing a trailer etc. We have a Toyota Landcruiser as well but it's pretty old and don't know how long we'll have it for so we're pretty much hoping to transport it on the Hyundai.
Oh and the other thing is, my hubby will be loading/off loading it on his own, he's 6'2" and pretty strong but is not very confident about lifting that weight. He loads and off loads our 2 beach kayaks but they're a fair bit lighter.
Any thoughts, ideas welcome :)
Cheers from a very soon to be Hobie Tandem Island owner :D


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 2:09 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:21 pm
Posts: 2501
Location: Central Florida
One of the best "rigs" I've seen for loading a TI on a vehicle is this post: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=34598

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:19 pm 
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Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:14 pm
Posts: 3323
Location: South Florida
It is always hard for me to keep my opinion to myself whenever people talk about car-topping AI/TIs. If you are sailing in saltwater, you are condemning your vehicle to a rusty grave. You can see my relative short discussion about it here: http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=7276&start=315 Scroll down until you see Rust. It won't happen this year, but if you keep your car more than 4 yrs or so, it will be noticeable. If you sell your car used for cartopping in 4 years, you are knowingly selling damaged goods.

Since you are already cartopping your kayaks, the process has already begun. A trailer is the ideal way to transport these boats. Easier loading and much less damage to vehicles.

BTW, your info on your post (profile) does not indicate your location--do you kayak/sail on the ocean? If you are inland, on fresh water, most of this does not apply.

Keith

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 5:57 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:59 am
Posts: 7
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Thanks KayakingBob, I saw that, I was totally amazed that he got that on that car lol. Wonder if it's actually legal tho lol.

Thanks Chekika, sorry, I haven't done a profile yet, been spending almost the whole of the last 2 days studying and researching lol. And no need to worry about keeping your opinions to yourself, I asked for opinions so I'm happy to take the good with the bad lol.
I'm in Australia and the TI will be used mainly on the river, where we usually take our kayaks. We've been carting our kayaks on the roof of our cars for years without any problem, and we usually run our cars until they've pretty much had it anyway, we tend to hang on to them, it's too expensive to keep buying new cars so it's not an issue anyway.

Thanks again :)


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 12:54 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:28 pm
Posts: 66
I car top (pickup truck to be precise) my TI. Invest in the best rack system out there! Don't be cheap here. I'd look at the thule system - two racks on the roof and the "goal post" hitch mounted support. I use three points of support - two bed-mounted racks and a single roof rack over the cab, along with the thule saddles, to support the load.

As for lifting - I use a small bed-mounted ledge that I lift the nose of the kayak up (probably 75 pounds, with the tail resting on a carpet padding). This allows me to then get to the tail handle and pull it up onto the racks. Not too difficult...but still a pretty fair work out. You can certainly rig something similar to the tow hitch of a Tucson, it can be your first engineering project for the boat (likely not the last). I've been contemplating a block-and-tackle rig to assist with the pulling of the boat on to the racks.

I have to agree that cartopping opens up so many more options as far as launching. I live in an area of limited trailer-parking availability, and lots of side-of-the-road launch spots, so cartopping is the way to go. Yes, you are introducing salt to your roof, which means eventually it will rust - but I keep my roof clean and rinsed, and so far after many years of doing so I've avoided any (visible) damage. I also make sure the hull (the portion of it over my roof, anyway) and amas are dry (not dripping saltwater) before hoisting it up.

Or just find a master fabricator and make one of those unreal side-tilting jobs...

Aloha
RH

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 2:31 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 05, 2011 1:58 am
Posts: 2893
Location: Forster, NSW, Australia
Hi Mrsdutchy!
Can you be a bit more precise in your location? LOL There are heaps of TIs in Australia (my dealer buys them 6 at a time) but Oz is a huge country. Wherever you are, there are likely to be other Islands close by.

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2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 6:50 pm 
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Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:59 am
Posts: 7
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Thanks for that info rotorhead, I'l check out the Thule system now. My hubby was thinking of a way to rig up a pulley system to load it onto the roof. We we were originally thinking of getting one of the Tbar things but don't have a tow bar on our car, might have to get one on, they're so expensive tho, we got a quote last year and it was $800!!
Tonystott, you will be happy to know that I have been more precise with my location in my profile, hope that's better now lol.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 7:28 pm 
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Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:03 am
Posts: 218
Location: Bundaberg QLD, Australia
I recall seeing someone using the boathoist sideloader to load a TI (assembled) on their roof while towing a caravan around Australia. I think Thule also have a similar system.


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:15 am 
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Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2011 6:27 am
Posts: 58
Location: Wantirna South VIC Australia
Mrsdutchy,
I had a similar challenge that i solved with a side loading hoist.
You see videos of it in this post at the end of page 2..
[url]http://www.hobiecat.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=48233&start=15#p21840/url]

I had a special need to not increase the height of my 4wd.

So even today it is the only solution that suits my needs however for others the new rhino rack side loader for kayaks may be interesting - I think it is called the nautic or something similar. Take a look at the slhobie.com.au website where they have a video.
In my opinion you may need to remove the amas to winch up a TI.
Regards Ian

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PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 3:33 am 
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Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 2:03 am
Posts: 218
Location: Bundaberg QLD, Australia
Here is the post I saw with the side loader

http://www.akff.net/forum/viewtopic.php ... 27#p580119


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:57 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
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Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
mrsdutchy:
We car topped our TI on top of our Yukon Denali for several years without too many issues, however Chekika is correct if you are mostly in salt water you pay a big price in the life of your car (we had to replace the roof on our Yukon because I was careless and allowed scratches to get out of hand). I finally did buy a cheap Harbor freight trailer (about $200 bucks, I did however have to do some mods to get it to work with the TI), and that works well, and is much quicker and easier to load and take down. However we have I think the same problem as you at our other Key West (FL) house where there is no practical place for our trailer so when we go to our other house I still have to car top the TI (plus trailer parking down there is impossible to find and very expensive ($2.50/hr)).
I just looked and you can buy aftermarket hitch receivers and put them on your self (they just bolt on in under an hour (doing the work yourself) and come with good instructions typically, you only typically just need a socket wrench). Here is an after market one I found for around $120 bucks in the US (I'm sure you have comparable mail order places locally) http://www.autoanything.com/towing/77A3 ... ingid=274x

We also bought a T-bar that fits into the hitch receiver, we bought this one from Amazon for around $90 bucks ( http://www.amazon.com/Extend-A-Truck-94 ... tbar+hitch), again I'm sure you can find something local mail order that is comparable.

Here is a pic of our Denali all loaded up with the TI on the roof (it's about 300 miles to our other place so the boat needs to be pretty secure).
Image

The reason I am advising to use the Tbar is the rack can hold 500 lbs securely and is what carries the majority of the weight (the complete TI weighs about 200 lbs, and the hull alone weighs around 100 lbs).
It sounds like you are already carrying kayaks on your roof and probably have already fitted roof racks to your roof, I see no reason they couldn't be used to hold the TI also as long as the receiver hitch is in place and will be supporting most of the weight and giving you the necessary structural integrity. Of course adding a V shaped bow strap is also highly recommended to keep the bow from sliding side to side.

We have been hauling kayaks on our roof for many years (at least a couple hundred thousand miles (we are campers and travel all over with a camper trailer in tow and kayaks on the roof). I have tried many different roof rack systems and this type setup seems to be the best and the easiest to load and unload.

I'm not a big guy at all and also have a bad back (who in their 60's doesn't (LOL))

There is an easy way to load and unload a kayak onto a car and a hard way, I'll describe the easy way that I use (I've used the same method for about 4 yrs now every weekend).
Basically what I do is I unload the boat completely taking everything out an making sure there is no water inside, just the hull weighs around 100 lbs and you are never lifting any more than half the weight. Actually because the TI is so long this is to your advantage (it's actually easier to car top than an Oasis (we used to have an Oasis)).

What I do is put the T-bar onto the hitch receiver (after loading all the AKA-bars, seats, gear, etc into the back of the car). I then center the boat up behind the car (on it's scupper cart), I then pick up the front and pull the bow up along side the car (about even with the rear wheels). I then place an old carpet under the stern, I then lift the bow up and hoist it on top of my head (your only lifting about 50 lbs so it's not as hard as it sounds) I then walk back hand over hand under the bow so I am now behind the car, I then step sideways to get the bow over the T-bar. Once on the T-bar the boat slides easily side to side I then center the bow on the T-bar. I have a couple clamps that I made up to help keep the boat centered (I had it slide off sideways once and it scratched the side of my wifes Denali (that was a bad thing). I then walk to the back of the boat and lift the rear straight up (remember your only lifting half the weight). I then slide the boat forward to it's final position. To have something to grab onto while pushing forward I usually I just put the scupper cart into the rear set of scupper holes and it makes a great pushing handle.

If I'm going to have the boat on the roof for a few weeks in the hot Florida sun (we typically do) I slide in a couple pool noodles along the sides of the hull to help even out the load and distribute the weight (not necessary for short distances). I then put the AMA's on the roof (one on each side) then strap the whole works down. Like I described earlier the T-bar is the main support and the hull and AMA's are strapped to the T-bar, then strapped to the roof over the front roof rack. If we are going any distance or on the highway I also tie a V shaped strap to the bow to keep the bow from sliding from side to side. We have gone thru high winds and storms (30mph plus winds) with this setup many times with no issues (free boat wash, ( LOL)).

We have at times hauled multiple kayaks on the roof, when we do that we strap the AMA's on top of the TI (we don't put them up there until after we have loaded the TI on the roof). Again the Tbar in the back even with multiple boats is what supports the majority of the weight. It's probably a good idea to have a flag on the back of the boat because the back of the boat is at least 4 feet behind the back of the car. As long as you remember it's there and park carefully it shouldn't be a problem (we have had a couple tree incidents backing into parking places ( LOL).

I hope this helps you make a decision, you won't regret buying a TI, it's a great family boat, nothing on the market compares to it. We use ours as both a kayak and as a sail boat, and ended up selling all of our other Hobies because we just never used them anymore, both my wife and I now prefer to take the TI kayak (without the big sail and AMA's) out rather than two separate kayaks when we go river kayaking, it's way faster than pretty much any kayak out there (including all the rest of the Hobie fleet) and holds a lot more gear.
Bob


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PostPosted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:56 pm 
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Have a look at the second video on Hobie Maclean's TI page.
http://macleanoutdoors.net.au/kayaks/hobie/27-ti

Mick


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 4:57 pm 
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Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:59 am
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Location: Perth, Western Australia
Wow, thanks guys, you're all so helpful! The videos in the links are great and have been a great help. Hopefully we'll have our TI really soon and will be able to share in the fun :D


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 6:29 am 
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Joined: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:59 am
Posts: 7
Location: Perth, Western Australia
We've done it, we've done it!! We 've ordered our Tandem Island!! Can't wait for delivery..... :D :D :D :D


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 16, 2014 12:04 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:21 pm
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Location: Central Florida
mrsdutchy wrote:
We've done it, we've done it!! We 've ordered our Tandem Island!! Can't wait for delivery..... :D :D :D :D
Congratulations! Be safe and have lots of fun.

Please post what you adopt, adapt or create for loading, unloading and transport and how it works for you.

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