Transporting a Revolution

My wife and I will shortly be treating ourselves to a pair of Hobie Revolutions that I will have to pick up about 75 miles away. I have an aluminum car trailer that I use for our antique cars and hope to be able to build a transport rack that I can mount to this trailer to use to transport the kayaks.

Can someone give me the ideal distance I need to between the front and rear crossbars to lay the kayaks on?

This info will also be helpful in building an overhead storage rack for them.

Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure of the ideal way to carry the Revolution, but we are able to carry ours on the Yakima roof rack bars on top of our Honda Civic. I believe the bars are about 25 inches apart (give or take an inch.. I'm working from memory) but we find if we strap down the kayak firmly on foam blocks, and then tie a bow and stern line to the front and rear of the car, we have no problems at all.

You should be aware that many people say, (and perhaps the Hobie recommendation is) that the Revolution should be carried upside down on the racks. I've thought about trying that, but haven't had any difficulty transporting the boat right side up.

Below is a picture of how we carry ours. Sorry but I can't find a great picture from the side of the car. Hopefully this gives you an idea of how we carry ours.

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Thanks for your post but I'm not sure 25" is a good number to shoot for. I plan on storing these from the ceiling on two boards (padded of course) suspended from the rafters and I was looking for the optimum distance between them where the boards will support the kayak and not press on anything while providing a stable platform so I won't have to *balance* it perfectly. Since my trailer is also a car hauler I'll have enough room to duplicate the set-up on the trailer.

Oh I totally agree that 25 inches isn't optimum, all I was trying to say was that it's possible to safely transport the boats with as little as 25 inches between support bars. We store them on two poles that are much further apart. When we travel with the system that you see above, we have never had the boats move up to speeds of 110 km/h which is over 65mph. The boat also doesn't deform in any way when we strap it down at these points.

I'm not sure that you need to worry too much about an optimum distance, they are very durable boats. However if you want to find the perfect spot, the boat is very balanced from the hand grips on the sides, which are very close to the centre of the boat. What I would do, if you have the ability to do it, is find the centre point of the boat, then find the halfway point from the centre, to the ends. That's where I'd put the racks. If you don't have your boats yet, and you'd like to know this measurement, I'd be happy to grab it for you tomorrow. My boats are in a dark shed right now, and it's easier to measure in the daylight. Otherwise, you can go by the specs from Hobie to find this spot. Still, I think you'd be finding that spot more for peace of mind then for necessity. The boats are very durable.

Let me know if I can help.

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Thanks again...I should be able to figure it out on my own now. They're 13'5" long so about 3' out from the middle on either side should be fine it appears...I'll set the distance at 6' and see how it works.

After doing a little more research, it does seem that the best way to store the boat is upside down. I'm going to switch mine from right side up to upside down later this weekend. I don't see any damage, but I can see how upside down has good solid sides, where the bottom of the boat might be a bit softer.

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In an effort to keep this transport thread helpful, I wanted to post up my latest mod. I've hauled my Revo facing up and down at times, with measly results, using varous padding, etc. I have two other trad yaks, and lots of Yakima saddles and stuff. Most of this wasn't getting me where I wanted to be with the Revo, which is upside down, resting on firm non-marring padding.

I have two full sets of canoe brackets and decided to mod one set... I cut off the tops of the bracket since they would hit the rounded sides of the gunnel and wouldn't be a proper fit. Then glued on pads of mini-cell foam. After a weekend of running +/-300 miles, including 20-30 miles of sometimes rough gravel road, this is working very well. No shifting, squeaking, rattling, etc. No marring on the boat gunnels. Winds today were very strong, and no issues on highway at 60-70mph.

At 52 I can still powerlift the boat by the mid handles, kinda rest it on my shoulder on edge, and ease it down onto the end of the racks while standing on side of vehicle. Once half the weight is on racks and stabilized, easy to slip it sideways into proper position. Just a slight lift to clear the brackets, and it locks in. It can't go forward, back, or sideways. I've handled lots of kayaks, canoes, pirogues, and for the Revo, this is the easiest fastest method by far for me, but certainly not for everyone.

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2010 Hobie Revolution 13 *sold
2010 Hobie Outback *sold
2015 Hobie Revolution 13 FOR SALE**********
One Ocean Storm cedar stripbuilt
2009 Native Ultimate 12

I like that system. It looks great!

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