Loading an Outfitter Solo

I recently bought my first kayak (Hobie Outfitter) and I've found it more difficult to load than expected. I have saddles installed on the factory roof rack of my Nissan Armada. When I have two people to load, it's not a problem, however I'm really struggling to do this solo. The biggest problem I have is how to get the bow of the kayak up onto the roof and in the saddles without scraping up the stern of the kayak on the ground or worse causing damage to the rudder system. Maybe I'm just being over protective of my new purchase, but I'm trying to be very careful not to damage it.

Any tips anyone can lend for how to accomplish solo loading of an Outfitter would be greatly appreciated.

I raised the stern instead of bow first and put my PFD between the bow and ground for cushion.

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Hmm that's a good idea. Just curious, do you lay the kayak to the side of the vehicle and then lift and swing sideways onto the roof or do you line it up straight behind the vehicle and lift and pull towards the vehicle at the same time. I was coming directly from behind the truck and found that when I placed something under the kayak for padding it would slide out from under it as I pulled it forward towards the truck.

Those scrapes on the stern are known affectionately as "skeg rash". It has been discussed before, in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8074&p=39146&hilit=skeg+rash#p39146

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I learned a trick from the gentleman that I got my kayak from(http://www.southwindkayaks.com) as I typically load both yak's myself as my wife is a tiny woman and I'd never ask her so what I did was to put a bar inside the crossbar I slide that bar out and put the front of the yak up on that bar with the back of the yak resting on a old chair cushion very safely, I've done this more times than I can remember the piece of tubing is just common steel tubing from Home Depot a plastic cap keeps it in there til its needed I've never scratched the Mercedes in the process of loading or unloading though unloading always seems to be alittle trickier I know they sell a set-up just like at Yakima thats who made the bars and supports but I like to fabricate stuf instead of just running out and buying one, its more fun when you make it work out.

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Fastfish/Geoff
Kayaks Owned>Outback/Mine & Revolution/Wife