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PostPosted: Wed Jun 13, 2018 12:34 pm 
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Hi,
We Just bought an Hobie Oasis tandem. We love it in the water...it's great!

Our problem is getting it on an off the car. We carry it on a Nissan Altima 4-door with Rhino aero racks HULL SIDE DOWN. We also use the Rhino "side assist" bar to extend the kayak over the side of the car to assist in bringing up or down. However, between the heavy weight of the kayak (about 100 lbs), the location of the fixed rudder and having to flip it over (hull side up/down), we haven't figured out a safe or efficient way to bring her down or put her back up on the car. What have you all tried or suggest?

Thanks in advance!
MickeyVee


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 5:42 am 
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Joined: Wed May 30, 2018 4:48 am
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MickeyVee wrote:
Hi,
We Just bought an Hobie Oasis tandem. We love it in the water...it's great!

Our problem is getting it on an off the car. We carry it on a Nissan Altima 4-door with Rhino aero racks HULL SIDE DOWN. We also use the Rhino "side assist" bar to extend the kayak over the side of the car to assist in bringing up or down. However, between the heavy weight of the kayak (about 100 lbs), the location of the fixed rudder and having to flip it over (hull side up/down), we haven't figured out a safe or efficient way to bring her down or put her back up on the car. What have you all tried or suggest?

Thanks in advance!
MickeyVee


Bonjour
je suis dans le meme cas avec un toyota CHR
j'envisage le RHINO-RACK universal side loader
qu'en pensez-vous
merci d'avance


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 6:50 am 
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Bonjour Christal33!
We are using the Rhino Rack side assist. It does help. However, here are some key issues:
    > The Oasis is very long and heavy with the stern being the heavier side
    > The rudder is attached in a way that when you have to bring down the stern, you run the risk of damaging the rudder
    > We have to flip the kayak from hull-side up to hull-side down.
We're considering bringing it down bow-side first in an attempt to make it easier and not risk damage to the rudder. We're going to go out again this weekend. I'll report on our success (or failure!). 8)

BTW, which kayak did you buy?


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 14, 2018 9:03 am 
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Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 3:48 pm
Posts: 49
We carry our Oasis upside down on Yakima racks our our Subaru Outback and occasionally on our Toyota Van.

The boat is heavy, but my wife and I manage just fine. My wife doesn't have great arm strength, but we are both fairly tall so that may help.

Unloading, my wife takes the bow and I take the stern. We lift straight up and walk the boat off the racks to one side of the car. We flip the boat over away from the car, catching the grab handles as we do this.

Loading, we position the boat next to and parallel to the car then we each lift the boat to waist high with the grab handles. I provide most of the work for flipping it at the stern and my wife handles the bow. Once we get the boat flipped, we press it overhead move it on to the car.

I think your biggest issue is that you're trying to load it right side up. The round hull is slippery and there's not much to hang on to. Pressing the boat overhead is much easier with the boat upside down.


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:07 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3057
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
This may sound crazy, but might just work.
The hard part about loading big kayaks, (all our kayaks are big) is the lifting part to get it overhead.

What if you took say a queen size air mattress, and build some type of simple structure to contain the matress and hold it vertical.
Place the deflated mattress next to the car, then place the boat on the mattress, then just turn on the inflation pump.
Once inflated just slide the boat onto the racks on top of the vehicle.

When it's time to come down you just place next to the car inflated, slide the boat on top, then let the air out.

I'm handicapped, but had to sell my kayaks because I can no longer lift them.

I'm not talkin about thousands of dollars worth of stuff here, just a cheap Walmart inflatabed, and maybe a couple pvc pipes and a little rope, (and maybe a couple tent stakes). $40-$50 bucks max, and 2 minutes to setup. If it takes more than 3-5 minutes complete, (setup and inflation), it's not worth it.

Just tryin to come up with ideas.

FE


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 1:24 pm 
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Thanks to both fusioneng and MisterMoon for your suggestions! We're going out tomorrow (Sunday) and am going to trying some variations on the theme. I'll let you know what kind of success we had. 8)


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 4:38 pm 
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Joined: Fri May 04, 2018 5:47 pm
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For my 2014 Oasis on to our Subaru rack, I use a set of RollerLoader wheels on the back window/roof. One on the back deck, one on the window/roof and you're good to go. I roll the kayak up on the rack and then flip it over. Easy - peasy. Don't need the side frame.


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 16, 2018 9:57 pm 
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Joined: Wed May 11, 2016 1:27 am
Posts: 442
fusioneng wrote:
This may sound crazy, but might just work.
The hard part about loading big kayaks, (all our kayaks are big) is the lifting part to get it overhead.

What if you took say a queen size air mattress, and build some type of simple structure to contain the matress and hold it vertical.
Place the deflated mattress next to the car, then place the boat on the mattress, then just turn on the inflation pump.
Once inflated just slide the boat onto the racks on top of the vehicle.

When it's time to come down you just place next to the car inflated, slide the boat on top, then let the air out.

I'm handicapped, but had to sell my kayaks because I can no longer lift them.

I'm not talkin about thousands of dollars worth of stuff here, just a cheap Walmart inflatabed, and maybe a couple pvc pipes and a little rope, (and maybe a couple tent stakes). $40-$50 bucks max, and 2 minutes to setup. If it takes more than 3-5 minutes complete, (setup and inflation), it's not worth it.

Just tryin to come up with ideas.

FE


Paramedics use a similar method to get folks out of bed onto a carry sling when there is no room to manoeuvre a stretcher


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PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 7:09 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:18 am
Posts: 3057
Location: Sarasota,Key West FL
Yea my doctors ordered me to get rid of all the kayaks last fall because they were making my back worse, (sucks). I had no issues peddling the kayaks, I can do that all day long, (but I can't paddle at all). Just lifting the kayaks onto the car is what did me in.

I see those racks with the side loaders that angle down to the ground, however there is no way I can lift the kayak at all, but I would love to watch it rising up to car top level.

This is what I had envisioned in my mind when I mentioned it earlier...
What if you tied a 2 ft rope to the ends of the two rods sitting on the ground, on one of those side loader rack systems, then tied the rope to the bottom end of an 80-85 inch long pvc pipe. At the top of each outer PVC pipe you would run a rope to the far side of the roof rack, this should keep everything safe.
Lay the air mattress on the ground next to the car all scrunched down, (one of those 22" thick inflatable queen airbeds, (like $49 bucks at Walmart, if you don't have a couple layin around the house)). Slide the boat on top of the air mattress and start inflating, (the air mattress's are good to 600 lbs).
Most of the air mattress's have a built in inflator pump, just plug an inverter into the cigarette lighter for AC power.
You probably need to mind and help guide everything as it inflates, but it sure beats lifting the crap.

On the outer poles running a rope at the top between the two poles, then a couple ropes angled down and staked into the ground might make you feel safer, but then again you got nothing to do while it's inflating, you could just guide everything as it's rising.

I don't advise just getting an 8" coleman air mattress tossing it on the ground, and trying to raise the boat, It won't end well.

Basically the whole works would work like an elevator.

I suppose you could also blow the mattress up like you would a balloon with your mouth, but you might get dizzy, (lol).

Just trying to figure out how I can get back on the water that's all. I'm getting bored with basket weaving, (lol).

I don't use any commercial cradles at all, they all just end up denting the hulls. I just lay all our boats on the car roof racks, (the racks that come with the car, (we had several Yukon Denali's), always hull side down, and just slide a couple 8 ft closet poles under the boat, (on 11" centers) then strap it all down, maybe stuff a couple pool noodles in there for additional support. I always tie the bow and stern with safety ropes in a V.

We travel a lot and have seen many kayaks ripped of car roofs on the highways.

None of this has been tried, I no longer even own a boat, so I can't try it. try at your own risk....

FE


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 10:52 pm 
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Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2018 8:08 am
Posts: 22
Location: Quebec
I just order a revolution and did lots of searching before I bought this system. I didn't want to hurt my back and wanted to have a easy way to load my kayak. I didn't tried it yet but from the reviews I read it seems to be quite effective and it's simple at the same time. Not many part to break!
It's the rhino t-loader. Thule has a pretty good system too, the hullavator but it has a big flaw, you have to lift the whole kayak at once to put it on the craddle. With the rhino t-loader you just slide the kayak on the strap, give it a push and voilà! :)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MSeHSCfHniQ&t=41s


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PostPosted: Sun Aug 05, 2018 6:05 pm 
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Hi All,
I just wanted to document an update. We just finished excursion #8. We have decided that the following is the fastest, most efficient way for us to get our kayak off and on our Nissan Altima.
    > We use a padded moving blanket. This makes the kayak slippery enough to slide it from left to right over the car crossbars.
    It also makes it much easier to flip it over from hull-side up to hull-side down. That also helps clear the rudder from getting damaged when we flip it over and set it down on the ground.
    > Still using the Rhino side assist, we have the kayak at a 30 degree angle with only 1 - 2 feet of bow ahead of the side assist bracket. Less weight to lift that way.
    > Finally, together, we lift the bow up and then down on the ground.
    We use a piece of rope attached to the side bracket all the way back to the handle at the stern to prevent the kayak from sliding out of control.

We still have to push and lift over our heads, but it is much more controlled. The padded mover's mat makes everything slide easier much easier, which is the key.


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