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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:31 am 
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Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:12 pm
Posts: 6
I used to own a Hobie Outback, several years ago. It was awesome for fishing, but I sold it when I sold my vacation home at the lake. I only had to put it on the roof of my 4Runner a couple of times, and it was difficult by myself. I now bought a Hobie Compass for fishing the Charleston area. I chose the Compass for the lighter weight than the Outback. It matters when you are lifting it up to the roof, and I prefer not to overload my roof rack with too much weight.
To assist me in loading the Compass to the roof, I purchased a Reese Canoe Loader.
https://www.amazon.com/Reese-Towpower-7 ... ast_bbp_dp
For $24 I was willing to take a gamble. This was a wise move. The requirement is that you need a trailer hitch on your vehicle. The loader mounts into your hitch and provides a Vertical T-bar that supports one end of your kayak. The key feature of this loader is that it pivots, so standing at the back of my truck, I load the bow of the kayak(hull side UP) onto the T-bar, place a bungee cord over the bow to keep it on the T-bar. I then step back to the stern, lift up off the ground, and walk to front side of truck, pivoting the kayak on the loader until stern of boat is now hullside up on the front crossbar of truck. It is very simple, loader uses very little storage, and provides an important third point of support for Kayak. The kayak is transported with the Tbar loader in place.
I initially tried to load the Kayak with the stern on Tbar and the rotate bow to front of vehicle. I would have preferred this, as this would have had the kayak on the roof with the bow facing forward on the roof of my truck. I discovered that the kayak was too hard to manage with the narrow bow on the ground, and I felt it worked better loading the bow onto the Tbar, then rotating the stern forward.
I'm very impressed with this clever, inexpensive tool. I have since purchased a trailer for my frequent runs to the river, but if I go out of state, I just mount the Yak on the roof and leave the trailer home.


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PostPosted: Thu Sep 26, 2019 8:46 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:46 pm
Posts: 3017
Location: Escondido
Nice find! It looks very useful and you can't beat the price! 8)


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:50 am 
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Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:14 am
Posts: 1
PWGUNNY wrote:
I used to own a Hobie Outback, several years ago. It was awesome for fishing, but I sold it when I sold my vacation home at the lake. I only had to put it on the roof of my 4Runner a couple of times, and it was difficult by myself. I now bought a Hobie Compass for fishing the Charleston area. I chose the Compass for the lighter weight than the Outback. It matters when you are lifting it up to the roof, and I prefer not to overload my roof rack with too much weight.
To assist me in loading the Compass to the roof, I purchased a Reese best canoe Loader.
https://www.amazon.com/Reese-Towpower-7 ... ast_bbp_dp
For $24 I was willing to take a gamble. This was a wise move. The requirement is that you need a trailer hitch on your vehicle. The loader mounts into your hitch and provides a Vertical T-bar that supports one end of your kayak. The key feature of this loader is that it pivots, so standing at the back of my truck, I load the bow of the kayak(hull side UP) onto the T-bar, place a bungee cord over the bow to keep it on the T-bar. I then step back to the stern, lift up off the ground, and walk to front side of truck, pivoting the kayak on the loader until stern of boat is now hullside up on the front crossbar of truck. It is very simple, loader uses very little storage, and provides an important third point of support for Kayak. The kayak is transported with the Tbar loader in place.
I initially tried to load the Kayak with the stern on Tbar and the rotate bow to front of vehicle. I would have preferred this, as this would have had the kayak on the roof with the bow facing forward on the roof of my truck. I discovered that the kayak was too hard to manage with the narrow bow on the ground, and I felt it worked better loading the bow onto the Tbar, then rotating the stern forward.
I'm very impressed with this clever, inexpensive tool. I have since purchased a trailer for my frequent runs to the river, but if I go out of state, I just mount the Yak on the roof and leave the trailer home.


I have hobie cat 16 that is long boat that is too much weight and take much place to carry this so i bought canoe but i want carry hobie cat 16. Now i am using rhino rack to carry my canoe but i can't carry hobie. You are using Reese Towpower canoe loader is this best that rhino rack.....?
can this carry hobie .....?
if can't carry hobie so tell any best carries for hobie.....?


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PostPosted: Sun Dec 01, 2019 7:21 am 
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Joined: Thu Dec 06, 2012 3:11 pm
Posts: 62
I have the Hobie Compass and car top it on a Subaru Crosstrek with OEM roof rails and crossbars (I have Malone crossbar wraps to protect the kayak). I will briefly explain how I cartop it...it took me awhile to figure out the best way was not to load it from the rear of the vehicle.

Place the kayak to the side of the Crosstrek (hull down) with the bow to the rear of the vehicle...with the bow further away from the vehicle (approx. 45 degree angle). This is important...you want the bow to be on the ground when you lift the stern (do NOT lift the kayak with the stern on the ground...you can damage the rudder). Lift the stern of the vehicle chest high, swing head under kayak for leverage, rotate stern of kayak on roof rail between crossbars. Ensure kayak does not slip off...it should not...the crossbars should hold it. Go to bow, lift and slide it until kayak is balanced on roof rails. Now, rotate where bow is to the front of vehicle, stern to the rear. Move up/back accordingly. Use straps to secure to crossbar. Done.

Offloading...same procedure in reverse.


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2019 11:00 pm 
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Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2005 10:46 pm
Posts: 3017
Location: Escondido
Coming up with a way to load your boat one end at a time really expands your cartop capabilities. Here is a similar idea, loading from the back instead of the side. Even the heavyweights like the TI and PA 14 can be loaded this way without too much trouble.

Image
Image

The other thing that helps is an auxillary grip to handle the boat easier.

Image
8)


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 11, 2019 8:02 am 
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Site Rank - Deck Hand

Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2014 7:12 pm
Posts: 6
I went with the Hobie Compass due to the lighter weight than the Outback or PA. There are 2 issues to address. Can you get the Yak to the roof by yourself without damaging your Hobie, your car, or yourself. The other issue is, Can your roof rack safely support your Kayak. Most roof rack rails are rated for about 120 lbs. It is more than jus the weight of the boat, but also the wind forces that are pushing on your boat as you drive at higher speeds.

The Reese Kayak loader will assist with getting the boat onto the roof, easily and safely. The loader will also give you a third point of support, the other two being the roof crossbars. This to me, is just as important as getting the kayak to the roof.

To the poster asking about the HOBIE CAT. I don't think this will work unless you modify the crossbar on the loader. The crossbar is only about 30" wide, and therefore not wide enough to accomodate the width of the two pontoons on the CAT. I suggest your best solution would be a trailer.


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