Trailer bunks for the PA

I was going to suspend my Hobie with four inch straps but your set up was so simple i built my new stand yesterday. I built it on a table useing the four inch pvc tubes. I bolted on a set of wheels from harbor frieght to move it around the garage and out to the truck. I also put a huge shelf below and thats where I keep my Mirage drive, seat and tackle.
Now I effortlessly roll the table out to the truck and slide it into the bed. After a long day on the water I simply roll the table back out to the truck and slide the yak back out and onto the table. Wash her down, store my gear and roll her back in the garage. I tend to over think things when im trying to build something, resulting in over spending so I was thrilled to see you idea.
This web site is awesome. Thanks for the killer idea and im sure not the last idea I get from here.

That sounds great, can you post a pic for us. Others may find it helpful.

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Here is the table I put together to store my PA. Its large but I have the room and it rolls right up to the truck and slides directly into the bed. Still a work in progress but it does the job. Carpet and paint may be in its future.

Dumb question department...when trailering a PA, do you place it bow forward? Remove the seat? If not, does the seat back get forced in an upright position and does that create any problems?

A great way to trailer the PA is with a cover, it allows you to keep everything in the PA and be ready to hit the water. If you plan to launch the PA from a real trailer, bow first work great. I launch mine just like launching a boat, drive on and drive off.

I made a cover from a $20 tarp @ home depot.

How did you make the cover? Pics?

Do you use a winch and, if so, winch it with the bow handle?

I trailer my PA bow forward. I leave the seat in, it has a strap to hold the seat folded down.

Ohh. Didn't know about the strap. Seems Hobie thinks of everything. Thanks.

de-tension, I know this is an old thread, but wanted to know how the trailer has held up. I just recently did this and I'm just wondering if you ran into issues or did modifications you to improve the idea. Currently my PA is causing the bars to sag and I haven't even taken it out on the road, so I'm really concerned with that. I was thinking of cutting about an inch or so off the tops of both galvanized risers that hold the cross bar, just to lower it a little. then perhaps replace the cross bar with uni-strut. Hopefully that will prevent weight of the kayak from bending the cross bars.

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STX Fishing
2016 Hobie PA 12

4" and even 3" PVC seems awful big to me, any reason why 2.5" dia PVC wouldn't work well? I plan to make bunks as well with 3 cross members about 4 feet apart.

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Thank you,
Roy Niswanger

Flexing of the PVC pipe is necessary and desirable in order to distribute the load evenly across the scupper lines of the hull. The pipe should fully conform to the rocker-bottom shape of the hull, or else the hull will deform to the shape of the pipe! I would therefore strongly recommend against using 3 cross struts, as this will prevent the PVC from fully flexing in the mid section. Ideally, you want to raise the fore and aft cross members sufficiently so that the fully flexed PVC does not "bottom out" in the mid portion. I have my PVC mounted on top of 2x6's (on edge) and the mid portion does not hit the trailer frame when travelling.

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Alright, just ingesting more information as I move forward with a design. Interesting...to me it seems if you were to support a kayak of considerable size/weight/length (13'+) only on the ends it would gradually sag/deform like a banana right? So then for a PA14 and Revo13 what would be the ideal spacing for the cross members to support the bunks? I only have 8' to work with on my trailer, so in this case if I put a cross member 8' apart on the PA14 it would be ~3' in from each end (if I placed the PA14 evenly).

Would the ideal build actually have a center cross member that's offset a bit lower to allow natural contour support? If so has it been discussed on how to achieve this? The idea, I would think, would be to mimic the profile water provides (as it floats). When you say "conform to the rocker-bottom shape of the hull" is this the profile as viewed from the side of the vessel or the end (cross-section)?

You mean on edge meaning the PVC rests in cut-out semi-circles and raised at least 4" (because 6" is really 5.5" and then you cut out 2" semi-circle) above the trailer frame? Wow, I couldn't imagine my kayak actually sagging 4" in the middle seems support would be needed there?

Finally, I took 2.5" and 3" PVC home to test the geometry on the hull channels (are these what you call scupper lines?) and the 2.5" fit the channels a lot better than the 3". I feel you answered this as needed larger PVC for more strength between using only 2 cross members so if I were to only use 2 cross members 2.5" might not be enough strength?

I'll get there...

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Thank you,
Roy Niswanger

As far as the rocker-bottom profile, I was referring to the vertical curve AND the slight horizontal curve of the right and left side concave parts of the hull - where the scupper holes are. Ideally, your pipe should flex both vertically and horizontally to match that oblique-banana curvature of the scupper line. Sliding a 125-lb hull onto pipe that is tightly bolted in place at both ends does not permit that very well. It may be over-engineering, but I used telescoping full-length sleeves of PVC; 3" OD sliding inside 3.5" OD. They sleeve together almost exactly but still permit sliding, allowing each bunk to grow a bit in length as the vertical and horizontal forces of the hull displace them. The 3" pipe is bolted at the front, on top a full-width 2x6 cross piece (no cutout) and the 3.5" pipe is similarly bolted at the rear. This theoretically helps distribute the load better, but honestly the "growth" between loaded and unloaded bunk length is probably only an inch or two. You can fine-tune the displacement by adding additional lengths of 2.5" PVC inside the 3" pipe to stiffen areas, but these cannot be pinned in place without defeating the telescoping design. I also used 3.5" 30-deg elbow bends at the stern end of each bunk, adding about 12" lengths of downward-facing pipe. This mod helps get the yak aligned for loading and permits easier retrieval without backing the trailer in quite as deeply as would otherwise be necessary. And finally, glue carpet strips along all pipe surfaces that contact the PA.
I keep my PA14 on the trailer in my garage, against Hobie's recommendations, but have experienced no hull deformity issues with this setup over several years of use.

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Whoa, trying to picture this is hard, but I kind of get your thinking. So at the forward cross member of the trailer you bolt down the 3" then at the aft end you bolt down the 3.5" This must mean the 3" end sticks out of the 3.5" one, otherwise you would be bolting both pipes down. You ridea makes sense as the bunks load up the flex downwards more this way because of the telescoping middle section. Humm...yes I too wonder how necessary this may be and wonder if just removing the center cross member I was thinking before and using smaller diameter PVC would simply allow enough natural give to flex some to the natural contour of the hull?

I like the idea of the 30 degree skids of sorts and funny you say this, because I was thinking of using 3" main bunks with a long section of 2.5" inserted and at the end/aft side of the bunks tie them together with elbows and make 1.5' long legs/pegs so the ideal is to back the trailer up as close to the water as possible, then pull out the extension and rest the pegs/legs in the water (touching bottom) and simply slide off the PA into the water. This design would also need a tilting mechanism. My ideal is outlined here on this board: https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=63307

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Thank you,
Roy Niswanger

Yes. Sorry if that was not clear.
2x6 cross pieces are 8' apart (max for trailer bed). 3.5" OD and 3" OD pipe bunk pieces are each about 8' long, but that includes several inches of each extending beyond the cross pieces. So when properly telescoped with the 3" ends bolted only to the front cross piece and the 3.5" bolted only to the rear cross piece, they are free to "bow-and-grow" to fit the hull without producing excess inward tension on the cross pieces.

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