Roof-Racking the Island

My Island is new and in preparation for the new baby's arrival I purchased a set of Thule aluminium roof racks with a wing profile. Good stuff and rated at 70 kg carrying capasity minimum.

I have used the boat a couple of times now and am getting experience in getting the boat on and off the racks. Firstly I carried her inverted but yesterday I have experimented in carrying her the right way up. Tensioning her down with the Hobie straps I see a slight amount of distortion where the hull flattens out on the rack- bars. It is easier for me to get her on and off this way one-up, and the boat travelled very well on top without and movement at all. My question is will continual transportation of the boat in this manner with hull being forced to flatten out a bit have any detrimental or long term affect on the integrity of the hull? ....Pirate

Hi Pirate,

I haven't loaded an AI onto a roofrack yet (mine is a week late arriving ), but have loaded plenty of kayaks. If you are going to carry it upright, you should probably get some kayak cradles from Thule. They sit on the roofracks and support the kayak in the upright position. Depending on the car you are loading, they can make it easier to get the kayak onto the roof - you start with the kayak behind the car, lift the bow onto the rear cradle, then go up to the stern end and slide the whole thing forward. Alternatively, you could get a Rack&Roll bar, which clips onto the front rack and protrudes from the side while you lift the bow on, with the boat inverted. I have actually found this the better option with my 28kg Ocean Kayak tandem. Check out their website http://www.rackandroll.net.au/.

Chris

I have been using the grey foam blocks on my Yakima bars with the Islands Hull. I do get some hull distortion on the bottom but it doesn't stay long as it is only on the rack for 10-15 minutes at a time. I have not yet loaded it upside down as I am worried about the aka crossbars. It is hard enough loading it up on the roof of the SUV alone as it is. I plan to have some kayak cradles or some such to prevent the hull warp at all. I am currently carrying the Amas inside the Suv to save time having to strap them to the bars. That does not work when the wife wants to take her yak too. Plus come summer there will be some longer trips. I will be interested to hear how you all strap the parts down.

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2010 Hibiscus Adventure Island

I use a Thule Hullavator to lift my AI on top of a Toyota Tacoma truck. Works with the AI upside down or rightside up. Supports the AI very well either way. Lifting the AI only to waist height is certainly easy and securing it to the rack before lifting it is really nice.

Jerry

I have an old Ocean Kayak Sprinter with a permanent bend in the bottom. For years, I threw it in the back of my truck. 8' truck bed plus 2' tailgate is 10'. The Sprinter is 16.

With 6' of boat hanging completely unsupported out in the air, I left it in the truck (black bed liner), sometimes for hours in the Florida sun.

It would dent the hull at the edge of the tailgate, but I could always pop it back out. Over the years, the hull started to get a depression that would not pop out and go away. It finally seems to have "bottomed out" and become a slightly bent boat. I guess at this point, the top of the hull would have to stretch in order for the bottom to bend in any more.

I bought this boat in the mid 1990's out of a rental service where they used to slide it down the concrete ramp. My abuse of it took place over years. The deformation came gradually. The biggest killer is time, of course. The sooner you can get the boat properly supported or in the water, the better. The next factor is heat. A black pickup truck bed on an August afternoon is just a bad idea, even for a short time.

Keep in mind that as the hull deforms, your straps and tiedowns get loose. Check them frequently when going a long way.

My old blue boat is still fine to paddle. I never noticed any performance change as the hull deformed. You can't even see the bend when the boat is in the water. I finally got a topper for the truck, with a rack on top. I secure a wide board lengthwise on the racks and put the boat on top of that. If I had done this from the beginning, I wouldn't have a bent boat.

Thanks guys for your input. My new Island did distort whilst strapped down hard, but has resumed its rightful shape. I have named her Gindabyne Gipsy and I guess a gypsy gal is allowed a few extra bumps if she chooses to develop them..LOL.. I have decided to go with the 'RackandRoll' system as advised by Chris above so will be carrying my gypsy gal bum up in future....Pirate

Pirate,

I just realised I gave you incorrect advice. You would need to put the Rack&Roll bar on the rear roofrack and lift the stern of your GG on first, because of the rudder. I think they mention that in the instructions anyway.

Chris

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My AI loads onto a small trailer I bought, and I use kayak cradles to help support the hull. The problem is that this makes it very difficult to get on and off, because it won't slide at all. I have had to make a special frame to lift the front of the kayak high enough so that I can life the back myself, and over the kayak cradles. You would need a solution for this with cradles fitted at roof height, I suspect. Gluing carpet to the rubber might be the answer.

Geoff.

I have a set of Rhino cradles and the rear ones have a slippery surface, while the front ones have rubber surfaces. I think Thule makes something similar.

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I've had good luck running the AI in straight up using Thule's larger saddles. The truck uses standard Thule bars mounted on a lumber rack. As you can see, the whole AI rig will fit:


Here's a close-up of the saddles (shown here with the Adventure):

The rear set is 875 "Hydroglide" -- the boat slides right over these saddles for ease in loading/unloading. The forward set is 878 "Set-to-Go" and are made of rubber for traction. These are about 7 years old and are still working.

I don't tie down with a lot of pressure. There are two front tiedowns, each looping through the drivewell and ensuring that the boat can't escape. The rear tiedown takes a turn around the boat to discourage it from sliding sideways as it gets whipped around the corners. The boat is set snug but not tight; it has the freedom to move around a little. This is what it looks like, though it's hard to see the detail:

Anyone have any issues with the AKA bars mounted to the kayak hitting the roof of your car when strapped to the roof rack upside down? Is there enough clearance for these bars?

I have loaded the Island inverted on my Thule racks with standard posts, and had no problems with the Aka attachment bars which are well and truly clear of the car roof. In fact they provide some security as stops should the hull shift forward or aft. That is my preferred method for carrying the rig from now on...Pirate

If car topping the adventure island or any 16ft kayak is it necessary to tie off the tips of the bow and stern to some place on the car? Or does everyone just strap it down to the roof top rack and go?

J

Also, how do you guys strap the mast to the roof? Do you need to support it at the ends so the mast doesn't flop all around? Do you some how strap the mast to the kayak?

I strap the mast to the kayak, at four points, using elastic straps.

Geoff.