Auto Help. Have Jeep, Need Advice on How to Attach a Kayak??

10.09.17 | chickensoup

[Chickensoup]

Ok boys and girls.

I bought the Jeep Sahara Unlimited Altitude Wrangler that we discussed last spring. I love it and I smile all the time that I drive it. Yes I am a Pavement Princess.

Great vehicle.

Now I have a conundrum.

I want to buy and transport a kayak. I have wanted one of my own for years, and heck, it is my birthday this week.

I smile when I kayak.

I went out and looked at them and I can get a 10 foot 38 lb injection molded cute kayak at a decent price to paddle around the lakes and streams in my area.

Problem. It is too long for my vehicle so I cannot stuff it inside. I cannot remove the spare to have it hang out the back, for that cannot happen. It is too heavy to remove, and it looks cute back there.

I am way too short to put the kayak on the detachable roof. It will never get up there. That is a fact.

I have a trailer but transporting the kayak in the big trailer that my son uses to transport big things like snowmobiles, lawn tractors etc. seems like overkill...and I cannot back up with a trailer. It is encoded in my female DNA to be unable to back up the trailer.

I have been looking at some of those little trailer-ettes that hang off the trailer hitch. They are little platforms that hang there and they stick out a bit. I am trying to see whether I can somehow strap a kayak to the back of the vehicle standing upright sitting on that hitch platform. Would this be a good idea. I would not be going on highways, just back roads here in the area. Never more that 50 mph.

I don't want to harm the Jeep, the kayak or anyone else.

Your technical advice would be appreciated.

Thank you!

chickensoup

[null and void]

That is an Australian site, but I am sure there are plenty in the U.S.

Just be sure to walk the free end the other way around above the equator...

[AF_Blue]

Stop at your nearest U-Haul center and ask to see an AO trailer. Rent one, you’ll do fine:

https://www.uhaul.com/Trailers/5x8-Utility-Trailer-Rental/AO/

You’ll hang out the back a couple of feet, so tie a pair of your bright red panties on the end of your kayak, as a warning flag. Your kayak will be easy to load, unload, and tie down. Your Jeep MUST have a hard top to rent this (or any other U-haul trailer). Depending on your Jeep’s wiring harness (where the trailer’s wiring plugs in), you may need to purchase a 7round-to-4flat wiring plug adapter (less than $10)

[foundedonpurpose]

Might weigh a couple pounds, don’t hurt your back.

Thats why you go to the garage with the nice man!

[null and void]

African or European?

[null and void]

I could hire a galley of slaves to carry the kayak to locations for the cost of a good man.

OTOH, I can be had for a meal.

I would have been such an easy dog to train...

[2111USMC]

I think your answer is the best.

[Chickensoup]

OTOH, I can be had for a meal.

I would have been such an easy dog to train...

_________________________

only chickensoup available here. LOL.

[AF_Blue]

This is useful:

https://www.harborfreight.com/step-stool-working-platform-66911.html

Get on their mailing list, then wait until it goes on sale for $20

[null and void]

I’d eat that...

[foundedonpurpose]

With well over a hundred posts, appears to be news and activism for some. Slow news/event night.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Get a lightweight kayak / canoe trailer. There are lots of specialty ones available now. It'll save your back hoisting it on top of your Jeep and make it much more fun to go on outings. Some of the trailers fold up and have small dollies available so you can move it to your side yard or back yard. I'm looking for one myself for my canoe. They make them with really long tongues for long boats.

Here's one from Yakima:

Here's another from Malone. Check out rackwarehouse.

[Cvengr]

Bungee cord it to the Great White.

[foundedonpurpose]

Inflatable Duckies would actually fit in her vehicle!

[Chickensoup]

C’mon over. Move kayaks for all the free soup you can eat. Noodle, rice or alphabet?

Winters are cold, but woodstove is warm.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You’ll master backing up in no time. Want to go left? Steer right. And vice versa. With a little forethought, you can avoid most backing situations. Plus, the trailers are so light you can unhitched it and move the kayak / trailer easily.

[Flick Lives]

I am too short. Jeep is too tall.

—�

One possibility might be to purchase a small plastic foldable step. You could store it flat in the vehicle and use it when you need to lift items onto the roof of the Jeep.

[Chickensoup]

You are not talking about the Yellow duckies that go in bathtubs, are you?

You must be talking about something different.

I want something easy to maneuver. Like a kayak.

[Vic S]

I had a Wrangler and took my kayak down to La Paz. This is hwo I did it:

1) Put the front rack of a surfrack over the front door, as close to the front windshield as it’ll safely go.

2) Get a T-bar rack that goes in a trailer hitch. It’s a big “L” shaped bar with a “T” on the top. It goes into the hitch (full size, not the small size for bicycles).

3) Strap the kayak upside down between the two. It’s pretty heavy but I did it alone, taking it down at night and during the day to fish.

I bought mine from Thule.

[Chickensoup]

You’ll master backing up in no time. Want to go left? Steer right. And vice versa. With a little forethought, you can avoid most backing situations. Plus, the trailers are so light you can unhitched it and move the kayak / trailer easily.

_____________________________

Guy

DNA is a settled science. And I have non backing up trailer DNA. I have tried.

I can drive six on the floor.

I can park a MGB in the space between two parked cars. And receive applause.

I can and have driven a pulp truck.

I have commuted with a car with no brakes just a stick.

But I cannot drive backwards with a trailer.

Just not in the picture.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, by the time you got your kayak off, it would be time to put it back on and head home!