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

[Chickensoup]

My insurer would frown upon this use of the Jeep.

[anton]

Go to jeepforum and post this question there. Find the right subforum. This topic comes up often.

[huldah1776]

I have a 94 xj and I love Jeepforum. Enjoy!

[marktwain]

Libstripper has a good start.

The way to use a roof rack is to avoid trying to lift the whole kayak at one time.

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You can get a T-rack that fits in the hitch.

The T-rack is above the spare. But one end of the Kayak on the T-rack and rotate the Kayak by holding up the other end and walking it around to the front.

This allows you to use leverage and only pick up half the weight of the Kayak at a time.

I use a modified system that I made to put a Scanoe on my Truck.

Should work for your kayak.

There are also side loader systems.

Here is a link:

http://www.roofracksgalore.com.au/kayak%20loaders.htm

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

[RetiredTexasVet]

I saw one on a Jeep the other day. It was shaped like a J with a J attached to the front cross beam of the top carrier and another J attached to the back cross beam of the top carrier. There was one set on each side of the Jeep for a total of two Kayaks. The bottom of the J carrier faces out which cradles the kayaks which are strapped to the carrier. I showed my wife because she borrows my pickup truck to tote hers around.

Having a folding step stool is very handy for loading and unloading ... one of those two step kitchen jobs.

[Chickensoup]

Thank you,

This issue is to have a kayak, the only thing that I can manage successfully in the water.

I manage to propeller canoes down streams and rivers.

By propeller I mean that the sucker turns in circles.

[foundedonpurpose]

It would work!! For you and all your FRiends! :-)

Can you lower your ride. Appears that like myself you are somewhat vertically challenged.

[Rebelbase]

Unzip the back window, lay down the front passenger seat and slide the Yak in. It will hang out the back a bit. Secure it in a couple of places.

Enjoy the river.

[Kickass Conservative]

1. Weather Balloon

2. Helium

3. Rope

4. 911

[BillyBonebrake]

Simple: You need a 1978 Ford Country Squire station wagon. Or a GM wagon of similar vintage. Or - better yet - buy a house on your favorite body of water.

I have an Old Town Next ‘canoe-yak’. Mine goes on the roof rack of a passat wagon lifting it over my head with clean and jerk, holding the thwarts.

My mother-in-law and gone through 2 windshields already, stuffing a kayak into her Honda Pilot.

No easy solutions.

[blueunicorn6]

You have a conundrum?

So you’re in a band?

Well, is it a marching band?

I enjoy watching a good marching band.

The good ones can make a figure that looks like spaghetti with meatballs.

I guess the tubas are the meatballs.

Flutes wouldn’t make good meatballs.

They look more like lasagna.

Now I’m hungry.

Kayaks kind of look like a loaf of garlic bread.

There’s your answer!

Buy some garlic bread!

[Chickensoup]

That is pretty nice. I will have to price it out.

[HotKat]

Don’t trade your Jeep in for a Prius. My niece thought she could load her kayak through the hatch back into the front seat. Whoops she lost he windshield.

[cyclotic]

When I first got my kayaks, we used a full size van. It was a real challenge getting the boats on the roof with a Yakima rack. I have a small flatbed trailer from Harbor freight. It’s really tough to back up because it’s so short but in most places I’ve found, you really don’t need to. Several kayaks fit into it easily and it’s easy to load and unload.

I’d go there. The trailer was only a couple hundred bucks.

[Chickensoup]

I wait until it’s good and dark and then I sneak up behind it and put a full Nelson on it.

____________________

This is disturbing, on many levels....

[Chickensoup]

When one is on the less tall side of the normal curve, one wants to be in a tall ride.

[Chickensoup]

Seats do not cooperate. If I lay the front one down the back one doesn’t come down.

[Chickensoup]

1. Weather Balloon

2. Helium

3. Rope

4. 911

5. Handgun?

[Nicojones]

One or two of these - https://www.amazon.com/Darby-Industries-968-Black-Turbo/dp/B0015D19SS/ref=redir_mobile_desktop?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0

With this (as long as you have a hitch) - https://www.amazon.com/Tricam-SLE-1-Extender-350-Pound-Capacity/dp/B00HDL2DX6/ref=pd_sim_263_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00HDL2DX6&pd_rd_r=0KPE2XFYRYJWCJN5E7XZ&pd_rd_w=TUoso&pd_rd_wg=BXd9c&psc=1&refRID=0KPE2XFYRYJWCJN5E7XZ

Here is a cheap but good hitch if you don’t have one - https://www.amazon.com/TYGER-Towing-Combo-Receiver-2007-2016/dp/B00JZQXJ3K

Once you have the extender installed vertically in your hitch, you just prop the kayak against the horizontal top bar and slide it on top of your hardtop portable bar.. the angle makes it slide easier than you would think. Once everything is in place, secure the kayak with rope or bungee chords. I love my Jeep as well. Off roading is a blast. Good luck!

[sheana]

I don’t have an answer to your problem but just had my own. We have a nine foot dinghy with a 3.5 hp 4 stroke that hangs on the rails of our boat. Used to have a young guy that lived by me that would come take the motor off the rail and put it on the dinghy for me. He moved. I’m scared of trying to lift the heavy sucker because I just know it’ll wind up in the water. Soooooo.......I bought an electric motor for the dinghy. Lol. Men sure do come in handy at times. 😎🤷‍♂️🚣‍♀️⛵️