HELP! I have upgraded from a basic Pelican to the Wilderness Pungo 100. I love the kayak but I cannot load it onto the roof rack by myself.

I am 5’3, not strong and have a bad shoulder.

I drive an Elantra hatchback with A Thule rack and the foldable J holders. I was limited for rack options because the car has a panoramic roof.

Suggestions on how I could load the kayak?

I have searched you tube endlessly. Some great products out there but not for my rails or for J racks.
I called the rack store I bought them from and they said I am out of luck.

I don’t think the roller type device would work since the kayak carries on an angle and I can’t imagine being able to twist the kayak and lift it too.

Of course the Hullivator Pro would work but I have spent a small fortune so far and can’t afford anything else.

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Hi Nicole

The easiest loading with a Hatchback is to load from the back.
I have a Acura Hatchback and load a 17 foot boat every weekend.
Now here’s the bad news you need saddles not J holders- cradles
and a Boat Roller

roller
https://www.rei.com/product/853261/seattle-sports-sherpak-boat-roller

Saddles you will need (2) for a set
https://www.yakima.com/deckhand

hope this helps

J-racks are the most difficult method for loading a short and wide kayak like you have – they are really only practical for whitewater boats and longer touring kayaks . I suggest removing the j-racks and loading the kayak directly onto the crossbars from the back of the car. Get a cheap wheeled kayak cart to use as a roller loader and follow the technique this guy does in his video. If you are concerned about scuffing the car, use a large bath rug or a yoga mat – jam it in the top of the hatchback. Also get a small folding step stool and carry it in your car – really helps when strapping the boat down. If you really want to ease up on your body, your next kayak should be a 12’ Pakboat Puffin Saco folding kayak. Only 20 pounds. I can lift mine with one hand and either load it on the roof rack or take it apart and carry it in the trunk in a duffel bag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7gQKKBV648

I agree with the others. You will make loading far easier if you use saddles instead of J bars.

A cheap option could be these Kajaksport foam saddles which I use:
https://www.struerkajak.com/products/skum-til-tagbojler?variant=1149665121

Unfortunately, I don’t know if they are sold in USA. One of the three variants (model #276112) is designed for the Thule Wingbar which both you and I use.

However, with your short distance between the roof racks, you will have to try it out with your boat first. It works really well on my own car which has a large distance between the racks. However, I have had one of my kayaks flex too much in the bottom when I placed it on these saddles on a car with a shorter distance between the roof racks.

First lose the J-bars, so you can just drop the boat straight onto the cross bars. I wish stronger young men would stop pushing those damned things - you are correct that getting a heavier (and in this case wider) plastic boat rotated up onto them is a bear.

I am your size, albeit thus far not with a bad shoulder. But one that requires care because I need both of them to play violin.

I finally got the Hullivator, but for carrying a second boat (like to Maine) I still need a non-Hullivator solution on the other side. I load from the rear as pictured in Willowleaf’s photo. If you don’t want to assemble your own version like Willowleaf, someone makes it. All you have to do is get the nose of the boat onto the thing then you can push it up. Amagansett Roller Loader - http://www.amagansettbeachco.com/rollerloadercom

I have used this device to load 17 ft sea kayaks alone for probably a decade now.

Once the boat is over the racks you have two choices. One is cheapo shaped foam pads on the bars, drop the boat onto that. It’ll work fine for your boat.

The other is - if you want to try it when more bucks are available - this.
Once you have more money saved, if you want it the other is this set - http://www.ems.com/thule-883-glide-set/19596200012.html?emssrcid=PPC%3AgooPLAs%3A311491613950_product_type_car_racks_brand_thule&product_id=19596200012&adpos=1o1&creative=203446005081&device=c&matchtype=&network=g&gclid=CjwKCAjwrO_MBRBxEiwAYJnDLEb01vCaDvaQF7hAv8OKfQ4I2hv3JIH7WEtnS8uc7TTAp0PyNHo7BRoCwW4QAvD_BwE

Or if you want to try flipping it on its side after it is up there flat, this - https://www.etrailer.com/Watersport-Carriers/Thule/TH830.html?feed=npn&gclid=CjwKCAjwrO_MBRBxEiwAYJnDLEzmYg_3ggV17_-bsRq0TJTLjlATxOVONDX6bBVGNzjbT4TxICsYpxoCU7AQAvD_BwE

The only thing that is a fly in the ointment about leaving it facing cockpit up is that, if you end up driving in a sudden rainstorm it’ll turn into a pretty big bucket. So you may have to pump water out before you can actually slide it back off the car. Unless you take a turn sharp enough to dump it out (joking). Or maybe a cockpit cover will help, but anything that will stay secure for a cockpit that big is going to cost an arm and a leg. I am guessing that you usually paddle when it is not raining though, so this should be a problem of limited scope.

Thank you all for these detailed responses. I’m so regretting that I didn’t research first and I just trusted a rack store. I will look into all these options. I only travel five mins on slow roads if I am kayaking alone. Husband will come with me if we are going far and he can use the J racks no problem. It seems I will have to invest some more money. Hopefully these products will ship to Canada. Amazon is hit and miss.

You can do it, you just need tools suited to a 5 ft 3 in tall female. And even with the Hullivator, it can be a dead lift to get,the boat into the arms. It is likely that l carry less weight using the roller loader. But the attaching securely part is easier with the Hullivator, plus l can’t drop it and just miss the car mirror like with one of my hates to go straight boats.

Just mess around with the,options as you have a chance.

Thule 887XT Slipstream

See you on the water,
Marshall
The Connection, Inc.
Hyde Park, NY
845-228-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
Main: www.the-river-connection.com
Store: www.the-river-connection.us
Facebook: fb.me/theriverconnection

Have you thought about putting all the seats down and jamming that 10’ boat inside your car?

@magooch said:
Have you thought about putting all the seats down and jamming that 10’ boat inside your car?

Won’t fit. A 10" Pelican barely fits in a Sienna without center consoles, so the OP must be willing to keep the tailgate ajar and tie it down. Which is what I am considering with my 14ft and a Sienna for short trips. Injured my shoulder a couple of days ago, so for now at least not a big fan of any overhead lifting.

Many hatchbacks have a sloping rear window that makes approaches like the wheeled cart/bath rug that wollowleaf recommended necessary. There’s often a spoiler too, that isn’t strong enough to take the weight of a kayak. I load my hatchback from the side, sliding the kayak up an auxiliary bar that connects the ends of the cross bars on my rack. Once the kayak is up on the roof, I pivot it so it is facing front and back. It’s similar to the Inno model INA453 accessory shown here:

http://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-inno-kayak-lifter-ina453.aspx.

My device is home made using padded PVC pipe that only cost a few dollars, but the Inno accessory is similar in concept. I have foam cradles attached to the roof rack bars - the pivot method doesn’t work with rigid cradles that stick up like J cradles or saddles. The advantage of this method is that the “loader” clears the sides of the car so you don’t have to make provisions to avoid scratching or denting the bodywork.

@SpaceSputnik said:

@magooch said:
Have you thought about putting all the seats down and jamming that 10’ boat inside your car?

Won’t fit. A 10" Pelican barely fits in a Sienna without center consoles, so the OP must be willing to keep the tailgate ajar and tie it down. Which is what I am considering with my 14ft and a Sienna for short trips. Injured my shoulder a couple of days ago, so for now at least not a big fan of any overhead lifting.

Doable with the tailgate tied down. Get a cheapo foam mattress pad to cushion the boat inside, secure the kayak with ropes to prevent lateral movement, and put a double layer of foam across the part of the boat the tailgate contacts for protection. I traveled for a summer stuffing my 14-foot kayak inside my Toyota Matrix. The car did have interior D-rings attached to the frame and adjustable cam straps with hooks on each end. And the tailgate window opened, which made the setup even easier. Also secured the bow in front,

@Rookie said:

@SpaceSputnik said:

@magooch said:
Have you thought about putting all the seats down and jamming that 10’ boat inside your car?

Won’t fit. A 10" Pelican barely fits in a Sienna without center consoles, so the OP must be willing to keep the tailgate ajar and tie it down. Which is what I am considering with my 14ft and a Sienna for short trips. Injured my shoulder a couple of days ago, so for now at least not a big fan of any overhead lifting.

Doable with the tailgate tied down. Get a cheapo foam mattress pad to cushion the boat inside, secure the kayak with ropes to prevent lateral movement, and put a double layer of foam across the part of the boat the tailgate contacts for protection. I traveled for a summer stuffing my 14-foot kayak inside my Toyota Matrix. The car did have interior D-rings attached to the frame and adjustable cam straps with hooks on each end. And the tailgate window opened, which made the setup even easier. Also secured the bow in front,

I used to own a Vibe years ago. The fact that the glass opened separately was quite useful when hauling boxes from Ikea.

I don’t know about those new-style cross bars, but older Thule cross bars could be outfitted with an extender that slips inside the cross bar when not in use. With an extender bar, or better yet, a pair of them, there’d be no reason to “lose those J-racks” as I see others suggesting. Switching to saddles or using bare bars might be easier in some ways, but with at least one extender, and better yet two, you’d get all the ease of loading you could ever want while still using the J-racks and there’d be no need for any long-distance sliding of the boat onto the roof, which isn’t all that easy with saddles either, though it’s great with rollers or bare bars.

Let’s say you have an extender bar on one side of both cross bars. Carrying the boat at waist level, you simply tilt the front end up high and the back end down low to the ground so that the front end is high enough to get over the forward extender bar. Then set the other end of the boat on the ground. The boat is now leaning between the ground and the forward extender bar. Pick up the back end off the ground and slide the boat two or three feet farther onto the forward extender until the end of the boat you are carrying feels sufficiently light (you can make the end you are carrying as light as you wish, just by pushing the boat a little farther forward), then walk the back end of the boat “out” away from the car just enough to clear the rear extender bar as you lift it up to set it there. The boat is now resting on both extender bars and the weight that you lifted overhead was minimal. Now slide the boat rearward a bit if need be, since you may have positioned it pretty far forward to make the back end light for lifting, and then, lift one end at a time the 8 inches or so that is needed to shuffle it a little sideways and drop it onto its J-hook. In each case, lifting effort will be much less if you lift from the end of the boat rather than from some point near the rack itself. Done one end at a time, it’s pretty simple, and standing on a step stool may make it easier. Finally, slide the extender bars into the main cross bars and you are done.

You can use this same procedure with just one extender bar as long as your J-racks are mounted far enough inboard on the main rack so that there’s enough room for your boat between the J-racks and the outer ends of the cross bars. Otherwise, using two extender bars is easier.

It could be that all those substantial “improvements” that went into the modern Thule cross bars means that no extenders are available, and if so, that wouldn’t surprise me at all. I hope Thule hasn’t adopted that ridiculous mindset that drives so many other companies to modernize their products in ways that make them look more cool but end up making them far less useful.

Above comment on rear spoilers, the Amagansett Roller Loader clears the spoiler even the pretty big one on the Rav4, with 8 inch wheels. Could clear a bigger one with the 10 inch wheels. So the device that willowleaf showed, homemade, should be able to assembled so that the boat fully clears the rear spoiler.

Thule Glide n Set saddles, load from the rear. The Thule roller will not work with a hatchback—the arms don’t extend back far enough to clear the edge of the rear roof. After trying the roller and various homemade devices, I finally did this:

Get a solid foam block meant for transporting kayaks. Here it will only be used to protect the rear edge of your car roof. It has a V shape. Wrap a towel around it and secure it with duct tape. Strap it to the edge of the roof by passing the strap through the open hatch. Tighten it hard so the foam block doesn’t move under the weight of the kayak.

Get a 6’ rug and place it behind your car if you’re worried about scratching the kayak. Place the kayak behind the car. Lift the bow onto the foam block. Inch it closer to the car until you can grab the stern and push the kayak up onto the foam block and then onto the cradles. Be careful not to let the kayak slide off the side of the car! The cradles can be tricky in that respect. I use four curved cradles rather that the flat ones that pivot after losing the kayak off the flat saddles a couple of times. (That require buying two complete sets of saddles, which you probably don’t want to do. You can usually find this on Craigslist for half price.)

You can leave the foam block on the roof on the highway if you tighten the strap hard.

Mechanized kayak lifts can be very heavy, like 75 lbs. I don’t want to carry that much extra weight all the time. A foam block with a towel is simpler.

@Rookie said:

Doable with the tailgate tied down. Get a cheapo foam mattress pad to cushion the boat inside, secure the kayak with ropes to prevent lateral movement, and put a double layer of foam across the part of the boat the tailgate contacts for protection. I traveled for a summer stuffing my 14-foot kayak inside my Toyota Matrix. The car did have interior D-rings attached to the frame and adjustable cam straps with hooks on each end. And the tailgate window opened, which made the setup even easier. Also secured the bow in front,

You didn’t get exhaust inside the car? I’ve carried extended loads in several different kinds of cars over the years (only as one-time events, not as a normal thing), and in every case the amount of exhaust coming in the back was really severe. Station wagon, panel truck, sport-utility, hatchback, and van - the problem was terrible with every kind of vehicle if a back window or door were cracked open or fully open, and whether driving fast or slow.

If you had no problems with exhaust coming inside the car, that’s great, but the fact that I’ve seen it happen so consistently with several different kinds of cars makes me really question the wisdom/experience of those (not you, as you didn’t initiate the idea) who are happy to recommend the practice. The recommendation has been made here before, and my memories of breathing fumes always makes it seem like a bad idea to me.

@Waterbird (and in general)

Correction on the lift devices. I had this wrong myself in an earlier post, sorry if I started an urban myth. Rookie corrected me and she is right. The Hullivator mechanisms, the most common lifting aid from what I have seen, and add about 18 pounds per unit thus a total of 36 pounds. Otherwise they rest on the usual cross bars. The Yakima Show Down rates at 21 pounds, and similarly allows waist high loading, but there are no gas shocks and no assistance in getting the boat from the side to the roof Hullivator takes over 45 pounds of weight as you lift, more than the weight of the units.

On the side where I have the mounts for a second kayak, after a fair amount of messing around I settled on saddle plus glide pads as the easiest to load, I use the Amagansett Roller Loader. It clears the rear spoiler and, while I have not made a home-done version, I don’t see why someone could not manufacture an equivalent if the roller loader folks could do it. Just copy the same proportions of wheel and stabilizing foot. Some units I have seen were manufactured with replacement parts for kids’ bicycles. Added advantage is you can get parts that are pink so they are easier to see in a dark basement.

The Roller Loader is not in the car unless I am kayaking (or too lazy to fully unload). So I am not typically carrying around any extra weight to speak of.

The biggest impact on fuel efficiency in any case (and at times noise) is the arms, saddles etc that you add to the cross bars. This amount of weight of these units is not going to chew up more gas. So stackers or anything that can fold flat are going to get you more advantage.

Also, the Hullivator units are the only version of a load assist device that accomplishes what they do which are designed to easily remove when not needed. (Hence losing the weight.) I don’t swap them out as often as some, like who do it before and after every trip. But this season I have taken to removing them more often when I am not carrying a kayak. After some initial colorful language I have found it is fairly easy to remount them as long as I have a stool of the correct height.t in use.

Both the Thule Hullivators and Yakima Show Down still involve the initial lift into the arms, which can be nudged in one end at a time but frankly goes best if you commit to a dead lift from the ground. As a boat gets bigger, this is still an imperfect thing. As I indicated higher up, I am probably carrying a bit less weight at maximum using the Roller Loader than the lift into the arms. But the boat can’t slide off angle onto the ground again either, and the initial strapping is much easier. Plus when I realize I have forgotten to remove something from the boat (last night’s paddle it was my spares), I can easily just drop it down again to waist high and retrieve what I ditzed out on.

Honestly, there is no system out there that is not going to require a bit of strengthening and practice by a 5’3" tall 130 or less pound female. Short of a folding boat. But you need a certain amount of strength just to paddle and move the boat in and out of the water. Having had to recover that strength a couple of times or so, I can say that the strength needed to load with either of my options is about what is needed to get the boat carted to and from the water. Or perform one of the more physically taxing self-rescues with reliability.

I am not a fan of trailers, but I have met people who swear by them. If you have a covered place to park the trailer, then you can leave the kayak perched there when done for the day. I suspect there are good trailers and bad.

@Guideboatguy said:

You didn’t get exhaust inside the car?

Nope. There’d be a puff I could smell when backing out of the driveway, but never during transit. I also kept the back and front windows open a crack.

The hatch was pretty much closed down. If I can find a photo on my home desktop will post it later.

It was always an amusing operation for other people to watch. I never had anyone offer to help load the kayak because they were wondering what step came next - not that I needed help getting it into the car as the 14-footer only weighs 43#. Now that I have a Hullavator, I’m always being offered help - which is the last thing I want when lifting a 47# boat to get it into the correct angle in the cradles. But it’s always fun to talk with people who have never seen it before and marvel at its engineering. If they’re really, really interested and my boat’s on the roof, I’ll explain how to bring my kayak down off the the roof so they can do it and see how easy it is. Now I’m noticing more Hullavators at a couple of my launch sites.