Getting back to the easy part of Randall’s question, here is his first sentence. “i am finding I am becoming biased towards kayaks more on their ease of being lifted rather than features, which I will need for sea kayaking.”
Forget all the back and forth about loading for the moment. Those features in a sea kayak are there for safety reasons - the shape of the hull to handle waves, perimeter rigging to hang onto the boat in case of a capsize, two bulkheads to make sure it doesn’t sink, smaller cockpit to make it harder for the boat to get swamped. IF you plan to go into water without a shoreline nearby and maybe strong wind or waves, the only safe way for you to paddle is to find a group to paddle with or get a boat with these features that may be heavier. And of course learn how to re-enter and handle waves.
These boats will be heavier, by how much varies. But it comes down to what you are willing to adapt to in order to be safe. And if you are near big water, like an ocean bay or the Great Lakes, you WILL want to explore further out. It will drawn you.
So for the moment focus only on boats that have features that will keep you safe. Sort them out from the rest, I agree go used to start, then go for the lightest among them. There are lots of ways to load a boat, everyone finds a way.
@willowleaf said:
I rarely actually throw them over. Mine are long enough that I just pick up the ends that are laying along the center of the hood or hanging down the middle of the rear hatch while I am standing in front of the fore or aft bumper of the car . I then lift them over the bow or stern of the kayak and walk with them to the side door, then pull the free end until the buckle is where I want it. Like GBG, I have done this hundreds of times and it’s a simple and automatic action. I don’t trust other people to secure my boats, so this is a methodical routine I do each time I load.
One thing I do as a routine that makes this simpler is that I always carry my kayaks hull up (inverted), for many reasons. With the bow and stern down it’s easier to lift the straps over them than if they are upright.
Come to think of it, I have two methods for placing straps, and the one I did not describe above is pretty similar to what Willow describes. Like her method, it involves walking around the ends of the boat/car, and if you can even come close to reaching your boat with your hands while standing on the ground, flipping a little loop of strap over the end of the boat and then letting it slide to another part of the hull as you walk to the other side of the car is no problem. Once again, there are no aspects of the procedure that a person might describe as a pain in the butt. Most people just figure this stuff out on their own so the need for this subtopic came as a surprise to me.
@Celia said:
…
So for the moment focus only on boats that have features that will keep you safe. Sort them out from the rest, I agree go used to start, then go for the lightest among them. There are lots of ways to load a boat, everyone finds a way.
In a nutshell, that’s the best advice you can get.
Native American tribes in our area used to just take a bundle of reeds and tie the ends together to fashion a rib for a primitive boat. It was less pretty than it was disposable and replaceable, but there are times we’ve gone a bit too far in our approach toward building craft. http://alturl.com/kqy7t
I think a bamboo boat has that beat in terms of durability, but the reeds are a pretty elegant solution and REALLY cheap :).
You can make your own suction cup type slider thing. I made one cost me 30 bucks plus no need for straps,. Used suction cup dent puller which wont come loose. Link to were I first saw it. https://www.hobie.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=31224 But I ended up getting a used Thule Slipstream cheap so that has built in roller. Here is the one I made
