how well are they made & which do you prefer? any bad points?thinking about helping my back out a bit& buying one.that Ford Expedition is tall.
just bought the hullivator
and it is so much easier to load/unload my poly tempest than my previous roller bar system. It is perfect for those ailments. Now the downside is that it is on my minivan so it sits pretty high. I have to remove the cradles so my car will clear my garage door. The only other minor thing is you can notice a humming sound while driving with the kayak.
Would I recommend it. Yes. but then again, I purchased the system on sale.
Hull-a-vator
Working off of fuzzy memory of the Talon system, I believe that it utilizes the entire roof cross bar to slide off and then down. The Hull-a-vator uses 25" and can accomodate up to a 33" wide boat. I have two of them on my Ford Explorer. Not quite as high of a roofline as your Expedition so you’re going to appreciate the non-jerk & cleaning of a kayak up onto you roof even more.
Drop me a line if you need a picture of the widget or details.
See you on the water,
Marshall
www.the-river-connection.com
Hullavator
I just got a Hullavator for our Expedition and it works great. It has made paddling fun as loading the boat is easy to do without assistance of a person or a stool. I understand that in August Thule products may be on sale. Your timing is great.
H vs T
I was unaware that Yakima had actually brought the Talon to market. I cannot find it at the yak site.
I bought a set of Hullavators this year, and am generally satisfied. Much of the noise can be eliminated by keeping the straps tight and wrapping & tucking the ends. The straps as provided are waaaaay to long. Another source of noise is the channel that the square nuts slide in. Tape-over as much of the channel as you can, or fill it with appropriately-sized PVC tubing.
The Hullavators allow me to fully open the hatch of my Outback with a 16’-10" touring kayak aboard. Just rotate the boat to the first position and open the vehicles hatch. Great for loading gear into the boat as well.
The 'Vators do have some glitches, such as having to wiggle the units to get them to fully close and latch, but overall I am a happy camper.
Jim
Thule revamped the Hullavator
If you have the original Hullavator you should know that Thule redesigned it and eliminated the flaws. They sent me a free replacement and it has been perfect. It latches easily and securely in the up and down positions, the locks work, and they added padding to the lower supports. Contact them if you have any problems. I have had this replacement since January and there are no problems.
hullivator
I wash my hullivator off after evervy trip. and rust still shows. the rivits are not saltwater compatible!! Just be awware!!!
My 'Vators are '06s
but there is still enough slop in the system that I sometimes have to wiggle the boat and units to get them to latch in the travel position. I do not consider this to be a defect, just a fact of life when mounting on round bars - which allow the units to rotate a bit during transition.
Jim