I just changed vehicles and switched to a Hullavator from J Carriers. I am very pleased with it because my kayak is heavy. However, I am now getting significant depressions in the hull. The bottom of the hull must sit on two bumps which do not really fit the profile of the hull. They create alot of pressure.
No harm so far…the depressions come out with towels and boiling water on top of them. But there has to be a better solution.
I never had this issue with J-carriers because the boat was tilted on its side, and the weight was distributed such that there was alot less pressure on the polyethylene.
I was thinking of making some “bunk boards” out of piece of wood and gluing some yoga-mat foam on each side. The bunk boards would lie flat in-between the Hullavator and the kayak hull., I still have to figure out a safety leash…
Anyone else have this issue and come up with an easier solution?
Can you carry the boat inverted? Not knowing what model of kayak you have, this may not be an option, but I always carry my touring kayaks upside down. No worries about oil-canning the hull (I don’t care if the decks get dents, though they never have shown any such problems).
I have a Hullavator but as kfbrady notes, the cradles are positioned so the padded arms have firm contact with the kayak (which is thermoformed). I did cover the rubber pads with 1/4" minicell because they sometimes left black marks on my hull. The marks easily were removed with a Magic Eraser but the minicell eliminated that issue.
My boat comes off at the end of each trip. Also live in a cool climate.
Our boats are fiberglass/aramid composites and I have the Hullavator cradles set so that the hulls just don’t quite touch those black rubber “bumpers”. Sometimes though if the kayaks aren’t loaded perfectly level, we’ll get a little black smudge on a hull. It’s easily removed though.
I also generally unload the boats after each trip, although if we paddle in the afternoon and intend to go out again the next morning, I’ll leave the boats on the car and just loosen the bow and stern lines. I’ll put cockpit covers on if it looks like it will rain overnight.
I’ve been doing it this way for about 4 years with no problems.
We had the same problems, especially with our roto-mold kayaks. Some of out composite kayaks, also do not sit well on the Hullivators. The deep V composite kayaks, where hitting the metal in the middle. We made a few minicell foam spacers, to sit under the kayak. Here is one of the spacers. We attached tethers to the blocks, in case it was to slip out. Foam and straps, do not always stay how you tighten them.
@Medawgone said:
We had the same problems, especially with our roto-mold kayaks. Some of out composite kayaks, also do not sit well on the Hullivators. The deep V composite kayaks, where hitting the metal in the middle. We made a few minicell foam spacers, to sit under the kayak. Here is one of the spacers. We attached tethers to the blocks, in case it was to slip out. Foam and straps, do not always stay how you tighten
@willowleaf said:
Can you carry the boat inverted? Not knowing what model of kayak you have, this may not be an option, but I always carry my touring kayaks upside down. No worries about oil-canning the hull (I don’t care if the decks get dents, though they never have shown any such problems).
I can try this. My intuition is that If the contact points land on a curve, there is a smaller chance of deformation. However, I have a big kayak and the plane of the top side is broad and flat.
@kfbrady said:
Move the cradles a little closer together so that the weight of the kayak is supported by the covered foam pads rather than the “bumps”.
They are getting close to Thule recommended minimums, The kayak is long at wind forces twist it…putting more pressure on the factory rails…
@Barge
I think kfbrady meant to move the cradle arms closer together so the hull sits slightly above the bumps. Like my rear cradle is right now (just loaded the Romany). Not moving the cross bars closer together.
@Celia said: @Barge
I think kfbrady meant to move the cradle arms closer together so the hull sits slightly above the bumps. Like my rear cradle is right now (just loaded the Romany). Not moving the cross bars closer together.
Don’t move the arms closer, but the cradles - the padded parts, there are two on each hullavator arm, one fixed and one adjustable. There is a locking knob on the adjustable one - the inboard one - that allows it to slide along a groove to support kayaks of different widths. Set the cradles just far enough apart so that the hull of the boat doesn’t quite touch the hard rubber pad.
Another advantage of my “hull up” loading is that the cockpits of my kayaks fit snugly between the rack crossbars which makes them less likely to slide forward or back if some mishap occurs with the lashing straps (I always have bow and stern bumper tie-downs as shown in the photo, but I feel like the coamings being contained between the racks just adds a bit more safety.)
