Has anyone put a hullavator on a GMC Terrain? I am considering it, but the roof rails are so short I’m not sure I can get the minimum 24" spread the Hullavator requires. I believe the maximum you could get is about 23". I would be carrying a 39 lb. carbon fiber Necky Eliza - 15’ 6". If you have put a Hullavator on a vehicle with a short spread between bars I would love to hear from you!
I have a customer that installed one on his Terrain. It works. He and I wish the bar spread was further apart but he uses the bow/stern tie downs religiously so all is good with his 46lb kevlar touring kayak.
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
Marshall speaks best to the spread issue. But just one more comment, if you are paddling an Eliza you are not a big person, and it appears the Terrain is on the tall side. You need to have the Hullivator units close enough together to be able to reach up and release and bring down each of them together, as well as get it back up. The first thing I had to do after having a guy help install mine to use it the first time, was move the rails closer together to save my shoulders from carrying too much weight in a risky position. The distance between worked for him but at my height I had to being them closer together by a few or so inches. So you might not be able to use a lot more than that spread even if the vehicle had it.
I always add a second strap that goes around the boat, under the Hullivator arm and its cross bar, and to a side rails at each point. That is in addition to the strap that sits in each of the Hullivator arms. My shrimpier boats don’t fill that space as tightly as a bigger guy’s boat to start with, and that way I am not worrying about the boat getting loose if the lock on the inside end of the Hullivator loosens. This is before the protection offered by bow/stern lines.
Celia,
A trick for your Shrimpier boats, run the strap from the top of the inner cradle arm past the larger outer arm and down around the metal handle (NOT the plastic trigger!) and back up to the buckle. This puts the pressure from the strap downward into the padded cradle arms rather than the strap spanning empty space. Useful on the aft deck on lower volume sea kayaks where the strap would only make contact at the edge of the deck closest to the inner cradle arm.
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
Celia makes a good point about the actual advantages of a short span on the Hullavator cradles, especially for people with shorter frames.
The maximum spread of the Hullavators on my Hyundai Santa Fe’s roof - with Thule towers - is 31". I have no problem lowering or lifting the loaded cradles but my 5’ 11" wife simply doesn’t have the wingspan to reach both release handles at the same time.
As both above say, with a really short span it’s imperative that you have good bow and stern tie downs.
@Marshall
If I understand what you are saying, the second strap wouldn’t accomplish anything if the inside end latch on the Hullivator got loose and wind could start to try and blow it up or sideways. Or do I misunderstand?
What I do still snugs the boat down to the base plates in the Hullivator cradles, but also secures the boat and the Hullivator unit to the cross bar via a strap underneath the whole thing. And the side rails if I add the extra loop but I often wonder if that is getting silly.
My approach does mean I have to put up the extra straps after the boat is locked in, and take them off before I can move the Hullivator to unload. It is not convenient since I am not a 6 ft guy so there is some tossing and reaching involved. But it makes me feel better.
The double strap thing is consistent with early practices anyway. When Jim and I first got our boats from Maine Island Kayak, Tom Bergh was a bit askance that we had shown up with just one strap per point on the boats. I am not sure but he may have even sold us four more straps on the spot to make sure we made the 36 mile drive home from the Dunkin Donuts lot in Vermont where we met him to take delivery. Since then for any of the long trips, like back to Maine each year, the boats go with four straps per boat. We were briefly thinking this might be overkill until someone knew got home from a whitewater outing with no boat on their roof. The strap had let go and the boat had gone off without their ever knowing it had happened. Obviously a bow line would have let them know there was a problem, but having a doubled strap would have left the boat on the roof.
Thank you all for your comments - I will seriously consider putting out the dinero for one. I am currently putting a rug on the back and pushing the boat up into some foam blocks on the crossbars. But I just know that one day something will go sideways, and I’ll either hurt the boat, my car, or myself. I’m 63 years old and have had both shoulders repaired, and just got a knee replacement, so I don’t need to be trying to save a loading attempt gone wrong. I think it’s time for an investment . . .
@Marshall said:
A trick for your Shrimpier boats, run the strap from the top of the inner cradle arm past the larger outer arm and down around the metal handle (NOT the plastic trigger!) and back up to the buckle. This puts the pressure from the strap downward into the padded cradle arms rather than the strap spanning empty space. Useful on the aft deck on lower volume sea kayaks where the strap would only make contact at the edge of the deck closest to the inner cradle arm.
Yep, the Eliza definitely is low volume, especially in back. I’ll definitely try this if and when I spring for the Hullivator. Which crossbars did your customer use? I am considering the thule square bars in 50" length. I might want to mount them slightly off-center to get a little distance out to the side on the Hullivator side for good clearance, as the side of the rig slants into the roof quite a bit.
(Whoops! Had my rear and forward part backwards - just fixed it. Point the same, buy more length than you think you will need.)
You probably need to go longer than 50" cross bars. Thule advises that the bars on the side carrying the Hullivator be 4 to 6 inches beyond the outer edge of the tower/footpad, that is so that you can bring the boat up and down without whacking the side of your car or your mirror. If the car gets wider as it goes back like my Rav4 and/or the side rails get closer together as they go back, a not uncommon design, the rear bar will have to overhang on the longer side of that width range. That is so the Hullivator units are lined up straight front to back and the rear one is far enough out to not hit the side of the car.
Specifically, my rails get closer together as they go back and my car gets a little wider. So the rear bar carrying the Hullivator unit has to overhand the foot mount by one and a half inches more than the forward one on that side. And the other thing is that the weight of the boat in the arms will push things further back. For example I mounted mine a little close this time, so when the boat is in the cradle and the unit is down it is clear of the front but rests against the side of the car in back. Easily solved by hanging a car blanket over the outside of the window and I had my reasons, but the point is you want generous rail length to mess with. I would wager that 50" is actually shorter than the width of your car in back - you can go to at least that length.
The square bars work best. There are arrangements for the aero bars I think but the moose antlers alone (Marshall’s term) contribute enough wind resistance that you are wasting your money paying for aero bars. You do want square bars, the Hullivator units tend to spin around a bit on round bars.
With the cradles on, my wife and I refer to our car as “Bullwinkle”.
It does make it very easy to find your car in a crowded parking lot though! 
More on the length of the bars - specs say a 73" wheelbase for the Terrain. There is a bit of a flare so the crossbars on the non-Hullivator side don’t have to overlap the footpad by more than a couple of inches UNLESS you want to be able to add some kind on non-hydraulic assistance for carrying a second boat. Like if you meet a friend to paddle. Then you might need more like 5 to 6 inches there.
But at a 73 inch wheelbase and having to clear the side of the vehicle when the cradle is lowered, I don’t see that you can go any less than 63 or so inches and that may be pushing your luck.
Easy way to measure this. Get the width between the side rails, add 6 inches on one side in case you need the max for the Hullivator and add a few inches for overhang on the other side. That will get you a useful cross bar width.
Or ask Marshall since he has already dealt with one of these.
My rails are parallel, but I’m more concerned with the way the sides of the vehicle angle in towards the top, making the edge of the roof 10-12 inches narrower than the fender flares on each side. I’m thinking I will need a good overhang on the Hullavator side to clear the sides and not bump at the bottom. Thule’s fit guide recommends the 50" square bars.
@Thistleback
(Just corrected one measure.)
This is a situation where you do not want to make all your assessments from a web site. You need to get actual measurements. I just looked at their fit guide and it is not clear to me the basic measurements for a cross bar account for the overhang needed to accommodate a Hullivator on your vehicle. Take out a tape measure and get the distance between the rails. Add 6 inches on one side - that is the maximum Thule recommends beyond the footpad - and a couple of inches on the other side. Add those together and call Marshall since he has already installed the Hullivators on Terrain to confirm the bar width he used. You will never regret living with bars that are a couple of inches wider than you minimally need, you will not like erring in the opposite direction.
@Celia
The rails measure 40" across at the outside edges, so I do think that 50" crossbars are correct.
@Thistleback
OK, always safer to check. Your distance between side rails is about the average of mine on the Rav4 front to back. Thule says no more than 6 inches of cross bar beyond the outside edge of the footpad. You are best off to set it out to the maximum to start with and see if you can come in.
I confirmed I have the 50 inch bars , and I came in close to 4.5 to 5 inches of overhang. So I hang a car blanket to protect the car in back. But with that I have enough room to give me some wiggle room for an add-on on the other side like a bike rack near the edge if needed.
These bars will not carry four boats like our older days with longer bars and stackers. But it is just me now so this is not so much of an issue.
Being that the bars are the same cost across the lengths use a length adjuster (aka hacksaw) with the longer bar and adjust till you are happy and not taking pedestrians off the sidewalk.
See you on the water,
Marshall
The Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
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
Yup, turns out I was on overkill here. I didn’t realize the Terrain was that width between bars, thought it looked wider than the Rav4.
That said, if I wanted to carry a canoe with the Hullivator, or like in older times and carry three and four boats, I would need longer bars than 50". At least the 63" Yakima ones that are sitting in the basement with the old stackers on them.
But you actually can travel with bars that look awfully wide as long as they do not extend beyond the wheelbase of the car. Jim and I did so for years in station wagons like the Taurus and the pre-2010 Outback. We never had an issue with those whacking anything. except our own heads once in a while getting out of the car. The newer compact SUV’s add height to the equation though, and low hanging tree limbs become more of an issue.
Really not an improvement for boat topping that manufacturers decided traditional station wagons weren’t cool any more. We could haul a ton of stuff in those old Taurus/Sable wagons and still make 28 mpg.
I’m thinking the 50" will be fine, I will only be carrying one boat. I am the only yakker in the family. I’ll just mount them a little off-center, then I won’t have much overhang on the driver’s side to whack my head on. I might buy 58" if I buy new, but if I find 50" used ones I can buy them without worry.
I chuckled a bit when I saw you saying you would only be carrying one boat. If you end up liking it you may find yourself going to launch sites with another person and their boat. But the 50" will do you unless you want to get beyond two boats or get extravagant with boats plus multiple bikes.
You should not take a stab at the overhang distance. Follow Thule’s guidance that comes with the Hullivators that it has to be between 4 and 6 inches beyond the outer edge of the foot pad. And if you car bellies out in back like mine, go right out to 6 inches on the front then do measurements to make sure the end of the rear one is plumb front to back with the end of the front bar.
I have redistanced my setup four times now, and while it is a useful education it is a PITA. You can save yourself a lot of grief by going out to the max to start and living with it for some paddling. Bring it in if it seems there is a crying need to do so. But the first time you actually load a boat you will see the wisdom of their guidance.
@Celia said:
I chuckled a bit when I saw you saying you would only be carrying one boat. If you end up liking it you may find yourself going to launch sites with another person and their boat. But the 50" will do you unless you want to get beyond two boats or get extravagant with boats plus multiple bikes.
I’ve been paddling for 13 years and the only time I ever hauled two boats was when I owned two boats, which is no longer the case. My paddling buddy has her own Hullavator, which was a strong influence on me to purchase one as well. I ordered it last night!
You should not take a stab at the overhang distance. Follow Thule’s guidance that comes with the Hullivators that it has to be between 4 and 6 inches beyond the outer edge of the foot pad. And if you car bellies out in back like mine, go right out to 6 inches on the front then do measurements to make sure the end of the rear one is plumb front to back with the end of the front bar.
Advice well taken! I will start out with the full 6" overhang.
I have redistanced my setup four times now, and while it is a useful education it is a PITA. You can save yourself a lot of grief by going out to the max to start and living with it for some paddling. Bring it in if it seems there is a crying need to do so. But the first time you actually load a boat you will see the wisdom of their guidance.
Thanks for all your advice - I scored crossbars, feet and locks used yesterday at a substantial savings, and will get those installed tonight. The Hullavator will be here on Friday. It’s about time I did something to make it a little easier on myself. I’ve had both rotator cuffs repaired over the past several years, and just had one knee replaced. The other knee will be some time late this year. I just want to enjoy my summer!