Molly
Hey, thanks for the tip on the Molly. I had never seen this particular cart, and I happen to be in the market for one now.
I lost my kayak (and cart, and PFD, and pretty much all my gear) during Hurricane Ivan and am just getting to the point where I can start replacing things. Got new boat and PFD, and a paddle for my birthday, but still need a cart. I used to have the Paddleboy Tomato, but it was hard to fit into the hatch w/o disassembling, though the wheels were great for sand. Might give the Molly a closer look now that you’ve turned me on to it.
Thanks again.
Carpet padding
I use a piece of carpet padding under the stern of my Tempest 165’
It’s the padding that is used under inlaid carpeting.
I believe it’s called 6lb. padding. It’s about 3/8" thick, and is very slip resistant. It looks llke a bunch of rubber chips glued together. You might be able to pick up a scrap at a carpet store.
If not any home improvement store will have it.
Frank
Slip-slidin’ away
– Last Updated: Dec-04-04 7:07 PM EST –
Okay, I just breezed through this thread really quick, so maybe I'm not up to speed...but it sounds like one problem is that when the boat is angled up onto the car, the end that's on the ground slips and the whole shebang wants to crash to the ground. Is that right?
Rig up some kind of "harness" for the bow. This could be something as simple as a loop of rope around the bow. Make the loop small enough that it can only slip a little ways toward the center of the boat before it gets too snug to go any farther. Fasten the other end of the rope to your car. Now when you lift the stern of the boat up onto the car, the rope gets tight and the boat can't slip away from the car. This way it won't matter if the padding you lay on the ground is slippery.
I should have mentioned
I have rubber floormats in my van – the rubber grips well and the boat doesn’t slip at all when it’s leaning against the back of the car. I’ve also got pretty good at judging the correct distance behind the car to place the mat.
I don’t use anything on the top of the van – once I lift the boat from the mat, it’s resting on the rear cradles.
I can also remove the boat from the car in the opposite fashion that is used to put it on.
To prevent the boat from slippling …
– Last Updated: Dec-05-04 9:10 AM EST –
I use two of the tie-downs.
I hook one to the right and left rear of my van, and connect the end through the stern carrying loop. This way, the kayak cannot slip along the pavement.
By the way, I don't have a cradle. I just use the foam pads to transport my kayak. That said, I use one of those pool noodles to slide the kayak along the roof. It works great!
EUREKA - PROBLEM SOLVED
My thanks to one and all. I placed the skate right even with the rear carry handle, put rope of proper length (measured and attached at both ends with clips) to the stand on the skate and the other end to car hitch and voila! I can lift bow to cartop on a pillow and then unhook skate while lifting the boat and place it on the car. Works smoothly. Taking boat off car I add a board to chock the wheels as was sliding sideways on me. Then can drop rear of boat onto skate, strap it in (while holding off ground–somewhat ackward here), drop the bow carefully to the ground and then I loosen the skate straps and slide forward a couple of feet so is a weightless pull to the water (I carry all my junk on board and toss skate in the rear for the day). One trip does it all (sometimes the walk is quite a distance so don’t like two trips). I did this both on level ground, uphill and down and works like a charm. Ignoring strapping to the car top time, I can raise and lower the yak in seconds, and under control too. I still may drop a carpet remnant under the rear of the skate in case yak rubs while adjusting straps. Great ideas everyone. I’m closing this site now as I feel we have done a great job airing the problem. Happy yaking. Pam 
Butt Bra suggestion
I saw someone use a heavy canvas duffle bag with a drawstring closure.
Slipped it over the boat’s stern when it was sitting on the beach, tightened the drawstring, carried the boat to the car, set the stern on the ground while positioning the boat on the rollers. Pushed the boat up onto the rack, pulled the duffle bag off the stern, filled the bag with PFD, shoes, etc, and tied the boat down with bow and stern lines, and main tie downs, too.
Reversed the process when they got home.
Try It Out First
I gave the cart a rather low score (check my review on this site) for being very unstable. I have spoken to Paddleboy since and they have given me their new improved model which I have not tried yet. This cart is a definite try before you buy. The Tomato is a much nicer design and the Molly’s wheels are unlikely to perform well on the sand.
That being said, if you can get it strapped up good (which took supplemental bungies for me with the old strapping system), I have used it as a butt bra (okay, for me maybe it should be a butt bro’) and, for all it’s failings, it did a good job. If you can get the boat to stay on the cart, it’s a good butt bra (the term does have a certain ring to it).
Lou