I just purchased and assembled the Malone MicroSport which I’ll be using to transport my 2016 12ft Hobie Pro Angler and a friends kayak. My plan is to lay a total of four pvc pipes, two over each wheel which will support the two kayaks while transporting and storing. There are times that I will go by myself and will load just one side of the trailer with the Pro Angler. Do you think this should be ok to transport one kayak like that. Will it be extremely unbalanced? or am I overthinking it. I don’t want to put a third set of pvc in the middle, because I plan on using the center for storage and need access to it. Any advise would be extremely appreciated.
I can’t say I know for certain, but I think you’ll be fine toting one kayak on the side. Try it and see. If you see it’s not tracking as you would like, and the tongue weight is sufficient, try moving the kayak to the center. Tongue weight is crucial though, I’d move the kayak forward before I moved it to center.
Thanks for the advice tjalmy
I do hope you are padding the PVC supports and not resting the boats directly on the plastic pipes. I would also be concerned about the PVC being strong enough to carry the load and impacts that they will be subjected to.
I own the Microsport and it is an incredible trailer.
As for your situation, no problem.
As the average kayak is 40-60#, the trailer won’t even notice that.
So unless you fill the kayak with a lot of heavy gear, you should be fine.
Worst case scenario, toss a few sandbags on the other side to equalize balance.
Re the PVC comment, I agree. PVC is NOT structural! It is not designed to support anything so expect to replace it often or replace it with padded 2x4.
I don’t understand the purpose of the plastic pipes. The trailer already has front and rear cross bars. Why wouldn’t you lay each boat on those? You could invest in some saddles or J-hooks to mount on those cross bars, or just attach some padding. The two kayaks would each still be carried at the outer edges of the trailer in any case, so I can’t picture what the plastic pipes will be used for or in what orientation they will be mounted.
You can transport just one kayak on this trailer loaded on one side. But at least put some pool noodles on the bare bars. Don’t just put the yaks on the bars. You are asking for bar-dents in the hull. My advise is get some regular cradles or j-racks. Remember too that you use regular kayak straps not ratchet straps and tie the kayak to the bars not the cradles/J-bars.
Wait!..you’re contemplating using pvc pipe for the horizontal bars? What diameter and schedule? I think you’d better get the coated steel bars the rack producers make for supporting boats. They’re stronger. They don’t UV degrade. They are made to support things.
I’m planning on laying the 3" schedule 40 pvc pipe across the cross bars. Its main purpose of the pvc is for the weight of the kayak to be distributed as evenly as possible. I will be storing the kayak on the trailer most of the time and where I live a normal summer day the temperature is in the 100’s and leaving a 130+lbs kayak just sitting on two cross bars would’t be a good idea. I’ve looked into the Hobie saddles specifically made for my kayak, but they have to be a certain distance apart to fit the hull and the Malone trailer cross bars don’t allow that distance. I’ve done hrs of research on different saddle options, and ppl with the Pro Angler have commented that saddles and cross bars have dented the kayak especially in hot weather. I will be placing padding on the crossbars that don’t have pvc pipes, and I could probably transport the kayak that way, but I don’t want to store it for long periods of time just on that. Thanks for the input guys.
130 pound 12 ft kayak? Is that loaded or unloaded?
Okay, so the four plastic pipes will be running lengthwise, and the kayaks will be parallel to them. That’s important to specify because it’s obvious that that not a single person who’s replied so far realizes that this is your planned method. Everyone is naturally assuming that the boats will sit on two CROSS bars, because that’s what is normally done. The reason I asked that you specify your plans for the extra bars is that the photos clearly show that two perfectly good cross bars are already there.
You say you want uniform support for your boats, but have you actually tried what you propose, or are you simply guessing that it will work? Maybe there are some flat-bottomed rec kayaks or barge-like SOTs that will have a fairly large contact area when laid on two bars that are parallel to the axis of the boat, but any reasonably streamlined boat will only make contact at two or four very small points midway along the length of the hull if you do it that way, and even barge-like boats won’t have much tendency to stay centered from right to left when tied down on such a support system. If you can’t picture this, set out the bars and try it, before putting in the time to actually build the thing. I think you’ll find all these problems I describe.
If you are sure the trailer’s existing cross bars have the wrong spacing to effectively support your boats, you could construct a lengthwise framework between the those cross bars and use that to support two additional cross bars at a spacing that you feel is better suited to the use of cradles or J-hooks (and for that framework and additional cross bars I would use lumber or steel, not PVC pipe). Then, that’s the end of the problem, your boats are secure and well supported, and there’s no need to re-invent the wheel in terms of how to arrange contact with each boat’s hull.
Overstreet, that’s loaded. The PA I have is 12ft.
Guideboatguy, you make good points. I rigged everything up to see if it would hold, so far so good. I’m going to leave it up for a few days to see if there’s any deformation of the hull. If I see issues, I’ll have to come up with something new and like you said place another crossbar somewhere. Thanks guys!
In boat trailereeze those are “bunks”.
Okay, that looks better than I expected, since it’s not a traditionally shaped hull at all. Also, that’s a really heavy boat, so I can see what you are thinking here. Overstreet is right. Much larger boats are often trailered on contoured rails and folks call them “bunks”.
If you are going to run PVC lengthwise, I would suggest that you a) heat and soften the PVC to conform to your kayak so it supports the entire length of the boat. Maybe mount the PVC, then run a heat gun along the length to soften it and then cover with a towel before you let the kayak on to protect the kayak from the heat. The kayak should deform the softened PVC enough to conform to the hull shape.
then b) cover the PVC with something to cushion and protect the kayak like foam pads (cut and glue a blue foam sleeping pad).