Picking up a used Old Town Adventure XL 160, a few questions.

Advice
#1

New to the sport, hope to do some kayak camping, possibly on bays down here in Florida, and also hopefully on lakes up north, so wanted something long and that could hold some gear. In theory it looks like this will work for that.

I got that impression by reading the reviews here on this older boat. https://paddling.com/reviews/product/old-town-canoe-kayak-adventure-xl-160-kayak/

But a few questions. I’m 6’ 2", but have a very long inseam. 36". The yak has a rudder, but even though it is quite roomy, even with the foot pegs as far forward as they go, I ideally need about another inch or two of leg room to properly get my feet where they need to be, that is if I find I need to use the rudder. I saw a lot of comments in the linked reviews above mentioning how they rarely used the rudder, if at all, so, this may or may not be a problem. But if it is, does anybody here have experience with this model? I didn’t see where the seat looked adjustable, like I could move it back a bit. And if I did, I might end up out of ideal balance, being nose high due to the tweaked center of balance, length wise. Any thoughts?

A roof rack for my van. J hooks or a stacker? The yak is 16 ft, I assume I’d need front and rear bumper area tie downs as well? (I don’t think the van is that long) I’m toying with the idea of taking it up north on vacation (I’m in Florida) but interstate speeds with a kayak mounted up top of a van is suddenly seeming like a very reckless idea. Anybody have experiences with that?

Lastly for now, a kayak dolly. Looked at a few on Amazon. I live pretty close (a 10 minute walk) to a small lake/river where I could easily just walk my kayak to the water. I recently saw another person who had something rigged up to a bike doing the same thing. I saw him in the lake/river, his bike was chained to a fence near the put in area. I was thinking, it would be neat to have a dolly that would collapse small enough to store inside the kayak once I got to the water. The ones I saw on Amazon look too large for that. Is there such an animal out there, or an alternative I’m not aware of?

That’s enough for now, if anybody has any insights would really appreciate you chiming in.

Bruce

#2

Hey, I’m a newbie also. But I was told to get stackers over a j-rack, and you will definitely want tie downs for the front and rear. I use 4 straps per kayak, two on the body and one on each end.

#3

Especially trying to slide a boat onto the top of a van, go for the least confining option in terms of what you have to aim at. Stackers or rollers and loaders are a better idea.

This is an old fashioned idea but it works. If you are nervous, use not one but two straps at each location on the boat (ahead and behind the cockpit). It makes for better peace of mind, I still do it for longer trips.

Lots of options for kayak cartts that will stow, just depends how much money you want to spend. For ex here - https://www.austinkayak.com/subcategory/217002/Carts-&-Carriers/v/500/

#4

Thank you both for your comments and links, very helpful.

An offshoot of an earlier question. I assume a cover for the opening in the kayak would be recommended for driving with it mounted to the top of the vehicle? I would assume that big open hole would really grab the air rushing by and that would put significant force that would want to pull it off the vehicle?