My wife and I are in our early sixties and we find it increasingly more difficult to lift our 50 lb 16’ Kevlar canoe on top of the car. My wife is realy not tall enough to lift the canoe high enough.
We are using the foam blocks at present.
Is there a roofrack available that would make it easier for us as we canoe a lot and do not want to have to give it up .
Thank you,Ralph
Hey Ralph…
This doesn’t answer your question, but just a suggestion if you haven’t tried it yet.
From the back of the vehicle, you get under the front of the canoe and have her at the stern.
You do a push up type lift and place the bow on the cross bar. All she has to do is stand behind the stern and hold it waste level.
After you have the bow on the rack, you go around back and take the stern from her and just slide the canoe up and on the vhicle
Works pretty good for us old timers. I am 163 pounds and she is 120.
There is another method that you can do without even needing her help that I do with my 80 pound Old Town Discovery.
If you are interested shoot me an e-mail and I will explain it.
Cheers,
jackL
This may help
All though I haven’t used it my self, it may help you.
http://kayakfishingstuff.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=RE&Category_Code=kc
Tqalon EZ Load
would have been the ticket, but Yakima bought the patent and has not offered the product on the market. Check with Thule for their Hullavator, which may work for canoes.
Jim
Lightweight Option
Single boat trailer from Trailex. About $700, no lifting and if you like just back it right into the water.
As to the Hull-a-Vator option, it almost works but just not quite right. Curved outer cradle is made to cup around a kayak hull not the freeboard area of a canoe. Lifting and securing it’d probably work but the outer cradle tip would be pressing in on a non-reinforced area of the canoe. Balancing there if you backed away the canoe would be likely to tumble out from the cradle. Just not designed for canoes. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a canoe iteration in the future though.
See you on the water,
Marshall
www.the-river-connection.com
Lifting my Old Town Loon 160T
Ralph, I have system for lifting the Old Town Loon 160T, which is 70 pounds, up on to the roof rack of my Suburban, which is over 6’ high.
With the kayak on the ground,I set the bow by the rear wheel. With the rear of the boat out past the rear of the car. The wife stands behind the stern on a small cradle. The cradle was made simply from two short 2"x8" screwed at 90 degrees into a piece of plywood. I then lift the bow up on to the rear of the roof, protected by a small throw rug. The wife standing on the cradle keeps the kayak from sliding away. I then take the stern and push the kayak up and onto the roof rack into the saddles.
This keeps the wife from having to shoulder a heavy load. All she has to do is stand at the end of the boat to keep it from sliding away as you lift the front. I only have to lift one end of the kayak at a time, and ONLY for a short period. We are not trying to lift together at either end of the kayak. With all the swinging back and forth and trying to balance the load that entails.
This system would work for you if car has a small/no trunk. Otherwise you can use the bars that extend out the side in the link referenced above.
Don