Last weekend I was kayaking with my fiance’ and was thinking about how to solve the age-old problem of shuttling with only one vehicle. Then I thought, how about putting my motorcycle on the utility trailer. Ok, now where to put the kayaks. Since the trailer is only 4’ wide, I could put 2x4’s (I always have to use at least one 2x4 in anything I build. Get over it, its tradition!) in the side stake pockets and hang the kayaks on the outside of the 2x4’s with the motorcycle strapped down in the middle of the trailer. I know that it might be a risk to leave the motorcycle anywhere, but I plan on cabling it to a tree or something. Risk? Sure. So be it. Sounds doable to me. Nice thing about a utility trailer is that its so adaptable.
folks do that with a bicycle
and hide it in the woods at the take out. Less to worry about. But, your method works if it’s a longer distance to retrieve your car.
Also for folks
like myself who have bad knees which makes a bicycle pretty much useless!
my shuttle bike is so pitiful…
…I don’t bother hiding it…if some poor soul ever steals that thing, they must be pretty bad off & I would feel glad to have helped them out a little!
Also, I’ve enjoyed walking back to the put-in & have often had people pull over & offer me a ride even though I didn’t have my thumb out.
when I was younger
We’d hitchhike to the car at the end of a backpacking trip. Now that I’m old and wise, I guess I can’t do that anymore. Security aside, my scooter would work well for that purpose too. It’s only 200 lbs and can throw it in the back of the truck.
my ideal setup…
which I hope to have sometime in the next few years, involves both of my vehicles. I’ve already got a rack setup for my truck, and am in the process of buying the parts for a rack for my honda.
And, since hondas make excellent dinghy vehicles (think pull-behind an RV) I’d like to get the tow-bar setup for the honda, put the yacks on the car, tow the car to the take-out, unhitch and leave the truck; drive the car back to the put-in and hit the water. At the end, put the yacks on the truck, drive back, hitch up to the car and go home. The perfect one-man shuttle!
shuttle
I take my bike with me in my canoe.
http://www.dahon.com/piccolod3.htm
I like to paddle a strech on the Huron River in Michigan, ten miles by water and ten back on my bike.
Support your local canoe/kayak livery
I don’t really know if this will work, but I am going to try it this year. I plan to call on any local rental place and see if they will pick me up. I know it will cost, but what doesn’t. Most are small operations and need all the support they can get, plus they are great sources of info on rivers that I have not visited.
Dan
An even smaller package-
I met a guy that uses an older mo-ped. It only weighs about 60 lbs. He straps it onto a trailer hitch rack on the back of his mini-van, then locks it to a post at the take-out much like one would a bicycle.
If I came across a suitable mo-ped, I might try it myself sometime.
hope it works for ya
but it’s impossible for some of us–the nearest place I can think of that rents canoes/kayaks is 2.5 hours away, and almost in a different watershed…
cyberiankhatru
Neat idea. The only problem is that I transport my kayaks with a trailer, and I’m not sure how to hook up a trailer to this thing.