Hi there. I have a Hullavator. Do you mean the ridiculous lumps on the top of the
device that put pressure on both sides of the kayak put on it?. I agree they do not
need to be there are just indent the kayak. That area should be flush if anything.
Celia,
Used garage door grease on the 8 holes that the 2 pins slide through: Completion time (starting w. the car in the garage, garage door open â Hullavator locked) ==> 15:42. Donât know if it was the greasing or being very careful about the pin angle, that cut the time down.
Still one quirk left in the process: During the car topping, the front cradle set takes 2 attempts to lock. Put another way,
- Kayak is sitting in the cradles, vertical, but at roof level.
- Next step is to rotate the kayak 90 degrees, so itâs horizontal & locks.
For some reason, the front cradle set doesnât want to go all of the way down. Maybe Celiaâs grease idea will work on that to?
IAC, gone on 2 trips this week, and Iâm developing confidence in the Hullavator Pro.
Not grease for a hold point like that.
I try not to bang the cradles down, and at times have to try twice to get one or the other to lock. I think it is just a short me not always having the lever fully pulled back as l finish it up on a tall car.
Could this be what is going on?
Note that l find l can let the boat down geacefully if l stop it at the sideways position first. I start it going over by pushing on the side of the boat then move to the levers. I fear that banging down hard will bend something.
Each part of the cradle uprights has a sleeve. I made a thingy which slips into one sleeve while the rest of the thingy extends over the two lumps to make a flush platform for the boat. Since it only slips into one sleeve, it allows for boats of different widths. My kayaks vary in width from ~20" to ~23" so âdifferent widthsâ is not a difficulty.
The âjawsâ that latch onto the hole in the frame tend to get bent. Slaming the works down bends more.
The same jaw pattern is square and fits on square hole. The rig has enough lateral play in the joint to âmissâ the square hole a little. Can be a reason for not latching in stowed or loading positions.
The times it didnât lower to latch were alignments of boat, racks and craddles.
Thank you for the information but I would need some photos or a better
description to understand what you made. The two lumps on each
part of the arms is annoying, especially for a plastic kayak getting warped.
Compensating for the Hullavator bumps
This is the thingy made from really cheap stuff:
⢠garden edging ~4â wide (the black)
⢠corrugated semi stiff white sheeting (sandwiched around the black edging)
Ready for action with black end stuffed in hullavator sleeve:
I usually remember to remove the thingy when not carrying boats. Note that the thingy is a very cheap and easy project. I am not at all handy.
When REI taught me how to use it, they were very clear about that:
- Pull down on both handles simultaneously, then lift the kayak to roof-level. Pause.
- Rotate the kayak 90 degrees, then lock.
Didnât think force would be answer, so thanks for confirming. Most things about kayaking are handled better with finesse vs. brute force. 
Also, thanks for let me know that lubrication wonât be the answer.
Overstreet, do you think that the front crossbar is not totally || with the rear crossbar? Should be easy enough to check, next time that the car is in the driveway: Is the distance between the crossbars the same on driver & passenger sides? (Too brutally-hot to be outside now.)
Graphite⌠Yes you could check to see if rack is plumb and square with the other. Check too the flat bars to make sure the âflatâ is level. But the out of alignment might just be the âham fistedâ inputs on the handle. Think just a little twist or shift. You can actually look up in there and see where the latch jaws are hitting. Kind od an out of alignment between upper and lower parts of that unit.
One thing I found was that sometimes loading and strapping the kayak in could pull one of the Hullavators a little out of line. They have some play at full extension and can get a little out of position when in the down position. My standard procedure was to make sure both Hullavators were straight and in line before I tightened any straps. Things always went up smoothly after that.
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Overstreet, Not following you. But it sounds like you are suggesting a manufacturing defect â Maybe I should try playing w. the front cradle set, unloaded, to see how easily it rotates from the vertical to the horizontal position.
porkrind, If the front cradle doesnât set properly in the horizontal, it could be that tightening the straps, shifts the cradles out of alignment with the part of the Hullavator that sits on the crossbar?
Homework for me:
- Get the tape measure out, and see if the crossbar distance is the same on the driver & passenger sides.
- Does the front cradle set smoothly go from the vertical to the horizontal position?
Yeah, thatâs exactly what I mean. Consider the my car that used to have the Hullavators. The roof wasnât flat, it had a slight arch to it, like most cars, meaning that even in a best case scenario, the cradles werenât flat in the same plane relative to each other. Then when the cradles are down, in the loading position, they are to a small degree more like converging spokes in a wheel than parallel bars.
Then when I would load my wifeâs boat, it would slide straight back from the rack in the garage into the cradles from front to back. That sliding action while loading tended to bend (not permanently) the front cradle backward a little bit. If I didnât take the time to re-align that cradle to itâs natural rest position before I tightened the straps, Iâd have a hell of a time getting it to latch.
Mostly though, even with a perfect load up, I sometimes had to try a couple of times to get the cradles to both latch simultaneously. I chalked that up to the arched shaped of the roof throwing things off, and found that leaving the boat straps a little loose until after I had latched the cradles helped a lot.
Hmm. In fact my cars since the Hullivators have had a slight arch. Really have not thought about the effect of that on the latch.
Will try to be more observant. Thanks for the clarification.
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Thank you for sharing. Excellent solution, very creative so everything is even.
BTW, the sleeves that come with the hullavator (on the 4 curved parts) will
eventually dry and crumble in the sun. Instead of buying new oneâs,
or thinking ahead, I used some hand towels that were held in place
with 16-18" strong zip tiesâŚ
FYI, If you buy your Hullavator from them, REI will install the rack for a cost if someone does not want to do it themselves.
Why the front cradle set doesnât lock, when the Hullavator is rotated from the vertical to the horizontal position: Overstreet, you nailed this one â The rails, which hold the crossbars, arc from front to back. Eyeballed it carefully today, but confirmed it by placing a bubble level on each crossbar. Sure enough, the bubble was in a different position on each crossbar. Not a big arc, but itâs definitely there.
Will reach out to Thule tech support, to see if there is a way to level the crossbars.
