How do you travel with Kayaks?

[mguay]

Years ago we bought a 10' Perception to use at the In Law's cabin on the pond. A couple of years ago we bought a Sea Eagle inflatable tandem to take with us on the road. It works good....until the wind blows! It's perfect for flat water but thats it. The other PIA is storage. You have to wipe it down and make sure it is completely dry before you put it in the bag. It's not all that bad...but you have to plan for it, rather than grabbing your plastic boat and throwing in the rack.

Last week we decided to get another boat and I got a great deal on a Old Town Vapor 10XT. I wanted to have the same size boat for storage purposes.

My first thought was get a roof rack for the TV and put them up there...The only issue might be with our bikes. My bike rack is in the back of the truck on the top of my Aux Fuel tank and the bikes are across the box behind the cab. The other thing I'm not excited about is running a bowline over the hood! The next plan is to try to get them inside the 5er. I was thinking of making a PVC rack over the couch/dinette somehow.

Here's where the question comes in. If you travel with hard boats where do you put them?
Please post pics if possible.

Thanx

[antiqfreq]

We have a sixteen foot canoe which we put on top of our truck using Thule racks.

You can see in my pic below in my signature how we do it.

Jo

:D

[Wantoride]

We have a 12 foot and 10 foot kayak. If they go with us I just toss them in the back of the truck and strap them down. It's almost a 8 foot bed but when towing a trailer I doubt a trooper will see I'm 4 foot over my limit. We tow a tt not a fifth wheel, this is one reason why I chose a tt over a fifth wheel, I use the back for loading depending on what we will be doing. If I bring the bikes, they go in the tt. It's all lightweight so however, wherever, you can put them securely works

[dandjh1958]

Thule racks are the best! We travel with two kayaks- one 11 foot the other is a 13 foot. Hullavator on one side makes putting the heavier kayak on top easy.

I'll try to find a pick and post. Remember, if you can't build out, build up!!

Happy camping!!

[dandjh1958]

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZsAhvss-xWtorjbpVXY1ftMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=directlin k

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/L84OGZRDgWGoGiQXCIEQMtMTjNZETYmyPJy0liipFm0?feat=d irectlink

the kayak in the hullavator rides upright, the other one faces down directly on the bars of the rack. Rack is adjustable in height. Unfortunately, the rack is no longer available from Thule but you can find similar racks from other manufacturers.

[theeyres]

I think with a 5er about the only choice is going over the cab. We tried taking our two kayaks inside the fiver but that was such a hassle. We couldn't even stop for lunch without fight those things inside. And also getting them in and out without dinging up the trailer was impossible. We gave it up and simply didn't take them. With a pull trailer, like we have now is easy, over the bed on racks. That is one of the biggest disadvantages of a fiver--no useable bed space in the truck.

[LZScout]

We have the same problem with bicycles. We solved it with a Yakima roof rack system that accepts 4 bike racks from eTrailer.com, mounted over the truck cab roof. It was cheaper than a receiver hitch for the RV and you can also rig it to hold kayaks.


LZScout

[kampfitt]

Made racks that mount to rear hitch cross tube,work very well.
http://www.keystoneforums.com/attachments/photobucket/img_132012_0_86eefe7dd379c38c1f0b18a21d0a8858.jpg[/URL][/IMG]