Hi all again. Wondering if anyone out there has a kayak loader that could be used to load a porta bote. I am just wondering if people with a kayak loader could download and look to see if they think the kayak loader could be adapted to load a porta bote. If so could you please let me know what sort it is. As I am 4.11' it is difficult to load these things onto a 4x4 on ones own!!!!Cheers Kim
Hi Kim, our Yak set up fits to 2 yaks so to me would be OK for your porta boat.
We have a roof Rack ie 2 tubes off the roof ( $10 each from a steel merchant), wide enough to Fit 2 fishing Yaks+.
Use Noodles to hold the Yaks off the Rack tubes and I slide a thinner metal tube with 600mm piece of noodle into say the passenger side rear roof tube, goes in about 900mm. ( ie total length of the thinner tube 1.5m) I support the outside edge of the thinner Noodle tube with another rectangular tube with a hole in the top to fit the end of the noodle tube, use a clip to hold the thinner Noodle tube into the vertical tube, the bottom of which rests on the ground. Vertical tube approx 6Ft+. Note some Yak owners do not use the Vertical support tube.
Then lift up one end of the Yak put on the thinner Noodle tube,then lift up the other end of the yak onto the front roof rack tube then slide the Yak over and tie down, ditto for the other yak on the drivers side.
Hi Kim. Our loaders are Thule Hullavators. They are gas strut assisted lifters. They allow you to place the kayak on the lifter at waist level, tie them on then raise them onto your roof and lock down. Check them out on line. They are expensive but make loading a kayak so easy. No need to climb to tie or untie. They are also lockable.