transporting the hobie?

recommended storage  or transport of the revolution 13 is gunwales down right? so when on a car rack is that what most do? am reluctant to put hobies waterside down on cradles or rollers for fear of denting the hull in hot or extended transport.   am hoping this yakima showboat 66  that i have will do the trick of getting yak on truck rack too. so how are u racking ur yak`s ( specifically hobie`s)for transport? just flat on the bars and strapped in? cradles??

I have always laid them (Revo, Outback, or Adventure-now Revo 16) upside down on bars (gunwales down).  Cheap, effective, and no oil canning of the hull.  I have 72 inch bars and can transport 2 Outbacks on top if I have to.  I love loading the Revo though. Much easier to lift overhead and get up there. 

I also transport my Revolution upside-down on padded roof rack bars. 

For those of us who can't clean and jerk a fishing kayak, you can put a towel on the rear or side of your vehicle, lift one end of the kayak onto the towel, slide the kayak onto your roof rack, and then flip it over onto its gunwales.  For pictures of how I get my Revolution onto my vehicle from the side, see http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=19202.msg204958#msg204958 .

I have always transported my Hobies bottom side down. I use two 5' long pieces of 3/4" PVC tubing as support, running lengthwise. I put pipe insulation over the tubing for cushioning. My method is to slide the kayak up on the crossbars, then tip it up on its side and roll the insulated tubes in under the grooves that run the length of the kayak. The insulation gets beat up where it contacts the crossbars, so I wrap the insulation with duct tape in those areas.

I have transported my kayaks thousands of miles this way, and I cannot detect any problems from doing so. It is much easier to slide the kayaks on their bottom when loading them - no gunwale mounted items to get in the way. The kayaks also "stick" to the crossbars better. I have a long and very steep driveway, and I once started down it with no straps holding the kayak on. I remembered I hadn't strapped it just as I started down the slope and tried to gently brake, fully expecting for my Oasis to slide off across my hood and down the hill and into the street, but it stuck in place.

I used to transport the outback upside down and realized at least for the outback it's a massive pain in the butt getting it onto the back of the suv this way without potentially breaking off the rudder assembly.

I recently purchased some kayak saddles on Amazon and have found loading and unloading the kayak to be substantially easier by a large magnitude, it may not work as well for the revolution, but for the outback it's been a game changer for me. My wife can even load and unload it this way, without my help if necessary. Regardless of what method you choose I find using a rubber backed bath mat can make it a lot easier to load and unload without worry of scratching the car, it also is nice to use the mat when putting on or taking off the drysuit.

I've done it both ways. The various slide-on, gunwales-up methods will work if designed for the weight of the boat and will not lead to dents in any kind of normal transportation situation as long as you don't over-tighten the straps.

That said, unless you have to go that way I have found it best to store and transport my boats topside-down on the gunwales. It is very easy to get them cinched down without hurting them and they travel really well this way.

As mentioned though, if you're car-topping alone then practical considerations may outweigh other factors. I.e. if you can't get it up there without busting a gut then it's probably the wrong solution.    (I have a keen grasp of the obvious, it's a talent.) I, for one, have issues getting my tandem on my trailer (like 4 feet off the ground) myself, so there's no way in heck I'd be getting it on top of my car by myself.

I'm a wimpy old guy, but I don't have any trouble lifting one end of my Revolution or my Trident onto my vehicle, and then sliding the kayak up onto my roof rack.  And I don't feel that doing that puts any particular strain on my back.  But a tandem kayak or a Pro Angler might be more than I could handle.