Best Roof Top Solution for a Pickup?

After two years of endangering my surgically repaired shoulders, I finally got my Toyota Sequoia rigged with a hullavator last weekend...and the vehicle was stolen two days later. So, I'm looking for a new tow/kayak vehicle. Our second car is a Mini, so that doesn't help much, particularly for PC. Now that you know more than you need to, if you have a preferred solution for loading a 'yak on a full-sized pickup I'd love to see it. If I do go with a pickup, it'll be a Crew Cab, short bed, and my ride is a Revo 13.

Thanks!
Dave

After two years of endangering my surgically repaired shoulders, I finally got my Toyota Sequoia rigged with a hullavator last weekend...and the vehicle was stolen two days later. So, I'm looking for a new tow/kayak vehicle. Our second car is a Mini, so that doesn't help much, particularly for PC. Now that you know more than you need to, if you have a preferred solution for loading a 'yak on a full-sized pickup I'd love to see it. If I do go with a pickup, it'll be a Crew Cab, short bed, and my ride is a Revo 13.

Thanks!
Dave

Hi Dave, sorry about that theft. Hope your insurance helped out. I have a chronic low back problem myself. So I am just finishing off my latest attempt at relieving some of the strain of loading/unloading my Outback on/off my full-size 8ft bed truck. With the tailgate down I don't need a bed extender. For a Revo with on a shorter bed you could use something like a Harbor Freight bed extender. I made a frame to store my 3 kayaks, placing the most used, the Outback, in the middle. When I back up the truck to load/unload, it slides on or off smoothly with very little effort on my part. I have used PVC pipe to support each one and used a size of pipe to suit the individual kayak and they slide on the pipe very easily. So all that is left is loading/unloading at your put in site which I don't find too difficult, especially as by the time you get to the site, there are usually helping hands.

Bummer.

Don't get a crew cab...  Nope, that doesn't work.

I use a Trac-Rac (Thule subsidiary) version of bars like Pinstriper's to haul a Revo 13 on a short-bed Nissan Frontier Crew Cab, and I don't have issues with the Revo up there.  I have a lot more forward overhang than you would, but with careful placement of the tie-downs, it's plenty secure.

I wrap straps around the kayak and the bars - like a loop - and run straps from the bed's tie-downs up through the side handles and back to a tie down, plus front and rear ropes.  I don't run the interstates (not that I wouldn't, just that I don't need to), but I've bucked 50 knot crosswinds without a problem.

There's a disabled veteran who launches a sea touring kayak down here, and I've often given him a hand while he secures it on a Hullavator before he puts it on the roof of a Chevy van.  Works just fine on taller vehicles.

Go with a system that accepts the Hullavator if that's best for your shoulders.  The bed will be long enough to secure the Revo.

Why not a small trailer?  Hardly any lifting and no lifting above your head.

I've got loading the Revo on those bars down to a science, but I'm still looking at trailer to make it easier on me.

Trailer is the easiest and there light enough for kayaking that most cars can tow them.

Why not a small trailer?  Hardly any lifting and no lifting above your head.

I agree that a small trailer is a great solution, but I also need to manage the kayak when I'm towing a big trailer, and as I'm living in the city for the first time in 25 years, I don't have a good place to store a trailer...for now.

This is how I haul mine when pulling the travel trailer.  Otherwise it just goes in the bed like the green one (just picked that one up for my wife).

I agree that a small trailer is a great solution, but I also need to manage the kayak when I'm towing a big trailer, and as I'm living in the city for the first time in 25 years, I don't have a good place to store a trailer...for now.

I hear you.  Storage for the 300 days a year I'm not using it is what's kept me from having Mojo help me put together a trailer.

So have we at least answered your original question, Dave?  A Hobie Revo 13 can be carried on ladder racks mounted on a short-bed crew cab pickup.  The Trac-Rac I use and Pinstriper's racks are made from aluminum and can be removed when not needed.  My Nissan is black, and so far, the racks have not marred the paint.

How to get a Revo on top with bunged-up shoulders is a different question, but the Hullavator would work.

If you're looking for a roof-top solution, these days, many (maybe most) crew cabs come with factory tracks.  If not tracks, then with mounting points for tracks.  But I think that even with a roof rack, the cab itself is pretty short, and you might need one ladder rack in the bed.  I know Thule sells their ladder racks individually as well as in pairs.

If you can add a few more details, someone is sure to chime in with more/better suggestions.

So have we at least answered your original question, Dave? 

Thanks Tinker. Some good suggestions that I need to think through.

Not having owned a pickup before, the idea of a bed extender is new to me; I'm sure that it can be secure, but not about having my 'yak sticking out 8' past the bumper.

I can go back to a Hullavator--I did load the boat six times with it during installation, and didn't damage myself or the car. The minimum bar spread required for the Hullavator is 24" (I'd want more spacing for confidence in cross winds), so there's enough room to put racks on top of the cab alone. Then again, I've been loading the boat on top of the Sequoia without an assist for two years. Being tall helps a lot. But if I'm going to carry it on the roof, it seems like dragging it over the tailgate might be a good solution...if I keep the bed clear (no canopy).

A small trailer is the best functional solution for most trips, even better if I can get my wife to replace her Mini with a Subaru...like the one we sold last summer <arghhh!>

So have we at least answered your original question, Dave? 

Thanks Tinker. Some good suggestions that I need to think through.

Not having owned a pickup before, the idea of a bed extender is new to me; I'm sure that it can be secure, but not about having my 'yak sticking out 8' past the bumper.

I can go back to a Hullavator--I did load the boat six times with it during installation, and didn't damage myself or the car. The minimum bar spread required for the Hullavator is 24" (I'd want more spacing for confidence in cross winds), so there's enough room to put racks on top of the cab alone. Then again, I've been loading the boat on top of the Sequoia without an assist for two years. Being tall helps a lot. But if I'm going to carry it on the roof, it seems like dragging it over the tailgate might be a good solution...if I keep the bed clear (no canopy).

A small trailer is the best functional solution for most trips, even better if I can get my wife to replace her Mini with a Subaru...like the one we sold last summer <arghhh!>

Show her this

I've seen two Revos - an 11 and a 13 - racked on top of a Prius, so don't rule out the Mini yet.   

I searched and asked questions for weeks before I decided that ladder racks would work for me.  You'll figure it out.

I've seen two Revos - an 11 and a 13 - racked on top of a Prius, so don't rule out the Mini yet.   

I searched and asked questions for weeks before I decided that ladder racks would work for me.  You'll figure it out.

Right side up ?

I have a Nissan Frontier with the short bed.
I use an extender without any concerns at all.
Makes it a lot easier to load than the Dodge Ram with bars and shark saddles on the roof.
Ratchet straps are labeled and sized , quick and easy.

Show her this
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Not the right play to show her that I'm taking over her car _and_ getting a tow vehicle!

I have a pickup and a Honda Fit, and I prefer loading my kayak onto the Honda. Super low and easy. Put racks on that mini!