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Another Hullavator query

pawsplus

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Joined
Jan 19, 2015
Messages
1,063
Location
Landlocked in Tennessee
So. . .if you are loading just one boat which side do you put the Hullavator on? I see it both ways:

1. Put it on the driver's side so that the boat isn't over-weighted on the "downhill" side of the road camber. This is why you load a horse on the driver's side of the horse trailer (if you are only loading one horse into a horse trailer). But of course, a horse weighs a lot more than kayaks....

2. Put it on the passenger's side so that the boat isn't in danger when trucks pass on the left.

Which is best?
 
So. . .if you are loading just one boat which side do you put the Hullavator on?

Which is best?

Do you want to load the boat from the curb side or the traffic side, if you ever have to do it 'on the street'?

I don't think there's much difference when you are actually driving.
 
Dunno about Hullavator geometry, but on Yakima racks, solo, I mount my single on the driver's side so I can keep a better watch on it as I drive, for loose straps, etc.
 
Dunno about Hullavator geometry, but on Yakima racks, solo, I mount my single on the driver's side so I can keep a better watch on it as I drive, for loose straps, etc.

With the Hullivator, even for short drives at low speed you'll need end ties I think. So you'll know if the boat is trying to get airborne.
 
I have bow and stern straps. It will be well secured, strapped into the Hullavator and then the Hullavator strapped to the rack for extra safety. But the boat is right at the edge of the vehicle on a Hullavator, for obvious reasons, which is why I wonder about keeping it on the passenger side, away from passing traffic.
 
I put it on the passenger's side. My friend Joel helped me assembling all a few weeks ago, but today I put the load bars back on (as I'm going to just keep them on) and sized the Hullavator for the boat. No pix of boat on car because it seemed pointless to strap it all in. But I'm ready to go now!! :)
IMG_20180224_0914405_rewind.jpg
Hopefully next weekend! It's supposed to thunderstorm today and I have to work tomorrow.
 
I know this is an old thread - but I recently installed a new rack and 2 sets of hullavators on my van. For solo use, I am using the passenger side set of hullavators, simply because it's easier to load/unload to my kayak storage rack from the passenger side. So, personally, I'd set up the hullavators on the side that makes solo loading and unloading to storage easiest.
 
Pawsplus, if I used my boat for gear storage while on the car rack, it might weigh as much as a horse. I tried the Hullavator and though I wanted to love it, it just wasn't for me.

I didn't realize that each arm raises/lowers independently. So I'd had to grab both arms at once and coordinate their motion. With my length challenged wingspan, that meant the racks could only be about 4 ft apart. Although I was assured by Matt that my 17 ft Mariner XL (for sale at KayakersGoCoastal) would be fine - I just couldn't relax with the support points that close together.

I thought the arms were attached in some fashion so pulling one would bring them both down together and that I could position them at the distance I have my cradles now. But that wasn't the case.

As an aside, I also tried that "extension" tube Yakama has the fits inside the main tubular brace that goes across the car. At load time, you pull it out a few feet, then lift just the bow over to it. There's a small (in my mind) plastic flange that's suppose the keep the bow from sliding off the side. Then you lift the stern off the cradle and put it on the ground. Now the stern is on the ground and the bow is on the extension bar to the side of the car. Then you walk up and lift the bow off. So at no time are you lifting the whole weight of the boat. Repeat in opposite order to load. But I'd just get too nervous. If that bow did slip, or the stern slide out, that's about a six foot drop to the ground.

So I went back to my standard cradles - prop the kayak amidships on top of my head, walk towards the back of the jeep and slide the bow in the rear cradle, then hand over hand it forward till the bow is snug in the front cradle. I did replace the rear cradle with those roller things - but for me they didn't add much. So they are effectively also a cradle.

I'm glad the Hullavator works for you because it sure an make loading easy - for the right owner.
 
As an aside, I also tried that "extension" tube Yakama has the fits inside the main tubular brace that goes across the car. At load time, you pull it out a few feet, then lift just the bow over to it. There's a small (in my mind) plastic flange that's suppose the keep the bow from sliding off the side.

I made my own "extension", using a hockey stick, to help load a tandem I once had. No small plastic flange in that case. I was living in Nanaimo at the time ... easy to find a hockey stick.
 
As an aside, I also tried that "extension" tube Yakama has the fits inside the main tubular brace that goes across the car. At load time, you pull it out a few feet, then lift just the bow over to it. There's a small (in my mind) plastic flange that's suppose the keep the bow from sliding off the side. Then you lift the stern off the cradle and put it on the ground. Now the stern is on the ground and the bow is on the extension bar to the side of the car. Then you walk up and lift the bow off. So at no time are you lifting the whole weight of the boat. Repeat in opposite order to load.
Well, it's not Hullavator, but I'll add a few more (OT) rack comments...
I have one of those Yakima 'Boatloader' extension bars and have used it a few times. It probably depends on the separation between the roof bars, but I had problems when I was 'swiveling' the kayak in or out of the cradles.
The 'typical Yakima problem' arose - round bars mean that the cradles can 'roll' forward or back quite easily, and they did that when I used the Boatloader.
I bought a 'Showboat' roller which slides out to the rear of the car (VW Golf) - it works better, though I have to be careful to make sure the boat doesn't roll off to the side and fall.
 
John, I cured that "typical Yakima problem" one day by contact cementing some 220 grit wet or dry sandpaper onto the jaws of the cradle/Hully Roller fixtures which hold these to the accursed round bar. Still holding up, fifteen years on.
 
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