On 13 Mar 2005 12:57:34 -0800, "BCITORGB"
wrote:


(snipped)

The process I'd decided on involved opening the front passenger door
and placing a third pool noodle (with a longitudinal slice to the
mid-point) over/along the top of the door frame. The kayak was then
placed on the ground at an angle -- with a vertex just past the right
rear bumper and with the kayak veering just to the right of the open
passenger door. I then lifted the front end of the kayak onto the open
door. With the front end of the kayak secure (OK, it was wobbly) on top
of the front door frame, I then walked to the back of the kayak and
hoisted the back end onto the roof rack. Next, back to the front end,
and lifting the front off the door frame and onto the front of the roof
rack. Voila! Now it was just a matter of tying down the kayak. This
could easily be done by me (a little more height would have been
advantageous). A plastic dairy crate came in handy when tying the boat
to the car.

NOTE: I'M OPEN TO ALTERNATE, BETTER WAYS OF GETTING A 90+ POUND KAYAK
ONTO AN AEROSTAR VAN

Well, if you're willing to take the chance that you'll be driving home
without a door on the side of your van, I suppose your way is okay.
Careless though I am, I like to have my doors stay on the vehicle.

I have a friend with a Suvvie. He had the same problem. There's an
attachment that you can put on your rack that has a nice firm bar
sticking out from the side of the vehicle. You put one end of the
'yak on the bar and lift the other end onto the rack, then move the
first end over to the rack, remove the bar, and you're set. He loves
it. I don't know where he bought it, but I think he just went back to
where he got his rack. If it's expensive (I didn't ask him), you can
probably do something makeshift with a metal or pvc pipe.

Since I'm hard on things and don't care about scratches, I'd just put
one end leaning against the back of the vehicle and start lifting and
shoving the other end. Or get a rope up front and pull. Or any
combination of the above. I don't regard my vehicles (or my boats) as
being up there with the Mona Lisa. They get scratched, so what?

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
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