How do you carry your Yak?

[FL Boy]

So this year I have came up with a new way to carry my PA12 in the Bed of my truck and still carry cargo. I also purchased two new paddle kayaks this summer, an extra Paddle kayak for me and one for my my wife. I carry those on the roof, I will be doing that set up on Sunday and I'll take pictures and add them too.

I first Start with two thick foam packing blocks. That way they conform to the bottom and create a cushion, they also prevent the bottom from getting scratched up from the spray in bed liner. I also put one between the front of the yak and bed for when I put forward pressure on it.



I only have a 5'7" bed and with the tailgate down its probably only a little over 7' so with no bed extender I put 4 straps in it. I criss cross two over the bow, then two pulling it forward.


In order to still carry cargo, this year I bought the Yakima bedrock system to put a cargo basket on that i had laying around the garage. The PA fits right under it perfectly.

[mweber02]

Great idea with the rack!

[FL Boy]

Thanks, it works really well. It might be a little to much for day trips, but will be really handy for camping trips with the yak.

[YakCapn]

Tie a red shirt or flag off the end of the kayak hanging out. Not sure what the law exactly is around here, but it's still a good idea safety wise.

[FL Boy]

I usually do, just forgot to today. I've even thought about rigging up some of those portable trailer lights with some kind of quick attach/detach mechanism to put on the rear carry handle.

[daddyg]

I usually do, just forgot to today. I've even thought about rigging up some of those portable trailer lights with some kind of quick attach/detach mechanism to put on the rear carry handle.

DSC_1656.jpg I use the extend-a-bad with lights I hooked up.

[Mark]

Nice job, Travis.

I like this photo from last December's M&G:

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A lot of yaks ride high to get to the water.

[M1A4ME]

So far we've just strapped them into the back of the truck. My truck has an 8 ft. bed and with the tailgate down it's 10 ft. so they are well supported. The tackle boxes and poles go in my son's kayak which is sitting flat in the bed (mine is on it's side).

I was anticipating larger groups this spring/summer so I bought one of the 4X8 foot trailer kits from Harbor Freight and put it together last fall. Due to a couple issues, I don't know if we'll use it or not till we get more interest. The idea was to allow the transportation of 4 kayaks (2 in the truck bed, two on the trailer). We lost one kayak fishing buddy to a truck accident early in the spring and another has girl friend issues (she gets upset if he doesn't spend every available minute with her and he prefers her being calm to him going fishing, so he ain't fishing).

Have another buddy that is leaning towards buying a fishing kayak but just hasn't done it yet. Maybe he was just waiting on me to retire so we'd have more opportunity to get on the water and terrorize the freshwater fish in the local rivers. I've got a real strong desire to try out the Appomattox and Nottoway Rivers. To get back in some places the bass boats ain't waking and fishing to death. We were supposed to go to the James River this morning and my youngest son backed out on me last night so I guess I'll do a little bit of garage cleaning and reloading today (darn it!).

[Mark]

...and another has girl friend issues (she gets upset if he doesn't spend every available minute with her and he prefers her being calm to him going fishing, so he ain't fishing).

Someone needs to get his priorities straight!

[M1A4ME]

You've got that right. The only advice I ever give people thinking about getting married is this:

If you think your spouse will "change" when you get married you are very sadly wrong. They will only change if they want to change, not because you got married to them.

[gurnbow]

yak trailer

Here is what I did. Found an old used boat trailer and a weekend DIY project. Holds 4.

[eyedaddy]

In Maryland anything over 3 ft extending past the end needs a flag with a maximum of 6 ft.

[Cowpokey]

I'm a little different than most, I carry my kayak upside down on top of my Jeep with a harness I made out of cordage and tubular webbing, things I have lying around for rock climbing.

Either on the hard top:


Or on the roll bar and windshield frame:

[sega]

In Maryland anything over 3 ft extending past the end needs a flag with a maximum of 6 ft.

Wow I didn't know that. I know I have to be pushing it with my fs12t. My Tacoma's bed is only 5 feet long with the tailgate up. I lay the tailgate down, put the kayak in right side up and backwards. I then run two straps from the bow handle of my kayak to the corners of my bed closest to the cab making a V. Last I run a shorter "oh ****" strap through the stern handle through to the front two corners (just in case one of my other straps fails I have enough time to possibly catch it in the rear view). Has yet to fail me. I like how it really pulls the boat towards the cab of my truck, and keeps the pressure off the center of the bottom of my boat resting on the end of the tailgate.

[mikelreidd]

I have a Tacoma with the 5 foot bed and was nervous about all that yak hanging out the rear. Found that Toyota had a factory rooftop rack available that bolted into the roof through fittings under the trim strip.uploadfromtaptalk1433247094973.jpg