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Transporting sit-on-top kayaks - any thoughts/advice

McGoogly

McGoogly

VIP Member
Messages
61
Location
Gloucestershire
Vehicle
T6 Beach 4Motion
Hi, I am a complete newbie to the forum and I would really appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on transporting kayaks. We have just bought a VW Beach and we are wondering if it is going to be possible to transport our two SOT kayaks. We believe that it is possible to fit roof bars to a pop top but is it advisable? Are there any issues that we should be aware of? If not on the roof, how do you transport your kayaks or surf boards? I'd be grateful for any advice (obviously a sensible person would have thought about this before falling in love with a vehicle and parting with a deposit!)
 
Hi, I am a complete newbie to the forum and I would really appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on transporting kayaks. We have just bought a VW Beach and we are wondering if it is going to be possible to transport our two SOT kayaks. We believe that it is possible to fit roof bars to a pop top but is it advisable? Are there any issues that we should be aware of? If not on the roof, how do you transport your kayaks or surf boards? I'd be grateful for any advice (obviously a sensible person would have thought about this before falling in love with a vehicle and parting with a deposit!)
 
Hi, I am a complete newbie to the forum and I would really appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on transporting kayaks. We have just bought a VW Beach and we are wondering if it is going to be possible to transport our two SOT kayaks. We believe that it is possible to fit roof bars to a pop top but is it advisable? Are there any issues that we should be aware of? If not on the roof, how do you transport your kayaks or surf boards? I'd be grateful for any advice (obviously a sensible person would have thought about this before falling in love with a vehicle and parting with a deposit!)
I started out with intentions of transporting my Canadian canoe on my Cali but so far not done so! If you are happy to heave the boats up onto the roof just be aware of the weight limit of the roof.
I ended up getting a decent inflatable tandem canoe for the occasional paddle.
 
We had a 2 man sit on top (Bic Trinidad) and we used to just transported it on the VW roof bars without much issue. Loading was a right pain.

I know many folks use the side loading racks to make it easier.
 
Standard roof bars will be fine, might be worth having a vertical bar in the middle to prevent the boats from moving sideways:

 
Hi,

This question prompts different answers.

The VW brochure (weights page, circa 24) has:

"Roof load limit 50kg max with closed roof"

Some say it is the same limit with roof up.

Your average SOT is 20kg or so so depends on the weight of your kit, some barges weigh loads more.

In reality on a Beach it is near impossible to lift the roof with heavier boats on it, my 27kg open canoe can just about be raised but the struts then want to close again. (Maybe Ocean owners find it different with the motorised roof)

As posted previously its preference whether you put uprights on to secure boats etc or have one extension bar so that one end of a boat can be lifted up to the extended bar first, then the other up and slid across. Some use a ladder or a decorators mini platform, it all depends on your build etc.

As you know some SOT nest into each other for transport which may alter things depending on your model.

I know I prefer much prefer loading my Gumotex inflatable into the boot rather than my open canoe or sea kayak onto the roof. My normal kayaks also fit inside which saves aggro.

Enjoy the water :)
 
We had a 2 man sit on top (Bic Trinidad) and we used to just transported it on the VW roof bars without much issue. Loading was a right pain.

I know many folks use the side loading racks to make it easier.
I have a Karitek side loader, which is great bit of kit but it adds near on 20kg to the weight, so it eats into the 50kg limit!
 
I started out with intentions of transporting my Canadian canoe on my Cali but so far not done so! If you are happy to heave the boats up onto the roof just be aware of the weight limit of the roof.
I ended up getting a decent inflatable tandem canoe for the occasional paddle.
Thank you. We do have a tandem inflatable but we much prefer paddling solo on the SOT's.
 
Hi,

This question prompts different answers.

The VW brochure (weights page, circa 24) has:

"Roof load limit 50kg max with closed roof"

Some say it is the same limit with roof up.

Your average SOT is 20kg or so so depends on the weight of your kit, some barges weigh loads more.

In reality on a Beach it is near impossible to lift the roof with heavier boats on it, my 27kg open canoe can just about be raised but the struts then want to close again. (Maybe Ocean owners find it different with the motorised roof)

As posted previously its preference whether you put uprights on to secure boats etc or have one extension bar so that one end of a boat can be lifted up to the extended bar first, then the other up and slid across. Some use a ladder or a decorators mini platform, it all depends on your build etc.

As you know some SOT nest into each other for transport which may alter things depending on your model.

I know I prefer much prefer loading my Gumotex inflatable into the boot rather than my open canoe or sea kayak onto the roof. My normal kayaks also fit inside which saves aggro.

Enjoy the water :)
Thanks for your advice. I don't think I was clear in my question. I wasn't thinking I could pop the top with the kayaks on top but I wondered if there were any issues that we need to think about (such as the weight which I hadn't appreciated was limited to 50kg) or height restrictions and so on. I think I need to look into roof bars and maybe side loaders before we make any decisions - I'm just not a huge fan of our Sevylor.
 
We had a 2 man sit on top (Bic Trinidad) and we used to just transported it on the VW roof bars without much issue. Loading was a right pain.

I know many folks use the side loading racks to make it easier.
Many thanks for replying
 
I had the same issue but I can now get the kayak on the roof. I use a bar attached to the roof bars that sticks out to the side of the van by about 2 ft, lift the front of the kayak onto it then push the other end up and onto the roof bars, need a telescopic ladder to do it.Screen Shot 2019-09-19 at 19.37.42.png
 
I'm just not a huge fan of our Sevylor.

No worries, your question was clear, its people's views on roof limits that varies.

As for Sevylor..... 'nuff said. Kids toys with overinflated price tags (much like their bottom baffles that seem to burst the third time people use them)

We really ought to arrange a waterside Cali meet given all the paddlers amongst us.
 
I had the same issue but I can now get the kayak on the roof. I use a bar attached to the roof bars that sticks out to the side of the van by about 2 ft, lift the front of the kayak onto it then push the other end up and onto the roof bars, need a telescopic ladder to do it.View attachment 50553
That's great to know that it can be done. To be honest I wasn't even sure if roof bars could be attached to a pop top roof - so much to learn! Thank you.
 

I saw someone using one of these once and it looked a doddle to load the canoe on to his van- it wasn’t a pop roof though.
 
Have a look at this thread for further ideas on carrying kayaks & canoes:

Its quite old and unfortunately some of the pictures are no longer showing. In there are some pictures and a video of how I load a kayak. Since then I have changed the bars to a Mk 2 version using heavy duty drawer runners so that the kayak can be raised/lowered in stages. Must take some more photos.

With roof bars Thule seem to be the most popular. There is a choice of 2 foot pack heights and most people go for wider bars than the online configurators recommend. Lower foot pack looks better (in my opinion) but there is more chance of the tailgate touching the kayak when opening it. I went for the Wing bars. Think the heavy duty ones are needed if you wanted to also get something like the Hullavator.

With the Beach you almost certainly wont be able to open the roof with any sort of weight on it. The gas struts wont support the extra weight. I would even be concerned even with the extra weight of a Hullavator preventing the roof staying up. Especially if you needed 2 for both of your SOTs. It might be OK but its an expensive mistake if it prevented the roof from staying up. I would do a trial first strapping an equivalent weight to the bars and seeing if the roof lifted and stayed up.
 
Hi, I am a complete newbie to the forum and I would really appreciate any thoughts anyone might have on transporting kayaks. We have just bought a VW Beach and we are wondering if it is going to be possible to transport our two SOT kayaks. We believe that it is possible to fit roof bars to a pop top but is it advisable? Are there any issues that we should be aware of? If not on the roof, how do you transport your kayaks or surf boards? I'd be grateful for any advice (obviously a sensible person would have thought about this before falling in love with a vehicle and parting with a deposit!)
Hi

I bought the Thule Hullavator for my Ocean because loading it on and off myself was too hard work given the weight and height etc (I can just about do it myself on the car) It’s a heavy system (23gs with the bars too) with the kayak on top (21kgs) gets you near the weight limit.

It lifts up fine. I have an inflatable SUP that I use too but that does take up a chunk of space under the bed.

11A0B2C5-701B-44BA-B623-BE8EB3ED69C6.jpeg
 
Thank you so much for replying and for the great photo - it can be done! Well, with one kayak at least! I am reassured.
 
I regularly put our 30kg Canadian canoe on the roof of our Ocean, loaded from the rear using Thule roof bars and a roller ...very simple to load upside down. I have left the canoe on the roof overnight with the roof up a few times, but prefer to take if off. The roller may or may not work well for sit on tops though, given the relative length and profile... roller works best with the long smooth concave profile of the top side of the Canadian canoe.
 

I saw someone using one of these once and it looked a doddle to load the canoe on to his van- it wasn’t a pop roof though.
I have the Hullavator, very easy to fit, super easy to get the boats on and off the Cali.
If Ww boats I can fit two in the cradle , still with ease flip the rack on the roof.
I’ve had Canadian canoe and 12ft Sea all gone up easy enough.

I take the rack of when not in use by unscrewing four Allen key bolts.
 
We carry a wood and canvas Canadian canoe regularly (approaches 35kg) on our Cali using the Karitec side loader. One person can easily lift the canoe onto the roof and strapping it on is so easy and quick. If we want to lift the roof we simply take off the canoe and remove the top part of the Karitec which takes us about 5-10 minutes. This way we never put any strain on the roof mechanism. If we don't want to remove the canoe we simply sleep downstairs.We have also used the Karritec to carry two bikes and a large ladder and large quantities of wood from the woodyard with no ill effects! The wood was definitely far too heavy for the roof limit but that may be reduced to allow for roof mechanism.I am only 5foot 3inches so started using the Karritec because lifting the canoe as high as the roof was just not on :confused:Escape from Inverpolly 311218.jpg
 
Does anybody know if the Thule supports are compatible with the Vw roof bars ?
 
I regularly put our 30kg Canadian canoe on the roof of our Ocean, loaded from the rear using Thule roof bars and a roller ...very simple to load upside down. I have left the canoe on the roof overnight with the roof up a few times, but prefer to take if off. The roller may or may not work well for sit on tops though, given the relative length and profile... roller works best with the long smooth concave profile of the top side of the Canadian canoe.
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply - it certainly sounds like either a roller or a side loader is the way to go. Reassuring to know that the roof can cope wi it too.
 
I have developed a roof rack which I am trialling for top boxes and kayaks. Took it to France this year as a test. The roof bars I have made weigh 9Kg and the top box is 11 kg (empty). I also had a bike rack which added a further 5.5 Kg
I found this to be quite difficult to raise the roof on our Beach, and when it was up, I noticed it would not stay fully up but would drop slightly under this extra weight (maybe only an inch or so). So I would not recommend much more than 20kg for raising a manual roof.

The fully loaded weight will have been approx. 60Kg with bike and top box full without any issues on the move. I emptied the top box and removed bike and rack for raising the roof.

Cannot really comment on the weight capacity of the hydraulic lift on the Ocean.
 
When staying overnight I dismount the kayaks from the roof, lock them to the wheel.
Just in case freak winds etc think it would be to much for the roof to handle.
I’ve come away from the roof box now using Thule storage box that fits on the bike rack, for me a lot better solution but it’s not a safe as the top box.
 
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