You bought yourself a new kayak and started to wonder how you would transport the kayak to the lake, ocean, or any other destination you like safely. This article will go over some tips for safely transporting your kayak so that you can have a great experience on your adventure. If the kayak is too heavy for you to lift on your own then you should have another person to help you so that you can avoid injuries or accidents.
Transporting Your Kayak With Your Vehicle
Trucks
One of the easiest ways to transport your kayak is to throw them into your truck bed with a bed extender and strap them down. The straps are called cam buckle straps, you’ll need at least two of them. You can’t use any other kind of straps because these are designed to hold down heavy objects to the car and make it safe to drive. If you use other things to strap it down just know that you are risking your kayak flying off your vehicle while driving. Which has the potential to cause a huge accident and endanger others on the road.
The bed extender will be inserted into your hitch so that it can support part of the kayak that is sticking out of the bed of the truck. You will use the straps to anchor the kayak down to the bed extender. This method is easy enough that one person can load and unload the kayak.
Trailer
Another easy method of transporting your kayak is to load your kayak onto a trailer and put the trailer on the hitch of your vehicle. For this method depending on how big your trailer is and how strong your vehicle is you can fit and transport multiple kayaks at a time. You would also need the cam buckle straps to secure the kayak down. This method is great if you have a party of people to go kayaking with you.
Car Or SUV
Most people use this method of transporting their kayak. For this method to work the vehicle needs to have a roof rack so that the kayak doesn’t scratch the top of the vehicle and it provides a place to secure the kayak with the cam buckle straps.
This method is a bit tricky because you have to be strong enough to carry the kayak up onto the top of your vehicle or have two or more people helping you out.
Some vehicles come with a roof rack if not then you might want to buy a roof rack and install it. With the roof rack, you will need to install J Bars or Stacker Bars to safely transport your kayak. With the J Bars, depending on how much weight your roof rack can handle, you may be able to transport two kayaks on top of your vehicle.
Once you get your kayak onto the J Bars or Stacker Bars you will need to tie it down with cam buckle straps. You will need four cam buckle straps to tie the kayak down, two in the middle tie down to the J bars or stack bars and one strap for the bow, and another strap for the stern.
In order to tie down the bow and stern, you will need a hood loop anchor and a trunk loop anchor. These loops are where you will put the straps through so you can secure the kayak because if you don’t do this then the kayak may catch some wind while driving and fly off the whole roof rack.
If you don’t have a roof rack and still want to transport your kayak with just your vehicle only then you should get a soft rack. A soft rack attaches to your car by using your car doors, your car has to be a four-door car.
If your car does not come with a roof rack and you plan on buying anything that is aftermarket then you should make sure that those aftermarket parts are compatible with your car before you buy them.
Loading And Unloading With Two People
Kayaks are usually between 30-80 pounds depending on various factors like how many people can fit in one and what materials the kayak is made of. So having two people to load and unload it from a vehicle is the best ideal solution when it comes to loading and unloading. Having two people load and unload will help prevent injuries, it will be faster and easier.
One person on each end of the kayak should lift with the handle in order to place it on top of the vehicle. Make sure the kayak is parallel with the vehicle and have the weight of the kayak distributed before using the cam buckle straps to secure it.
Once the cam buckle straps are in place slowly tighten the straps remember to not over tighten them because it can damage the kayak. With the extra straps hanging off you can wrap it around the strap being used to reduce wind noise while driving.
Once you are done loading and strapping the kayak to the vehicle, tie a red flag at the end of the kayak toward the trunk side of the vehicle. Depending on which state you are in this is a part of the law.
How To Carry A Kayak By Hand
Once you reach your destination, you usually have to park in a parking lot which means you still need to walk your kayak to the water. There are a couple of ways that you can do this, you can carry the kayak all the way there by yourself if the kayak is small or you can get another person to help if the kayak is bigger. Another way that is the easiest way would be to use a kayak cart with wheels so that you can pull or push your kayak to the water.
The kayak cart is to cradle the hull of the kayak, once the kayak is in place on the kart you will have to use the cam buckle strap and strap the kayak down to the kart so now you can use one hand to hold onto the tip of the kayak to pull, push, or turn the kayak with ease. Once you get to the water you can just keep the kayak cart with you while kayaking so when you are done kayaking you can use the kart to push the kayak back to the car.
Conclusion
When you are buying a kayak you have to think about how to transport it to your destination too because most of us do not live near the ocean, lake, or river to use the kayak. Whichever way you want to transport your kayak using your vehicle make sure you properly secure the kayak before driving on the road because if you don’t then it may cause a huge accident on the road. When you reach your destination it’s best to use a kayak cart with wheels to pull the kayak to and from the water because it may be a long walk from the parking lot and you don’t want to carry a kayak the whole way.
Kayaking is a fun activity to do on the water so do not let transporting the kayak to and from a destination be a factor to not get a kayak. Once you get the hang of loading and unloading your kayak it will be easier.
Remember to be safe out there and have fun.