How do you cartop a big heavy kayak?

put something on the ground that is non slip for the tail end of the yak to rest on while picking up the end going on first.

Your wifes yoga mat is PERFECT this

That's a great idea, but most parking lots are full and require loading from the rear. That would be awesome to make a simular system that loaded the yak straight on from the rear ;0)

I guess there are many method ways of loading from the rear.  I was just wanted to dig into the minds of those with heavy/big kayaks for their two cents.  Thanks for replying everyone.     

I do mine the same way, except I flip the kayak as its going up onto my car.  thats how i load my AI.  the little Revo 11 I have is easy, i just pick it up and throw on top.  I would like to keep that one right side up and rigged for my short trips to Shadow Cliffs however, so I might try doing that..

I use the Yakima assist bar too and flip it upside down. I throw a pad on the ground to protect the rudder, then flip it from it's side handles and prop it onto the assist bar. It's off balance loading it upside down so i grab the sides of the boat at the stern and use my head to prop it up. From there it's just all wiggle, center, strap.

Hi NCKA Bruddah,

I have a very heavy kayak a Hobie Oasis Tandem weighs over 100# loaded, less when not. When I first bought it, I thought, goddammitt, how the hell am I going to load this mother____er on my 2003 CORROLLA. I couldn't even lift the kayak by myself!!!

I asked about racks and it seemed that the Yakima racks seemed the strongest to me.I ended buying Mako saddes for the front and Hully Rollers for the back. When I load my kayak, I cover the back trunk with foam sleeping pad and luckily, I happened to have a heavy duty single roller on a stand which I bought for woodworking (it's for ripping big sheets of plywood on a table saw by myself). Anyway, the roller was the perfect height, just cleared the trunk. I set the roller right up against the rear bumper and put a milk crate in the back of it to prop my yak on. When I get my yak all straightened out to align with the middle of the rack, I lift the front end of the kayak on the roller and slowly make my way back pulling the kayak up with the rear grab T handle. Then I get right behind it and and push the kayak as far as I can untill the front of the yak clears the rear racks. (By the way, I have already attached the wheels to the kayak before mounting). When most of the yak is up over the rear rack, I lift it up over my head and align the body of kayak so that it is sittin on top of the 2 Hully Rollers and then it is an easy push to get the kayak on both racks and in place for the front and rear tie downs.
I use 2 yakima rack straps on the front rack and 2 in the back rack. When I get it ll tightened down and lock the hully roller wheels, I can tear down the freeway 70+ mph and the yak is as solid as a rock.
Anyway, that's how I load my Hobie Tandem Oasis on my car.
Oh, I take the wheels off before I drive off.

Aloha,

Michael (Da Brudah)

Harbor freight offers a small electric winch. I was wondering if the power lead from the winch could be adapted to two leads from the Auxiliary plug to the trailer plug on my Chevy Tahoe. It would be the trick if it could. I have a plan design to build a winch stand using the tow tongue receiver and a few clip on pulleys attached to the existing crossbars to bring a kayak up and load on top of my Tahoe. I hope someone can comment especially trying to use the trailer plug idea.

  Only possible problem I see wiring the winch to the trailer plug is current draw.  I'm positive the winch would pop the fuse in the trailer circuit.  Although the winch may be small it's going to pull a lot of current while pulling no load, granted a kayak is not that heavy, but it'll cause a little more current to be drawn on the winch.  It's best to wire the winch according to the instructions, (Directly to battery in most cases)

^ HF sells manual winches too. a few pulleys might make this work.

http://www.harborfreight.com/4000-lb-capacity-cable-winch-puller-30329.html

Man up!!!!!