Thule Hullavator and Hobie AI

Sorry for the barrage of posts lately. Trying to get things figured out!

I have a Thule Sliptream roof rack on a Chevy Tahoe. This is no biggie for my Trident 13, kind of a pain for my Predator, but rather difficult for my 2015 Hobie AI. It's much heavier, longer, and I'm not comfortable dragging it on pavement (The Predator has a steel part that can be replaced if it wears out, and I can lift the Trident easily).

So, I found a decent deal on a Thule Hullavator. I'm unsure if it will work, and it's too expensive to guess. I'm worried that the 115# weight of the AI body without ama's is going to be too much for the Hullavator to support.

Anyone have direct experience with this weight rating? I know I'll need to do most of the lifting to get the kayak back up, I'm not worried about that as I'm more than strong enough. I just don't want to damage the Hullavator and piss away $450.

Let me know, thanks!

Thule specifies a load limit of 165 lbs. for their roof racks without exception. That means each side of the roof rack can support no more than a 82.5 lb. load and with the 40 lb. weight of the Hullavator that leaves capacity for using it with a kayak weighing 42 lbs. or less.

No problem loading a 70 lb G2 this afternoon.   Seemed well within design load.     What's the AI hull weight?

BTW, Sonny did load his AI on my Hullavator once at Lake Berryessa. Almost destroyed my Hullavator only because it was not loaded with the weight evenly distributed with the battery still in the front hatch. It took two to lift it up onto the truck.

I have two hullavator on my Murano and it seems no problem for my revo 13 and AI though it is a 2009. Other than that, everything seems to be fine and I do drive this beast from Tracy to Timber cove.

No problem loading a 70 lb G2 this afternoon.   Seemed well within design load.     What's the AI hull weight?

The AI is 115# hull only (185# with all the sails, amas, etc).

Hojoman that's disappointing to hear. It sounds like it's doable if I am careful, but I don't want to be forced to do it perfectly every single time. Some room for error would be nice.

I think it will be just fine.  We had a frequent customer that purchased two Hobie Adventures (now Revo 16) and double hullavators for his large suv.  He would come by the shop all the time to have us rig up his Adventures or for any repair.  He never had any issues loading and unloading using the hullavators.  The Adventure is not as heavy as the AI, but if you are loading the boat only it should do the job.  On a side note a customer did load a brand new AI on a slip stream just the other day.  He was a big guy and it was not easy to say the least.

I think it will be just fine.  We had a frequent customer that purchased two Hobie Adventures (now Revo 16) and double hullavators for his large suv.  He would come by the shop all the time to have us rig up his Adventures or for any repair.  He never had any issues loading and unloading using the hullavators.  The Adventure is not as heavy as the AI, but if you are loading the boat only it should do the job.  On a side note a customer did load a brand new AI on a slip stream just the other day.  He was a big guy and it was not easy to say the least.

That was me  I'm the one that bought the AI from Adventure Sports Kayak City, haha. I've loaded and unloaded it a few times since then, so now that I have a method it's much easier but still more difficult than my other kayaks.

The Revo16 is 40 pounds lighter than the AI hull. It seems like most people are fine in the 70-80ish range but anything more gets iffy.

Get a small trailer

Get a small trailer

Yeahhh trying to avoid this because I don't have $1500 and I'd rather not take up so much space in my garage. But it's looking more and more like a trailer is a must. I could still use the slipstream when trailer space isn't available.

Get or have a snowbear style trailer built it would be fairly easy fir someone to weld one together. One I'm cleaning up and racking fir one of our members and mine with TLW's and my yak on it.

I have been wanting that style ever since I saw RacingRob's last year.

Thanks for the suggestion!

This ones for sale in my area $700 obo not mine and I haven't checked it out. Little bit of a drive for you guys though..... The one i am leaning up is all angle iron a guy could build one if he knew what he was doing. I may whip a few out myself

If there was a way that I'm aware of to do it without welding I'd be all over that. I'm guessing nuts and bolts wouldn't suffice? Uninstrut? To build up on the base.

If there was a way that I'm aware of to do it without welding I'd be all over that. I'm guessing nuts and bolts wouldn't suffice? Uninstrut? To build up on the base.

That's a big negative on bolts, you want to rely on them when if one breaks and your ride goes skiing down the road in traffic? On a side note I do weld if you wanted something custom built around your IA shoot me a pm, I'm sure I can find an IA up here for the build then make arraignments to get the trailer to ya.