What are you doing today?!

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Van Living Forum

Help Support Van Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
INTJohn

INTJohn

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Joined
Feb 17, 2017
Messages
959
Reaction score
990
It’s football Saturday. I’ll be checking in on the noon kikoff Coloraska game and tuning into my Michigan Wolverines; 3:30 kikoff GO BLUE!
My other alma mater Florida St plays 2nite. GO NOLES!

IMG_2136.jpeg
Also; it’s dry the oak bark day, too. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Life at Kamp Koon.
Ur turn- whatcha do un 2day?
intjonny
 
What a beautiful morning here at Kamp Koon!
Split a bunch of oak yesterday for the kampfire.
IMG_2138.jpeg
That smokes says, Dead Calm this morning.

Gotta make sure I burn it all b4 I leave 4 the winter cause these hunt kampers around here from the city are all a bunch of wood poachers. They’re all too lazy to get their own from the forest they Kamp in even tho it’s free for the taking. They’ll pay a stupid price for it cut & split at road stands or steal it wherever.

That’s lyfe in todays Murahka.
But it’s not my lyfe.
jonny koon
 
Am beginning to ponder my exit frum Kamp Koon near Lake Michigan for the annual southbound sojourn for warmer & sunnier beach bum weather.

I’ll be heading south in about 6ish weex or so; not b4 15 Oct; not later than 1 Nov depending on weather. Unlike other years I Don’t have a clue really on a directional logistical plan except I don’t think I’ll be traveling west of Holly Beach, La. But who knows. Plans to me are simply a basis frum which one makes change. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Have a few lil things to tweek.
Still need to tack on a couple stair noses to the floor plywood at side & rear door openings; also need to get 6’ long 3” pvc pipe for storing my 400 watt portable solar panel braces.

Biggest issue is a solution to efficiently load my kayak on top of this hi roof van I now have. I’m not buying one of those 300$+ kayak loaders. I’ve come up with a “thought solution” but still need to actually practice the technique and see if it’s really viable. At any rate, no matter the problem, I always come up with something.🤙🤙

just dealing wit my First World Problems.
jonny boi b eaten poi
 
On my little Samurai I mounted two large 1 inch eye bolts the maximum width of the kayak apart and adjusted the eye about 4 inches off the rear roof surface. I took about 4 foot of 1 inch gold braid rope and fed it through a 1 1/2 inch piece of PVC pipe which fits between the eye bolts and tied a knot on either end outside the eye to support the PVC pipe which is now almost but not touching the top. This makes a guided roller at the rear edge of the roof. About where the front of the kayak tapers down I mounted two brackets for a ratchet strap to go through on either side of the roof to hold the front of the kayak but you could use the same set up as the rear if you wanted to avoid scratches. I took a cheap furniture dolly and modified it to attach to the top cargo net loops on the top rear of the kayak. I can now transport and launch my 14 foot kayak by myself by simply flipping the kayak on its dolly wheels and picking up the front nose carry handle to the rear of the vehicle. Then I raise the front of the kayak onto the rear roller ( pro tip if on a hill it helps to be pointing down hill ) the go to the back of the kayak and raise it up while pushing forward. The spacing between the rollers needs to be such that when the kayak is half way on the nose pivots down onto the the front roller to guide it the rest of the way on. Then I use ratchet straps to the eye bolts to secure it. I leave the dolly attached and just let it hang over the rear about a foot. Hope this gives you some ideas, anyway this is what works for me! Lol!!!
 
thanx dude. my idea sounds a whole lot simpler tho but hey ya never no. Like I wrote at this point it’s just a “thought xercize”. Haven’t tried to actually perform the xperiment yet. 🤷🏻‍♂️

But since I’m an n-guh-neer I’ll n-guh-neer sumpin
😎🤙
 
We are in the same 'boat' about our kayaks. We got a good roof rack but did not want to deal with our car carriers so we just tied them to the racks. But it was a royal pain in the A&& to get them up on the roof so we didn't use them as much as I wanted. So this next trip I am planning to put something as a roller on the back bar and a long rope with a tennis ball or? on the front handles of the kayaks so I can throw the rope over to the front of the van and hubby or I can pull and tie off as needed to get them safely up on to the roof. I plan to make the ropes removeable unless loading. I also plan to have the tie rope somewhat permanently attached to the side where we needed a ladder to get to and have the ties so we can again toss over the roof and tie the kayaks down when we need to tie them in place, the other side is accessible by the doors.
What I don't know is will the rollers make them too unstable once they are on the racks or not. A neighbor said I should use PVC but don't know if that would work. He seems to think I could get a piece just long enough to fit the bar and just a tiny slight bit bigger around than the bar. I know to get it on to the bar slit it straight and squeeze it over the bar as the bar is not real thick and I would resecure it with gorilla tape to hold it together. I am just not sure....
We have wheels to roll them around once on the ground....
 
^^^ you will need some type of guides to keep them on the rollers or the kayaks will tend to go off the side of the rollers as you take them on and off. With my kayak the guides needed to be taller than I expected as the sides of the kayak are rounded. Using ratchet straps over the upside down kayaks to secure them has worked well over several hundreds of highway miles, as the tapered ends counter any forward or aft movement.
 
Last edited:
I now have a van with ladder racks. Following advice I found on Youtube, I just hook my kayak wheels upside down on the back-most crossbar. Then I place enough of a pad underneath to make sure the wheels are turning freely. I connect a rope to the back of the kayak to keep it from wandering as I pick up the front and lift it up onto the wheels. Then I just push it up enough that it will stay there for a few minutes. No need for rails of any kind.

Because I have a fairly heavy fishing kayak and I am below average height and the top of the van is a bit of a stretch, I then pull out a step ladder, climb up and position the kayak and strap it down. Done.
 
bullfrog ! said:
^^^ you will need some type of guides to keep them on the rollers or the kayaks will tend to go off the side of the rollers as you take them on and off. With my kayak the guides needed to be taller than I expected as the sides of the kayak are rounded. Using ratchet straps over the upside down kayaks to secure them has worked well over several hundreds of highway miles, as the tapered ends counter any forward or aft movement.
bullfrog ! said:
^^^ you will need some type of guides to keep them on the rollers or the kayaks will tend to go off the side of the rollers as you take them on and off. With my kayak the guides needed to be taller than I expected as the sides of the kayak are rounded. Using ratchet straps over the upside down kayaks to secure them has worked well over several hundreds of highway miles, as the tapered ends counter any forward or aft movement.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
There are posts on the rack that keep the kayaks in place which is why we knew we could do without the car carriers. We went 1000 +/- miles with them on the roof. We just could not get them on and off easy enough to use them once up they were up. We had to take a little 3 step ladder and to use them we had to untie the ladder then the kayaks and then spend 30 minutes or so getting them down and I was the one to 'catch' them on the ground as they slide off the back. If we can get that simplified a bit we would have more fun with them. Getting them up was the same in reverse.
Maybe I will look on You tube to see if I can see how that works. We have a small ladder on the back of our van. It helps but.....
 
The larger heavy kayaks are difficult to deal with especially when having to lift them over your head. I have a bad shoulder but my Samurai is fairly low to the ground so I can manage for now. There are some sectional kayaks and boats that look promising but even though they fit in a hatch back still take up space. I’m pretty good with welding plastic maybe I’ll try cutting my two seater in half! Lol!!!
 
I was a paddler big time until my hands and neck got so bad. I consider bringing a little kayak I have but not sure I’d need it til California falls in the ocean. Haha.
What a pain to deal with all the boat check stations out west. I hauled canoes and kayaks coast to coast for a number of years. That could be a pain… so if I do it’ll be inside as it is small enough.
As per op… I’m working on clearing out my stuff… also making my camper a little more like home. When here now I’m here as a guest in my mind already. Got everything in sons name except the electric bill now. I’m not even the tax payer anymore… this payment will be my last! So like you intjohn, I’ll be heading out soon and I’ll basically be free of this place… let the kids worry about everything… fall is a great time of year…
 
Running check stations isn’t such a good idea as it can get expensive. $500 to $5,000 and they do record your information at the ramps. Inspection on a kayak is simply to insure there is no lake water, mud, shells or debris and that you are traveling with the drain plug out in Utah. This time of year there is an 18 day dry time or if your kayak can stand being washed with hot water or if not wiped down with Formula 409 you can go into a non-infested lake the next day. Salt water kills them as well after a few days. Lake Powell now has several hundred invasive species eggs in every gallon of water on average, just so you know! The fewer degrees of warmer water has increased their reproduction numbers it seems.
 
Last edited:
My kayak is a native slayer propel; 10’ 60 lbs

I’ve choreographed my kayak loading procedure & seems to work ok using my come-a-long and sliding it up my telescoping ladder parallel to rear of van. Once up2 roof rack level just tug& lift a lil while rotating it 90 degrees till stern & bow r parallel to van length. Position & secure. Good 2 go. 😎🤙

While sound asleep had a visitor during the night that I didn’t hear. There’s some autumn olive brush about 100 feet frum me by the road trail that day b4 yesterday I noticed were all loaded with nice ripe berries. This morning the bushes are trashed and the berries pretty much gone.

Bear 🐻 season opened last weekend and this one obviously has made it thru the first week. If it makes it thru this weekend it’s probably good 4 another year.👍🏼

jonny
 
I’ve actually used some heavy duty ratchet straps to lift my Air Conditioner on top my motor home! Lol!!! Maybe by hooking a few together you could get enough lift without scratching up stuff as much. They actually make ladder lifts for things like roofing materials.
 
kayak loading.

Here () is where I got my inspiration. In the video he is loading onto an SUV, but I found with the aid of a step stool it also works with loading onto the ladder rack on my van. Because I have a ladder rack one of the crossbars is fairly close to the back of the van and makes hooking the wheels to it a lot easier than in the video. I know I mentioned mine is a fairly heavy fishing kayak, but did I mention that next week I'll be 79? So, unless you have a physical impediment, this should be do-able for most folks.

I am trying to encourage you to get out on the water! :)
 
This would help get it started! I will still want something on the back bar as our kayaks are almost shorter than our van. Thank you. We usually tie everything into the inside of the kayaks all the life jackets and paddles and such so they need to go on upside down, and then tie the wheels on the back of the whole thing. But that should not be to much of a problem.....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Top