Hauling a kayak on Maverick with Elevate Rack System

[sundancer370]

Hauled a 16' Hobie kayak using Thule Hullavator lift system attached to an Elevate Rack system. Had to do a few mods on the Hullavator to attach it the the Elevate Rack.
First trip did about 30 highway miles, kept the speed at about 65 as a trial and it came through with flying colors. Kind of an expensive setup but I already had the Hullavators so just had to buy the Elevate.

2023 Lariat Hybrid with Lux package, Hot Pepper Red

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[Graboid]

Thanks for posting, I'm also planning to carry a kayak on the Elevate rack (once I get my truck that is...). Am wondering if you've tried the rack at the lower setting. What's the reason you chose the next higher one?

 

[rclee]

That is one long a@# kayak !

 

[sundancer370]

Thanks for posting, I'm also planning to carry a kayak on the Elevate rack (once I get my truck that is...). Am wondering if you've tried the rack at the lower setting. What's the reason you chose the next higher one?
[/QUOTE

Thanks for posting, I'm also planning to carry a kayak on the Elevate rack (once I get my truck that is...). Am wondering if you've tried the rack at the lower setting. What's the reason you chose the next higher one?

That is at the 23" position. Being this is my first time hauling it I wanted to make sure there was plenty of clearance between the Kayak and cab roof in case the kayak bounced at all. Seemed very solid didn't notice any issues so next may try at the 18" position.

 

[Graboid]

Cool, looking forward to your report on the 18 inch test.

 

[sundancer370]

Just to give you an idea of clearances. The Hullavator raises the kayak about 4 inches above the crossbar. With the rack at the 23" position I have about 10-12" clearance over the cab. Hard to get an exact measurement as the kayak hangs over the side of the truck

 

[BEC]

Hauled a 16' Hobie kayak using Thule Hullavator lift system attached to an Elevate Rack system. Had to do a few mods on the Hullavator to attach it the the Elevate Rack.
First trip did about 30 highway miles, kept the speed at about 65 as a trial and it came through with flying colors. Kind of an expensive setup but I already had the Hullavators so just had to buy the Elevate.

2023 Lariat Hybrid with Lux package, Hot Pepper Red

I am going to have to figure something similar out if/when we get our Maverick (supposedly scheduled to be built the week of 9/18), as my wife has a 17 foot Seda Swift sea kayak. We currently carry it via Thule Hullavators on the roof rack of our 2013 Mazda 3 hatchback. The Maverick will eventually replace the Mazda in our small fleet of vehicles.

I had thought to look into a Thule roof rack for the Maverick. What drove your decision to choose the bed-mounted solution? That really puts the boat up there, and also sticking out behind a long way.

Also, where do you tie off the bow line when carrying the kayak? I don't see one in the picture.

 

[sundancer370]

I am going to have to figure something similar out if/when we get our Maverick (supposedly scheduled to be built the week of 9/18), as my wife has a 17 foot Seda Swift sea kayak. We currently carry it via Thule Hullavators on the roof rack of our 2013 Mazda 3 hatchback. The Maverick will eventually replace the Mazda in our small fleet of vehicles.

I had thought to look into a Thule roof rack for the Maverick. What drove your decision to choose the bed-mounted solution? That really puts the boat up there, and also sticking out behind a long way.

Also, where do you tie off the bow line when carrying the kayak? I don't see one in the picture.

A few things drove my decision to use this setup
1) I like the look of the Elevate Rack and I figured it was more practical on a day to day basis for hauling other stuff.
2) On a previous vehicle I managed to scratch my roof pretty badly putting on a roof rack so I was nervous about that.
3) The ease of removing the bed rack when I don't need it.

I didn't use a bow or stern line on the kayak, instead used a couple ratchet straps (yellow straps in picture) to further secure the kayak. I was surprised how secure the kayak felt with these straps. After driving about 30 miles home on the highway it was still very secure. There are holes in front underneath where you could easily attach bow lines and the trailer hitch could be used in back. If I was going on a long trip I'd probably use them. I would still use the ratchet straps though.

Since this was the first time transporting the kayak I put the rack in the middle 23" position to make sure it would easily clear the cab. Now I know I could drop it back to the 18" position.

It does stick out quite a ways behind so I put a flag on it.

I did modify the Hullavator bar that attaches to the crossbar in such a way that it couldn't be used again on a typical Thule setup, but that was by choice not absolute necessity.

 

[BEC]

A few things drove my decision to use this setup
1) I like the look of the Elevate Rack and I figured it was more practical on a day to day basis for hauling other stuff.
2) On a previous vehicle I managed to scratch my roof pretty badly putting on a roof rack so I was nervous about that.
3) The ease of removing the bed rack when I don't need it.

I didn't use a bow or stern line on the kayak, instead used a couple ratchet straps (yellow straps in picture) to further secure the kayak. I was surprised how secure the kayak felt with these straps. After driving about 30 miles home on the highway it was still very secure. There are holes in front underneath where you could easily attach bow lines and the trailer hitch could be used in back. If I was going on a long trip I'd probably use them. I would still use the ratchet straps though.

Since this was the first time transporting the kayak I put the rack in the middle 23" position to make sure it would easily clear the cab. Now I know I could drop it back to the 18" position.

It does stick out quite a ways behind so I put a flag on it.

I did modify the Hullavator bar that attaches to the crossbar in such a way that it couldn't be used again on a typical Thule setup, but that was by choice not absolute necessity.

Thanks for the additional info. Certainly your setup is an approach to consider other than what I was thinking. Oh well, I’m not going to get too worried about it until I have a Maverick built and at least on its way to my dealer south of Seattle. At that point I’ll probably contact the Thule dealer that set us up with the Hullavators and see what options they could offer as well.

Something that plays nice with a tonneau cover as the Elevate Rack seems to would also be attractive for that reason. I would probably look for a way to do it without modding the attach brackets, or at least pricing what the Hullavator attach bars cost separately before doing it, though.

I have to put the screw-on tow hook on the Mazda for the bow line when we load my wife’s boat, so that was a point of particular curiosity. I see the straps you added now that you’ve pointed them out and I can see how they might really add some security.

 

[Kingfish]

My boat's not as big, but I had good results with the Elevate and Yakima hull raisers. I did have to get the yakima universal mount to make it work.

 

[brucecorporal]

I bit the bullet with the thule rack and j-stacker. Other than needing 2 people to load/unload so far so good.

 

[BEC]

I bit the bullet with the thule rack and j-stacker. Other than needing 2 people to load/unload so far so good.

That could certainly be configured for Hullavators. Thanks for the pictures.

 

[gwrace14651]

We also purchased an elevate rack system and roof rack for the Mav. We will be carrying a Wavewalk S4.

 

[Donald]

Here’s my set up to carry my Wavewalk S4 Microskiff. 2000 mile round trip to Key West. I used the Elevate and Pro X15 tonneau. Easy clamp on installation for both. Islamorada Sandbar!

 

[John_wyatt55]

Thanks for posting, I'm also planning to carry a kayak on the Elevate rack (once I get my truck that is...). Am wondering if you've tried the rack at the lower setting. What's the reason you chose the next higher one?

I'm getting 2 inflatable pontoon kayaks that fit inside a bag in the bed.
Wow long kayak, good job.

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