Side-Loading Car Racks

[Ric12string]

I am curious if anyone has experience with side-loading car racks for use with your rowing shell. The two that I am most familiar with is the Yakima Showdown and the Thule Hullavator.

I drive a Ford Expedition and find that it is so tall that I need to have a stepstool nearby to climb up on (all while awkwardly balancing the shell) in order to get it up and on to the roof of my car. So, the side-loading car rack is of interest to me.

I have an assortment of Yakima products and have been generally satisfied with them, but I was a little disappointed when I checked out the Showdown product yesterday. It seems to me like there wouldn't be much padding on the hardware to protect an expensive carbon-fiber shell. Yakima offers a thin piece of felt that you peel off the backing and adhere to the hardware. I looked at the Thule Hullavator and found that it has much more padding on it, which I strongly preferred. It has other features on it, however, which drive the price tag up about $200 greater than the Yakima Showdown. So, one has to strongly prefer the Thule in order to justify purchasing it rather than the Yakima.

My question is: Have you had any experience using a side-loading rack for your rowing shell? Have you ever used the Hullavator and, if so, did it work easily with your shell in terms of fitting the shell in the cradle area?

Thanks.

[Cyclist2]

I have no experience with side loading racks - always just dealt with the rooftop type, but my first thought would be the riggers extending up, down, or out getting in the way or awkward when loading or driving. Not real helpful, sorry.

[Ric12string]

Mark, so that we are clear, a side-loading rack system is simply that -- you load it from the side, but it still flips up where it is on the top of your car when in final position. It simply eliminates the chore of lifting the shell up when your have a tall vehicle. There is a part of the rack (two actually) which flips down alongside of your car door and you load the shell into the rack in that manner. Then, after tying the shell to the rack device, you then lift the rack device so that it flips up on to the top of your vehicle where it then locks in place.

[Ripples]

I use a Thule Hullavator to carry my sea kayak. It's an amazing work of engineering as it carries 40# of the boat's weight and lifts it to the roof with no effort on my part, other than lifting the kayak to place it in the cradles on the side of my car. The Hullavator comes with two cam straps and excellent bow/stern tie-downs. It takes me less than five minutes to load, strap, and tie down the kayak. A nice touch is the pocket at the top end of each cradle in which you can stuff the excess cam strap. The Hullavators can be locked so they can't be released until unlocked. Each cradle weighs 15# so I remove them midweek when I'm at work and store them indoors. You just pull out the pin and remove the cradle. I keep the pins in a separate plastic bag in my car with daisy-chained straps and tie-downs.

It's fabulous.

[Ripples]

Realized I hadn't addressed the question of padding. The cradle arms are nicely padded and won't mar your shell. I have a composite kayak and noticed that the hard black pads the hull rests on did leave marks so I covered them with minicell padding, attached with Gorilla tape. It's held securely for two years and protected my hull.

[Ric12string]

Ripples, thank you very much for your comments. They are quite helpful. It looks like, if I buy it (which is quite likely in light of your remarks), I will have to invest in some minicell foam too. Thanks so much again.

[Ripples]

Ripples, thank you very much for your comments. They are quite helpful. It looks like, if I buy it (which is quite likely in light of your remarks), I will have to invest in some minicell foam too. Thanks so much again.

If you have any neoprene foam around, that will work as well. I just happened to have a thin minicell sheet handy. Covering the rubber pads with Gorilla tape would prevent scuffing, but I wanted to add a bit of padding where those pads contact my hull. Guessing you'd want the same for your shell.

Anything that gets us on the water faster is good, right?