Loading a kayak on a truck rack

Hi All,
Total new guy here.
Wondering if any of you have a great way of loading kayaks on a truck rack by yourself? I'll be towing a trailer and have bikes in the canopy, so I plan on hauling the kayaks on a rack. My wife can help most of the time, but I figure there are some experienced folks on here who must have a great system figured out.
I'd sure appreciate any suggestions.
PS- while I'm on here, I was also wondering if there are many organized fishing trips to get in on. I have a power boat, but fishing from a kayak is totally new to me. Thanks!

Like most things.. Depends.

Depends on your upper body strength. How heavy is your kayak?  How tall is your truck? Can you bring a step stool? It is possible if you are talking about doing it from the side to the top of the cab. After a day on the water, you might find something like a Hullavator is the ticket. Expensive yes, but is a much safer first class way to go with what you are describing you want to do.

While I don't drive a truck, I do drive an SUV and as such have to load it up on top myself fairly often... let me tell you that my outback is significantly heavier after a day of fishing than it is the night before or morning loading it up. Like BrownEyes says it depends on a lot of factors, if you have a heavier kayak simply lifting it over the head and all the way up the rack is not always the easiest thing to do especially after a day of fishing. Also if the trailer will be connected to the truck it will be a heck of a time loading it as you will have to do it from the side of the truck rather than the side.

A few things I've found helpful in loading from the back are:
1. I load my kayak hull side up on the racks, this has it laying flat and makes it marginally easier to load a flat surface rather than a rounded one (at least with my standard "flat" racks.
2. My kayak has a rudder that I would prefer not to damage so I always bring a ~2'x2' piece of styrofoam to place under the back of the kayak so as to not scrape it on asphalt (if it is on asphalt or concrete.) By placing it under the rudder I can slide the kayak without risk of damaging the rudder assembly.
3. Stage the kayak bow slightly in front of where the rack is next to the vehicle so once you lift it you shouldn't need to slide it too much. Lift and step to the side setting the kayak on the rack.
4. Once the bow of the kayak has been safely lifted onto the back rack I typically crouch under the kayak, grab the handles and begin to lift and slide the kayak up and onto the racks.

Note: If you have a shell on the truck you may want to purchase a mat to protect the paint on it from scraping, no need to purchase a fancy kayak mat, just buy a nice cheap bath rug, the bottom is setup to not slip and it will protect the paint on the shell.

Lastly... Always try and fish with a buddy if possible, there's a bunch of great reasons for this, but one of the best is help in loading the kayaks!

A picture is worth 1000 words, a year,make,model of truck and yak are worth about 368 words as it's way easier if we got some actual factual 

Hi All,
Total new guy here.
Wondering if any of you have a great way of loading kayaks on a truck rack by yourself? I'll be towing a trailer and have bikes in the canopy, so I plan on hauling the kayaks on a rack. My wife can help most of the time, but I figure there are some experienced folks on here who must have a great system figured out.
I'd sure appreciate any suggestions.
PS- while I'm on here, I was also wondering if there are many organized fishing trips to get in on. I have a power boat, but fishing from a kayak is totally new to me. Thanks!

Hey Coho Mojo, I guess we are a carbon copy of each other and truly in the same boat. LOL
As a newcomer to kayak fishing myself I'm faced with a similar dilemma for loading my Outback which when stripped down still is in the mid-80's pound range. As you can see in the pics, I am running a 1 ton 4x4 with a canopy shell equipped with a built-in canoe/kayak/cartopper rack. The cross bars are 7' 3" off the ground. The tailgate level is at 3 foot high. As Matt M suggests, buddying up has major advantages for loading and unloading....unless you are a diehard like me that can frequently outlast all others and find myself alone in the dark with the task at hand. So I MUST figure out how to put this kayak on the roof rack by myself.

I do have a 4'x8' utility trailer I could use to carry the boat but the major disadvantage for winter fishing here in AK is the sand and salt spread on the roads kicking up from the truck tires makes a total mess out of the boat if the roads are treated, or if its snowing and all that kicks up on the boat. A good summer option for me for sure.

So back to the truck loading. I made a few feeble attempts a while back get to get the feel of the challenge for self loading. Was not successful but have ideas that will probably work. If I come up with a workable solution I'll try to document it on vid or photo series to post. The rudder on many kayaks presents half of the problem as Matt M mentioned for protecting it from grinding on the ground surface as you work the kayak up onto the cross bars. I'm planning on making up a custom fit "slipper" to bungee on the rudder end for easy sliding along the ground and easy removal once on top of the rack. I can't put the kayak "ruddy first" as it projects too low when on the rack and would contact my truck cab roof.



The second photo is what I did to protect the poly of my kayak as it is very vulnerable to gouging from the tiniest burr on aluminum or steel metal cross bars. As you can see I used a section of PVC pipe to "snap on" the cross bars. I used my Dremel mototool with a steel round saw blade to cut out a section of the pipe about 1/4" NARROWER than the width of my cross bars. Starting at one end I pried the PVC open and then with a rubber mallet started tapping the pipe onto the square stock. The method will also work on round stock material like pipe but the slot you cut will have to be ≈1/4" narrower than the diameter of the pipe. Once this is on its not going anywhere, won't slip, is waterproof, and looks nice.

The PVC is poly kayak friendly and makes it easy to slide the boat on. I will also mention that when I mounted my bases for my Scotty Orca rod holder and my Scotty fish finder platform, the rod holder base was installed on the top of the kayak gunnel. This obviously is going to be a sliding hazard to watch out for as the kayak is pushed up on the rack. So if you haven't mounted any gear on the boat yet you might keep this in mind and consider Gear Trac rails, either in recessed trays on the boat or on the gunnel as a low profile piece of gear.

A picture is worth 1000 words, a year,make,model of truck and yak are worth about 368 words as it's way easier if we got some actual factual 

At least the type of kayak!  I do this all the time with a truck rack, but what I do may be meaningless with a different kayak.

With just one up, no interference with the travel trailer. I didn't bother putting an extra set of rollers/pads so both would go up top, but there's room.

Wow, I can't believe how many of you guys have replied already.
The kayak will be a 2017 outback as soon as the shop gets em in (early Christmas present). The truck is a Chevy 1500 4x4 (stock) with a cab high canopy. Still researching, full rack over canopy or tracks mounted on fiberglass canopy.  I would probably not have the trailer hooked up while loading.  I must say, I like the Buddy idea the best. I'll look into the side loader though.

...and thanks Klondike Kid for the warning. I'd hate to scratch up my new toy😬

If you go full rack over cap it would be safe to bet that there would be more protection for the canopy then a rail in top. If you had someone that can customize the rack then your golden as you can put a protrusion at the back to cradle the boat while it's at the awkward position of one end on the ground and one on the truck. Not sure that you'd want to bench press an outback after a day of fishing unless your Hulk Hogan.

Can one use a Hullivator on a truck with a cap ?

Where's yakbass he has a hulivator on a talker Subaru then I have. His does it attach?

Here's a few shots, Thule exporter on the Chevy, load bars with foam on the Toyota fj stock rack. I also haul a PA 14 atop my fj, little tricky but not as bad as one would think.
Bottom pick is actually in Garabaldi last may day. I don't have any close up pics of the fj loaded with two or three on top but do it all the time!

I just found a loader called the Rhino Rack T bar.  Demo videos on You Tube. Anybody ever try one?

Thanks SmilinKayaker. That's quite the fleets out got there.👍

I have racks not too different from those in Pinstriper's photo.  After struggling to get a Revo 13 up on them the first couple of trips, I wrapped the rear rack with an old bathroom rug (one with a rubber anti-slip backing), load the Revo on them right side up (keel down) and it slides right up and now I can load it by myself.

The tie-down points on the rack are enough to prevent the Revo from slipping off the sides, and once I have the Revo up there, I flip it upside down to haul it.

I slide it up on it's keel to keep it off the rudder assembly.

My racks are no more than 4-1/2 feet apart, leaving a lot of the Revo's bow overhanging the cab.  No problems - so far - that would suggest I need a rack that extends over the cab.  I don't put a lot of tension on the bow and stern lines - they're there to keep the Revo from slipping side-to-side or from flying off the front during a hard stop.  The straps are what holds it down.

I don't have a bed cap and I use two extra straps, one on each side, from the attachment points in the bed of the truck through the Revo's side handles - like an upside-down "V" to further stabilize it front-to-back.

Using old rugs wasn't my idea.  Stole it from another member with a knee injury who also uses rugs on their rack and effortlessly shoves an OK on his cap rack.

You can spend more, but the rugs do the job.