Part of what makes a boat a "car topper" is the process used to load it. I
used to load and unload a 17-foot Grumman aluminum canoe by myself. 75
pounds isn't too much to handle, but it's difficult to reach out, keep
everything balanced, and keep from scraping the car while trying to load it
from the side.

There are probably commercial versions of this, but the home-made end-load
roller support I built worked fine, so I'll describe it he

Build or buy a rack that includes a sturdy tubular horizontal support rod,
like a length of galvanized pipe. Before attaching the two end supports,
slide the pipe inside a length of PVC pipe that has been wrapped with
outdoor/boat deck carpet. Drill a vertical hole (just slightly larger than
the shaft of a double-head nail) through the PVC and galvanized pipe, and
mark both ends with a felt-tip marker to help you line up the holes. Shorten
the double-head nail so it drops through the holes in the pipes, but won't
be long enough to scratch the car top.

When mounted (and the nail is removed) you have a rolling car-top support.
This works real well on hatch-back vehicles, VW vans, etc that don't have a
long trunk sticking out the rear of the vehicle.

Just prop the bow of the upturned boat on the roller/support. Then lift the
stern and roll the whole thing forward. When it's in position, rotate the
PVC pipe until the holes are aligned and drop the nail in place to jam the
roller. Strap everything down, and you're pretty much set.

This works real well for a canoe. It would probably be fine for a 10-foot
jon boat or Coleman Crawdad. I don't think I'd try it with a molded boat
like the Bass Hunter, though.

Joe

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"Alwaysfishking" wrote in message
...

Hi. I'm trying to find a good car top boat to use for fishing small and
medium sized lakes.


Your not loading a crawdad on top of a car by yourself, and if you are, you
will need to lean it on the trunk and slide it on up. Trust me :-)

But it is a good boat, I've had mine for two seasons now and love it. The
problem is the 12 footer I have has a 450 max weight capacity and if your
anything like me 100 pounds of that is soft plastiiic.

Stability wise it's great, I fish with my buddy Dave all the time and we
both stand up and have never had any problems. Of course when I hit the
trolling motor on full and Dave crashs to the ground landing on random
crankbaits, spinnerbaits and knocking his coffee over, well heck that;s just
a bonus cause it's always funny