Boat for the Grandby recommendations.

Alaskan Snowbirds

Alaskan Snowbirds

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2008
Messages
263
Location
Juneau, Alaska
We'd like to carry a small boat with us for fishing and exploring, mostly lakes but some in-shore salt water too. We won't want to use a trailer much of the time so would like to have something that works on top of the camper.

We've got the boat and luggage racks on the camper. I understand that the maximum load for the top of the camper is around 250# but that there is a practical limit where the weight will be too much for a moderatly strong old guy like me to lift and we would have to pull it off every time we stopped and wanted to pop the top.

Any recommendations on what would work best??
 
60 pound canoe

Even a 60 pound canoe on the roof is less than appealing to me. My advice: throw 60 pounds up there and give it a try.
 
How About

A 14ft. Lund with a 15 hp. Yamaha on a trailer, I've got 105 watt solar panel on my roof, come and lift it, I think you'll want the boat on a trailer after you do.
 
small inflatable

Duane,
I would recommend just getting a small inflatable that come in a large duffle bag, Zodiac has a model for three people and weighs less than 50 lbs! Inflating them is easy with the foot pump. The big problem is the motor, they are heavy. Craigs list is a great place to find them, especially now. I got mine for $300 bucks! It is very easy to deflate and inflate. Hope that helps.

-Joel
 
A.S. can you tell us what you plan to use the boat for? Do you want to just paddle around or do you want to motor around with a gas or electric motor. Do you have a price range? for example I do alot fishing in the bay and delta, and alot of small lakes so I tow a 17 ' aluminum with 130 HP honda. I have found alot of neat little boats if you can narrow it down a bit. Terry
 
Even a 60 pound canoe on the roof is less than appealing to me. My advice: throw 60 pounds up there and give it a try.

Don't do it. I've got myself in trouble with much less weight than 60 pounds. Some of the alternative lift systems we have seen may help but I'd have to try them out before forming an opinion on them.
 
Wow...the roof won't take much!

I didn't even think about test loading the roof to see what kind of load it (I) will take...DUH!!! I'll do that, starting with just 10# (thanks for the caution DD) and see where my comfort zone is.

I should have been more specific on why we don't want to use a trailer. There are no roads out of Juneau (where we live) and the cost to take our 17' Alumaweld from Juneau to Prince Rupert (the route we took this year) would be right at $1000 extra round trip on the ferry...they charge by the foot. We'll want to take a boat with us on the ferry several times a year, so, using a trailer boat all the time just isn't reasonable.

We're looking for something convenient, that it won't take a lot of fuss and extra stuff to mount on the camper. It needs to be a boat that will work for the two of us to fish lakes and inland salt and explore a little. The other boats we've thought of are inflatables, "ocean" kayaks and folding boats.

The inflatables are a reasonable option...Skeeter's Zodiak at 50# might be able to stay on the roof when I pop it up...we'll have to see how much is comfortable for me to lift. Even if I have to take it (or part of it) off, it will need to go on the top 'cause the bags are just too big to store well in the camper. I've got enough experience with inflatables to know I get a wet butt every time I get near one, and that they make a funny little hissing noise when you aren't careful with hooks or around rocky beaches!

It seems like a lot of FWC's have kayaks mounted. I guess we should just go rent one and see if we think it would work for us for fishing/exploring. Les's roller seems like it would be a boon for putting one on/off the top of the camper and it seems like I've also seen some commercially available roller cradles on cars/suv's...does anyone use those on their camper?? If you have experience with using ocean kayaks on the FWC's we'd enjoy hearing both how/where you use them in the water and how you manage them for transport/camping.

The first FWC I remember seeing had a folding boat mounted to the side of the camper. I was too busy admiring the camper to take good note of the mounting system. Seems like that method of mounting would let you use the pop-up freely, but not the passenger side door of the truck?? The folding boats (Porta Bote is the only brand we've seen) seem like they might work pretty well for us but I've never been in one and the reviews run from "turbocharged bowl of jello" to "solid". I think they could be set up to fish pretty well and would mount on the top cleanly but, at 68# for the 12' version, would probably have to come off every time you want to raise the roof?? We'd appreciate hearing from anyone that uses (or has used) these, especially your experience with mounting them either on top or on the side.

If anybody uses something different than the above that can be easily mounted to or carried in the camper, we'd really like to hear about it.

Thanks for all the input....the information on how much load I can expect to have on the roof when raising it was an eye opener!

Skeeter...that line of Will Geer's from J. Johnson (skin griz) is a classic...I really liked "Elk don't know how many feet a horse have!" too :p
 
In Southeast Alaska, I saw little privately owned ferries big enough to carry a single truck. You could almost own one of these if it saves you a grand each time you are on the Alaska Marine Highway. The little ferries are for sheltered water and short passages.

Klepper boats are examples of premium folding kayaks. Kleppers are serious boats suitable for open water, whereas most of the inflatables that could be carried inside your camper are not. A new Klepper would set you back about 5 grand. Even used, they are in such demand that I doubt if you can get off cheaply. You never know, sometimes sellers don’t know what they have got.
 
Thanks John...

John D.,

We've been around the Kleppers and Fold-Boat kayaks some. You're right...the Kleppers are quality stuff. They get used a lot for fly-in trips here. Friends have an Aerius II (sp?) model that they bought at least 30 years ago and it's still going strong. Shep Webber (sp?) and his wife used one for a lot of the trips they did in his book on Alaska rivers...his write-up on the Noatak is one that sticks in my mind. If I ran across a good one that isn't very expensive I'd be tempted to pick it up just in case I want to do a fly in again some day!

Though I don't have much personal experience with either the folding kayak or 'glass ones, I understand that the glass ones are a little easier to paddle (less resistance) for the same length, and they are tougher. Also, there isn't any assembly time. Since I'd want to carry a Klepper on top of the camper there really isn't an advantage in storage for this application either.

We have a lot of old landing craft around southeast that transport everything...dump trucks, backhoes, lumber, concrete trucks, etc. out to the remote sites. I haven't seen the smaller ferries you mention in action but have seen quite a few that sound like the same type thing at some of the aluminum boat dealers...they are usually in the $100K+ range with power (if memory serves), so I'd need to do a lot of travel to justify one of those! :eek:

Cheers!
Duane
 
Thinking outside the box if your main concern with the trailer is just the ferry maybe you can find (or build) a relatively easy to break down trailer you can toss inside the camper and mount the boat on the roof just for the ferry. Once off throw it back together and get the boat off the top and tow away... Maybe? :confused: That way you don't have to worry about lifting the roof with the boat but could skirt the fee's...
 
Not sure how robust something like this would be:

http://www.campertrailerswa.com/html/cavalier_options.html
boattraileropen.jpg

boattrailerclosed.jpg


Another, looks to be out of austrailia but that doesn't mean there isn't a US company doing this too. Just the quickest think I found.
http://www.realezytrailers.com.au/

trailers%20small.jpg

barcooheadersmall.jpg
 
Porta Bote and Collapsable Trailer!!!!

Mark W. Ingalls said:
Here's something...

porta-bote
Click to expand...

Mark,

These have been my front runner. Hard sided, fairly light (68# for the 12' model), clean when mounted either on top or side, easy to power with gas or electric (6 hp max and I've got an ol' short shaft 6 Evenrude that still cranks up), they should be pretty easy to mount both downriggers and depth finders on (and folding swivel seats too).

The picture shown on the link you sent is a good example of mounting them on the side...but I still don't know if I could make something practical that would let it clear the passenger door...when I get back to the camper I need to do some measuring to see if I could make it work by side mounting it so that it protrudes above the roof a little when the roof is lowered...might just work. If I could side mount it that might be the best solution for a non-trailerable boat. I would still need to hear a little more from people that owned them about how they handle on the water, or do a test run in one if I can find one to do it in.

....but check this stuff pods8 came up with!!!


pods8 said:
Not sure how robust something like this would be:

http://www.campertrailerswa.com/html/cavalier_options.html

Another, looks to be out of austrailia but that doesn't mean there isn't a US company doing this too. Just the quickest think I found.
http://www.realezytrailers.com.au/

NOW WE'RE COOKIN'! :thumb: I knew one of you guys would come through!

I never even thought of a commercially available collapsable trailer.

I talked to Stan about mounting a 14' Lund upside down on the top of the camper with a trailer ratchet strapped to it but he was afraid I'd break his camper and wouldn't let me do it. :)

I did think about dismantling a standard trailer but didn't think it was practical to do very often. One of these looks like it would break down pretty easily and quickly though. I'll start researching them. The first one looks, from the URL, like it's made in Washington and we are scheduled to be there on the 21st so maybe I can get a first hand look.

Thanks pods8, great find! D
Click to expand...
 
I never even thought of a commercially available collapsable trailer.

The first one looks, from the URL, like it's made in Washington and we are scheduled to be there on the 21st so maybe I can get a first hand look.


I didn't know they existed either, I just though of the idea and figured I couldn't be the first to think of it and started looking around.

FYI that link is W.A. which I believe is "western australian" or something, definitely not a Washington addy... you'd be looking for a 98XXX zip code for WA.
 
Duane look at this http://www.mokai.com/

I've wondered why there aren't more jet skis on the rivers in interior Alaska...maybe I'll see some of these! I don't think it's what we'll want for using with the camper but it is an interesting boat!

FYI that link is W.A. which I believe is "western australian" or something, definitely not a Washington addy... you'd be looking for a 98XXX zip code for WA.

Yep, it's Western Australia. I couldn't find spec's on that one but the others are for 12' max.

I couldn't find anything in the U.S. for folding or collapsible trailers except a bunch of patents and a reference one couple made to a collapsible trailer they haul their 15' Gregor with that was made by "By George" in California...a search on "By George" +trailer didn't turn anything useful.

I did find kit trailers and there's some promise in those, with a little modification.

Cheers! D
 
Yakama rollers

When I had my Landrover I carried two Kayaks all over Alaska on my roof. The Rover is as tall as the 4WC. Rolling a boat up there is much better than lifting. What I would do now with my Eagle is use the 2 brackets on the two rear corners (assuming you don't keep lift jacks permanently installed) and build a bar that goes across the back edge and use that to 'slide' a canoe or kayak up on top. I still have kayak but have not yet tried this idea. I am using my jack brackets right now for a home-made awning and it is quite strong. I really LOVED the picture of the camper boat someone posted! Good luck.
 
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