FWC Roof Rack Use, Roof Box, Kayaks

[Josh41]

Tips, advise and mods requested.

We picked up our Fleet Shell on Monday, and we are starting to make it ours. Regarding the roof, we have the Yakima tracks and already had the control towers, so up went the Yakima rack. On our last slide in, we could stand on the roof, so loading and strapping everything down was easy, not so much with with the Fleet.

We were planning on buying and putting up a roof box, but I'm not sure how I'm going to load, it or even open and close it without a ladder (I do not want to bring a 5' ladder with me).

Kayaks and canoe; how do we get them up and down with out damaging the roof, and when we do get them up there, how do tie them down without a ladder or getting on the roof?

Can the roof handle 3 kayaks?

Thanks
Josh

 

[Taku]

Here is a folding step ladder we have been using for boats and our rocket box on top of an Ocelot. It stores perfectly on top of the rear bumper, under the camper edge using footman loops and cam straps.

https://jet.com/product/detail/a68d7b6ad2694fb39f82f6ed6de33510?jcmp=pla:ggl:NJ_dur_Gen_Tools__Home_Improvement_a1:Tools__Home_Improvement_Building_Supplies_Ladders_a1:naLA_784744695_42602144073_pla-303764086716:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15

http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/album/904-telesteps-storage/

 

[Alley-Kat]

My All Terrain Camper can handle up to four, 36 lb. kayaks on Thule flat bars. Your FWC should be able to do that.

I just slide them up from the rear, however, I do have a hitch mounted rear porch behind the truck that makes my footing more stable for loading.

For getting up there and strapping them down, I carry this 6' compact folding ladder with me. The steps fold up and inward to make a 3.5" square by 6' long unit, very compact. You can also find these at Amazon and Walmart for about the same price at Camping World when they are on sale there. I have a little more room than you show on your rig between the bottom of the side wings of the camper and the top of the side rail of the truck bed as a place I mount the ladder in a large PVC tube (out of the weather and prying eyes) that I can lock to keep the ladder out of the inside of the camper.

Once all those kayaks are on top, I do have to use the speaker stand, crank up device to raise and lower the roof, even though I do have 40 lb. gas shock lifter things for the roof. There are several threads in the WTW forum on the speaker stand and gas shock lifter things, just search for them.

I don't use a roof box, so, other forum members will have to help you out with that.

 

[dakozicki]

I don't have any photos to show you, but I have a 5' folding compact aluminum ladder that fits perfectly in the space between the front of my camper (Hawk) and the back of the truck's cab. I installed a boat loading bar into the front Yakima cross member theat allows one person to put a 14' kayak up there:



http://www.amazon.com/Yakima-BoatLoader-Canoe-Loading-System/

With that said, I will tell you that you can put quite a lot of stuff on the roof. But, the problem comes when you have to lift it to use the camper. An even moderately loaded roof is difficult to lift and lower. I replaced my struts (there are a number of threads on WtW that talk about struts). I have 40# in the front and 30# in the back. But, I should have gone to 50 and 40. My current roof configuration has solar, 3 bars, and a Rhino basket. Unloaded can be lifted, but not when it's loaded. I will be interested in seeing what you come up with.

 

[Josh41]

Wow, that ladder looks great, it took me a minute to see that it folds into a single "pole". That might be the solution.
Thanks

 

[DesertDave]

I have my Grandby on a Ford F350 4x4, so a ladder is required to load and unload. I used two Yakima load bars as shown by dakoziki above, they both fit into the 78" bars that come on the full size vehicles. Longer kayaks get their stern placed on the bar, then I walk the bow up onto the camper as I climb the ladder. I started with a collapsing ladder like Alley-Kat shows, but the thing was too unstable for me on anything other than my own concrete driveway. I now carry a fiberglass 5' stepladder, which is a PITA to haul but I've not fallen off it, nor dropped boats. The longer the boat the easier the loading, shorter than 8' WW boats require me to hold the entire boat vertical until I'm up the ladder enough to rest the stern on the bar. I use a third cross bar all the way to the front of the camper when I haul sea kayaks, just for a bow tie down. WW boats are fine with two straps. The rear bar is all the way to the back, and I placed the front bar 52" forward of that. For me, this spacing matches my car rack and suits all the boats I carry, from 7' to 17' long.

I can load alone, but it easier if a partner moves the stern onto the main bar as I do the same with the bow. Of course, straps are placed prior to the boats going up.

I never raise the roof with two boats on it, I want them off so I can safely lift it, and open the roof vents. One boat can be on the passenger side and allow me to open the vents. This situation is rare for me in practice.

It is certainly not as easy as I would have liked, but it is far easier than dealing with a trailer, which I also have and no longer use.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/gallery/image/13211-river-boats-on-camper-in-driveway/

 

[ckent323]

I have two custom Pygmy kayaks about 37 lb each that I occasionally carry on our FWC Keystone Yakima rack. I recently bought a hully roller setup and a Yakima Showboat loader but I have not used them yet. I load from the rear and I leave my tailgate on as a short ledge to stand on.

I have a folding step stool to get up to the tailgate ledge. Our truck is a 1993 Dodge 1st gen diesel 4x4 so the tail gate is up there a ways.

I do have inside mounted roof lifters in the front but I use a speaker stand to lift when I have the kayaks on.

 

[camper rich]

We use this:

https://www.amazon.com/Xtend-Climb-750P-Aluminum-Telescoping/dp/B000JIMSDA

 

[Piney]

Josh41-

I have a 2012 Hawk on an older Tundra. There is no getting around needing a ladder if you have boats or anything else on your roof racks. I have been using that 6 ft collapsible folding ladder that others have mentioned in this forum, and really like it. There is a 5 ft version also. The 6 footer weighs maybe 12 or 15 lbs. I had a friend with an industrial sewing machine sew me up a heavy pack cloth bag to put the ladder in, and I carry it inside the camper. The ladder is available from Camping World or Amazon, same price. I normally load our 15 ft fishing kayak from the rear of the truck, easier with another person, but doable solo with the Yakima hully roller. I do not carry the kayak for any long distance with that hully roller on the rear rack, as I've had problems with the boat coming loose in windy conditions at highway speeds, no matter how securely strapped. The old style Yakima kayak cradles or the Mako cradles work best. I only have the front interior lift struts on the camper, so no way I can pop the top with any significant weight on the roof.
Several thousand miles travelled over the last four years on and off pavement with either two kayaks or kayak and surfboard/paddleboard combinations on the roof, with no problems other than lousy gas mileage, knock on wood. It cracks me up that Yakima warns against using their products off-road. Common sense and taking it slow and easy seems to work just fine.

 

[Wallowa]

Josh good review and information.

I have the Hully Rollers and the older set of Makos and I concur there is more hull or deck contact with Makos [ I have two 17' sea kayaks and normally used to carry them with deck down on my Tundra shell [deck down to protect thinner deck fiberglass from UV]. When Yakima was in Arcata CA I helped beta test the Rollers for them with my sea kayaks and my only complaint/suggestion was that the roller had a small contact on the kayaks and therefore created an area of flex/pressure on the kayaks over the long haul. Since most folks only used the roller mounts to make short runs to river or beach and not the long runs / long periods that I did, they kept the original design/size.

The issues I see are four fold in considering carrying my 55 lbs [each] kayaks on our Hawk ['05 Access Cab Tundra / '16 Hawk]:

#1 Getting the kayaks up and off the saddles/Yakima Tracs; especially in a wind.

#2 Would not attempt to raise or lower top with kayaks in racks; just me, I do not want to tweak the rigid roof going up or down regardless of whether I was using an inside lifting device [yet another item to stow and carry]. Nor would I off load and then re-load the kayaks at every camp site.

#3 We have the Zamp/FWC installed 160 w solar panel on the Trac...Kayaks would have to mount above this panel putting them several inches up in the air stream and more importantly they would shadow the solar panel.

#4 Since we primarily try to stay off road and often on rough roads overhead clearance and lowering CG is important for us; not to mention the jarring around anything high on the Hawk would be subject to.

[Carrying a ladder is a separate PITA; for snow I use the steps with climbing strap loops to reach and clear snow loads.]

Obviously these are just my opinions and experiences...others may need to carry loads on the roof, but not me.

Phil

 

[ckent323]

Wallowa,

We carried our kayaks home from Seattle to the Solvang (near Santa Barbara) while camping along the way. Using the crank up speaker stand I had no problem with the roof. I used bow and stern ties as well as side to side strap webbing because I was worried about wind and lifting.. That is the only time I have put them on the camper.

The side to side strapping was a mistake and rubbed off some of the finish on the thin fiberglass covering the thin plywood hulls (17' long custom Pygmy wood kayaks - Port Townsend,WA). All I actually needed were the bow and stern lines, The wind (other than on the side to side webbing which made it vibrate) was not a problem and the kayaks never lifted.. I was initially concerned due to the total height but I got comfortable with it.

I have running boards so I am able to get up high enough to load and tie off the kayaks.

I have thought about using a small cargo trailer for the kayaks which would allow me to take the kayak paddles, vests and other gear I prefer not to have in the camper on trips. But I don't like towing a trailer (as you know California limits me to 55 MPH when towing) .

I have Yakima racks on my bed cap so I can carry the Kayaks when the camper is not on (up till now most of the time) and that is much lower in height so not an issue.

How do you transport your kayaks when you have the camper on your truck? We will be leaving the camper on most of the time now that I am retired.

PS I have the Mako saddles as well as the Hully Rollers but have not used the rollers yet. I am now rethinking using them for any long trips - thanks for your comment.

Regards,
Craig

 

[Wallowa]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Craig,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]Thanks for the insights and information; appreciate all the "how I do it" downloads from everyone on the forum. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]We do not transport our sea kayaks on the top of the FWC and since we have 'permanently' dedicated the Tundra to hauling the Hawk, we never will. For the reasons I listed above. When I grub some coins together and after I really, really evaluate the need, I hope to buy an "adventure" style small trailer with racks and a box for long range adventures over long distances. I use to go to Baja regularly to dive but no more; too old to deal with the chaos down there anymore. So BC or Alaska are in our sights. Locally here in NE Oregon the kayaks pretty much stay in the shop; but I have Yakima conversion for our Outback that allows us to carry the kayaks with Yak towers and cross bars. But with 17' boats the close distance between supports and the, in my mind, excessive overhang on both ends stops long trips. We can get to Wallowa Lake and that is about it. I stopped river kayaking when I started sea kayaking in '84.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt] [/SIZE]
[SIZE=10.5pt]As for the abrasion on your Pigmies [could not resist]...I use these on Rok straps on my motorcycles when off road touring...the elastic might do the trick for you. I put thousands of miles on my trucks with the kayaks on top and never had an issue with the straps rubbing nor did I ever use a bow or stern line; did and do use wide boat style [think boat trailer] lever tightened straps and always backed those up with bungie cords.[/SIZE]



Solvang, know it well, assigned and worked in Ventura for two years in late '60s.

[SIZE=10.5pt]Keep us posted and good luck,[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Phil[/SIZE]




https://smile.amazon.com/ROK-Straps-ROK-10050-Black-Reflective/dp/B00JAKIEAY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1494198007&sr=8-4&keywords=rok+straps

 

[Josh41]

Great info everyone. Thanks for all the posts. Our 6' bars are on, now to find a light weight yakima box on CL. We will mount that far right, so that we can access it and still open the vent.
The 5' folding ladder is ordered, and should be here in a day or so. My old camper had a crank up system, so 2 or 3 boats was never a problem. I like the idea of the Yakima Showboat, but hate adding the weight. I think I will go with the boat loader bars and mako saddles.
We have a long trip planned this summer, but no boats, just bikes. So the roof will have just the roof box and maybe a bike, not sure yet.
Thanks again,
Josh