Solo Kayak Loading in High Wind – with the Yakima Boat Loader

When solo-loading my kayaks onto my car,  they've been blown off the roof by intense winds on two (2) occasions, once long ago and once more recently. And I’ve had a few close calls over the years too – usually prevented by soliciting the help of a nearby stranger. Yes, I am capable of learning from past mistakes, but evidently it takes me awhile to change my behavior. When the wind catches the boat, it can be a total nightmare - potential damage to the boat, the car, and my aging joints as I’ve tried desperately to stop the inevitable catastrophe unfolding before my eyes. Thankfully, thus far I’ve had no major damage that some epoxy/gelcoat can’t fix and no damage to other people’s property. So now these days when it’s very windy, I’ve been following a set procedure to prevent the boat from flying off as described below.

I’ve used the Yakima Boat Loader (photo below) for many years now, to help lift the kayak in two steps. It was the first load-assist device offered by Yakima and is simply an extra bar that sticks out from the front rack crossbar. It works fine – I’ve padded the bar with some $2 foam pipe insulation from Home Depot and I usually stick something under the stern (a rag or pfd) when I lift so asphalt doesn’t grind away at my fiberglass boat too much.

But like all other solo lift-assist “tools” (with the exception of Thule’s Hullavator which secures the boat before it’s lifted), using the Yakima Boat Loader leaves the boat in a vulnerable, unsecured position subject to the forces of the wind until you strap it down.

To prevent the boat from flying off the roof on very windy days, I now lift the bow onto the Yakima Boat Loader bar and secure it loosely with the front cradle’s webbing strap (see my sketch). This stops the boat from being blown off the bar during the next step. To be doubly safe that the boat doesn’t slide off forwards through the webbing loop, I also attach a short bungee cord with hooks from a deck line to the roof rack. Next, I lift the stern up into the rear cradle and secure the rear cradle strap while holding the boat against the wind (with my car, I stand on my rear tire and can do this entire step without removing my hands from the boat). Once this is complete, I can then take my time moving the bow over into the front cradle and then synch the front cradle strap tight. This method takes very little extra time and can be a life saver.

This description may seem like a no-brainer. I post it here for others to read in the off-chance it saves someone a real headache. If you have a better method, please comment – thanks.