Customer Reviews

Yakima BoatLoader Canoe and Kayak Side Loading System

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This is very handy for loading canoes by yourself. Saves rubbing the paint off your roof or canopy while loading. Strong enough to handle the three types of canoes I've used. Worth the money!

this bar telescopes out of the side of your rack -- There's a video on youtube that shows how much of a help it is. I'm only 5'and I can do this and it takes less than 5 min to load the boat and tie it down.

This accessory is very helpful for anyone loading or unloading a boat by themselves. It is also a big help if you are a woman who has lost some upper body strength. It is simple to install and a bargain compared to some other boatloaders.

I Purchased the Yakima BoatLoader Canoe and Kayak Side Loading System last January 2011. This compliments my existing Subaru Tribecca kayak mounting system, which consists of Yakima roof rack mounts, Yakima rubberized round cross bars and 2 sets of Thule fold-down kayak mounts. My wife has difficulty lifting the kayaks up into the car roof mounts. So I now can load the kayaks myself using the 'Boat Loader' accessory. You unlock it and pull out the extension rod. Then raise and set the kayak bow or stern on the rod and then lift and set the other end of the kayak into the roof mounts. It's well built and sturdy. I move it from side to side so I can load both kayaks with it. It's will worth the expense!

You need to sand/ream out the corrosion build-up inside the Yakima cross bar before installing the 'Boat Loader'. The loader extension and retraction will not work smoothly if you don't remove the corrosion inside the cross bar first! I taped a strip of course sand paper to the end of a 3' long piece of 1/4" threaded rod. Rolled it over the rod and then attached the rod to my battery powered drill. I inserted the sand paper end of the rod inside the cross bar and then ground the corrosion smooth from both ends.

I bought this loader so I could load my kayak(s) on top of my 95 Toyota 4-runner by myself. Lifting the one end of the boat up to the extension is very little effort and lifting the other loose end on to the top of the car becomes very easy, too. This has virtually freed me from having to depend on having another person present to help me get the kayak to the top of the 4-runner because of the kayak's length and weight.

I use a large fibreglass canoe that is at the very limit of my carrying capacity. This wonderful bar allows me to prop up the canoe on my shoulders via the yoke and simply walk it on to the roof of my car. These bars take the weight of the canoe and allow me to pop around and push the canoe the rest of the way up on the roof. Definitely worth the money since a botched "shimmy" mount attempt would cost me considerably more at the body shop!

This loader is so cool I'm buying another one. Right now I've been using it for hanging my wet gear on the side of my van, soon with two as a side surfboard rack that will work as a side awning above the side slider door. I'll be able to open the back of my van without having to slide my surfboards all the way forward, I plan on making a side shade using both and of course for canoes on occasion. Check out this website [...]

I have a 55 pound 17' 4" sea kayak. After a heart attack last year I found it difficult (impossible) to get the boat onto the car's roof rack by myself. I considered rollers but was advised to get the Boatloader.

This week for the first time I used the Boatloader. What a breeze. I had looked at various kayaking sites reading questions about the Boatloader. What turned out to be a very valuable piece of information was to use a thin 'camping mattress' on the ground to avoid scratching the kayak's bottom as the other end was lifted. I found a mattress at WalMart for around $9. I cut a small piece off the main piece (about 2' long) to rest on the car's roof between the rack tubes and over the side of the car. This was a suggestion to avoid damaging the car's paint as the kayak would slide, on the extended Boatloader bar, gently towards the car as the low end was lifted. It all worked as planned.

What a treat. Now I don't have to enlist outside help when I want to go kayaking.

Clamps are too big for canoe loading to put on factory rack. It would work on Yakima rack for me but on 4runner and durango the factory rack is too short in clearance for the clamps to fit for canoe loading. Kayak would work but for the weight and directions for canoe would not.

I have a tandem kayak that weighs a ton, and a tall truck to load it on. It had been a struggle for my wife and I to load & unload the kayak, especially without scratching the truck. The Yakima BoatLoader was a little shorter than I expected, but I was still able to load the boat by myself in less than 5 minutes. It was actually easier than loading with 2 people. My only concern is theft. If I leave the BoatLoader in my roof rack, it would be pretty easy for someone to steal. There's no way to lock it in place.

My wife loved this product too because instead of struggling to hold up our heavy kayak, she got to sit in the air-conditioned truck while I did all the work!