Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So I'm trying to figure out how to carry my 2-person kayak on my new shiny teardrop and was figuring on some sort of roof rack. I was stumped because of the following issues: the boat has to be removed to open the kitchen, the roof vent clearance, and it's a struggle to get it up there with just the wife and me.

Then I google'd across these fellas (and lots of other similar designs):



If I throughbolt these to my solid 3/4" plywood walls in front of and behind the door on one side it solves a dearth of issues:



Easy to load/unload, Doesn't interfere with the kitchen or the roof vent, and when the kayak is removed the door is still fully functional (plus we still have the door on the other side) - and they fold flat and out of the way when not in use (or they are handy towel/clothes racks). They only stick out approx. 14" so that's reasonable, and if I put the boat on bottom side out, it should clear the door handle. The bonus bend at the bottom would hold the paddles - another problem solved.

So am I overlooking anything or forgetting to consider something that could be a problem? The kayak is approx. 65lbs so not terribly heavy, and tie downs would be easy to add to secure it.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Visibility looking in your mirror?
The need to travel further to the right in your lane?
Stability issues at speed in high wind?
Something to run into when the kayak is not on the trailer?
Issues with clearance where you store the trailer?

Overall it sounds okay. You may need to counterbalance the weight, it appears as you have a failrly light suspension.
I believe there are similar brackets designed to fold away against the body when not in use.


Rob

Visibility looking in your mirror
Stability issues at speed in high wind
Nothing to run into when the kayak is not on the trailer
Clearance where you store the trailer
Easy to load/unload, Doesn't interfere with the kitchen or the roof vent, and when the kayak is removed the door is still fully functional Here's an idea: find or make hardpoints/stanchions to mount your kayak to the front of your trailer. It would solve all the aforementioned issues.

2 person yak so like 16 foot?
What might your tow car be ?
I snooped your pictures and see a pick up.
This is my set up.

I got them from here .
http://www.etrailer.com/Ladder-Racks/Ma ... 70386.html

Thank you for taking the time to respond folks - that's what I was looking for - an objective view that points out things I haven't considered. To answer some of your excellent points:

I'd love to keep them with the truck but have a hard bed cover so racks won't work and I won't spend hundreds on a Thule or Yakima roof setup.

Yeah, it's like 14' long so mounting to the tongue diagonally would be scary, and a battery box is in the way there.

It will only stick out from the side maybe 15", so that is just barely wider than the truck itself so can't see much of a visibility or "wide load" issue.

The HF trailer/tires is/are limited to 55mph, so I won't be going super fast as I travel.

The brackets I'm looking at do fold flat when not in use, and I'm only adding maybe 70lbs total so I don't think (that's a dangerous word) it will make things off kilter too much.

I'm going to sleep on it and after our inaugural outing next weekend will see about ordering them.

The HF trailers are good for much higher than 55mph, just make sure the tire pressure and hub temperature stay reasonable.
I would go with the roof rack, you can bias it to one side to miss the vent.

Kharn wrote:The HF trailers are good for much higher than 55mph, just make sure the tire pressure and hub temperature stay reasonable.
I would go with the roof rack, you can bias it to one side to miss the vent.

The tires say max pressure 60, but I feel more comfortable at 40 cold due to the less than maximum weight. Does that sound OK?

Also, I was wondering about hub temps and if I shoot them with my non-contact thermometer, what would you think the safe zone is, temperature wise? (Or the "do not exceed temp")

Thanks.

I'd go with 50-55psi if your limit is 60 (my HF tires are supposed to be at 80psi, but I have the 5-lug axle, I set them to ~72psi)
Hub temperature is just if it's too hot to touch, since high temperature grease breaks down at a much higher temperature than that. So 120-130F?

Hubs were room temp after 1.5 hours on the highway - awesome!

Not so awesome, after a wonderful weekend inaugurating "The Escape Pod" and staring at it, backing it up, etc - can't put a long kayak on the side. It will still stick too far forward and hit the truck tailgate in a turn or backing. But talking to the war department I got a preliminary thumbs up to just get a roof rack for the truck and be done with it.

Time to go searching and learning about Thule's and Yakima's.

most campsites don't have water right next to them, I prefer to carry the kayak(s) on the TV, that way the boats are ready to go any time we want while the tear sits at the campsite.
On last years camping trip the car computer said we got better mileage with the boats on the car while towing the tear. I tried one boat on each, both on the car, both on the car was better by 2 mpg. This year with the new tandem on the car the mpg was better still, I never tried it on just the tear.

rowerwet wrote:most campsites don't have water right next to them

I had not thought about that, you are right! I can think of only two places that I can camp near enough the water to carry the yaks to it, and when the wind is blowing across the bay I don't want to camp there anyway..., .

Your mpg with the different configurations is enlightening.

thanks,

Yeah, i hadn't thought of it either the first time we camped on cape cod. I had to take the kayak off the tear to open the hatch, so I also took the boat off the car. The next day it killed me to be parked next to buzzards bay watching all the kayaks, while our boats were an hour away.

rowerwet wrote:most campsites don't have water right next to them, I prefer to carry the kayak(s) on the TV, that way the boats are ready to go any time we want while the tear sits at the campsite.
On last years camping trip the car computer said we got better mileage with the boats on the car while towing the tear. I tried one boat on each, both on the car, both on the car was better by 2 mpg. This year with the new tandem on the car the mpg was better still, I never tried it on just the tear.

It took me a while to figure this out on my own (not the sharpest tool in the shed) but that's why a roof rack will be worth the expense - so we can drive to and get out on the water without upsetting camp.