Hobie Cat Forums

Slaughter, have a look at Stringy's posts on how he built his trailer. He's got it down to a fine art.

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I installed Hobie trailer saddles on my light-weight trailer...however
the spacing between the saddles is just 67 inches so the bow and the stern were not supported at all...I was worried about hull sagging.
So I bought a couple of adjustable rubber keel rollers and placed
one near the bow and one at the stern. So the hull is supported not
only at the saddles but also at two more points.

Slaughter,

Yep, the ball bungies are what I use in place of the foam blocks to hold the aka in the bag. (see: viewtopic.php?t=11521&highlight=)

We do have to be careful when storing and transporting the hull, not to deform it.

I have found I can store my AI's safely upright with just a carpet covered 2x6 under the hull near the mast, and a large foam noodle on a rope, holding the stern. (see: http://www.kayakfishingstuff.com/commun ... hp?t=38522)

I have thought about trying wide strapping in place of the noodle.

Good luck, and lots of pic's

Kayaking Bob

Slaughter,
The Hobie cradles are great but expensive and getting two sets was prohibitive.
You could make your own or buy commercial cradles.
I use the Rhino rear loading kayak cradles which work well with the AI as the hull is supported at the right height so the ama sit on the rack bar. I store the kayaks on the trailer and have had no hull distortion.

More info on AI trailers here:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=11063

You've both got incredible setups. No wonder there arn't many AI's around, Bob's got 'em all. After seing your neat and tidy collection Bob, I'm feel'n a bit guilty about my Hobie pile.
Tidalwave: Does that 67 inches for the support distance come from Hobie or is it a best guess?
Stringy: So far I'm finding that for my setup the kayak sits better on the trailer with the amas towards the bow instead of towards the stern. Have you tried both ?

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

The saddle brackets are carpeted, molded fibreglas. The molded
curves are designed to fit the Hobie main hull and folded amas at specific locations, which happen to be 67 inches apart. (Hobie gave me the precise distance they were designed for)
When I first installed them on my lightweight trailer I found that
the stern stuck out quite a ways to the rear of the trailer. I reconfigured the location of the cross-bars for the saddles, so that the hull sat
farther forward. The stern then was suspended just a couple of inches
past the rear of the trailer.
I was worried about hull sag because with a saddle spacing of just 67 inches quite a bit of the bow and stern were sticking out without support. I had a couple of unused rubber keel rollers with brackets.
I installed one at the stern and one at the bow.

Thanks mate. I thought the same with the overhang but I reckon mine will look a bit like Stringy's setup with a rear overhang about the same unless I weld on a rear support to the trailer. Have you got any photos of your trailer setup ? I'll try to get some shots of mine tonight and put them on this thread. I wouldn't mind keep'n in touch with you all over the next week or so. It will certainly help me and I'm sure others think'n of doing similar. How bout across the trailer. Do your Amas's sit on top of the guards or inside ?

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

I haven't tried folding the ama towards the bow. Ama folded to the stern works for me as I load the kayaks from the rear of the trailer. That way most of the weight is still on the cart when I pick the bow up. Being able to attach the cart to the kayak is what makes unloading a simple one person job, even for the upper kayak.

Another couple of things. The RTA trailer guidelines say anything over 1.2m needs a red flag, fair enough but I can't see anything about the number plate position or the tail lights being obstructed by the kayak. Have you blokes been through this or are you just rebels that stick their rude finger up at authority ?

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Don't take life too seriously................it ain't permanent.

Here in Minnesota, if a object (kayak) extends more than 3 feet behind a trailer, state law insists that you have either a red flag
tied to the stern or a auxillary red light. When I found, after
attaching my Hobie saddles, that the stern extended more than
3 ft behind the trailer, and you had to kneel down to see the rear
lights beneath the amas. I decided to modify my trailer. I replaced the shorter trailer tongue with a longer piece, and also moved the saddle cross bars farther forward. This brought the stern to just a couple of inches behind the trailer and also allowed the rear lights to be seen from the rear.
The trailer is now several feet longer but I don't have to worry about
the stern sticking way out behind the trailer and not being supported.