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PostPosted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 8:39 am 
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I am considering purchasing a PA but only have the Prius to transport. Anyone with experiance car topping the PA on a Prius or any small car? Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:33 am 
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I put an outback on the Mazda 323 with removable roof rack. I even got better gas milage with the yak on top. I would say the PA might be a little different if you are not able to load upside down on the rack.. You might want someone to answer that question too.

Good luck


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PostPosted: Wed Jan 27, 2010 11:40 am 
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Location: Singapore
does the mazda or prius hasa roof antenna? Mine has a sharkfin antenna and I'm thinking how not to damage it. I'm using removable soft racks (Hobie Sportrack i think its called)

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 9:43 am 
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Hi JGD. I just went through a very similar issue. I just bought a pro angler, and I drive a 2002 VW Passat, which has a very small roof. Given how heavy the PA is, I was terrified about how to move it. I just looked at the soft racks you mentioned, and I'd be really concerned that the PA is just too darn heavy for that. I imagine you'd do a number on your roof with something like that. I was going to use some foam-based racks, but folks on here advised me against it due to the weight.

I ended up purchasing a Yakima removable roof rack. It turns out that the pieces to the rack are purchased in an "ala carte" manner. The specific components I needed were:
- "Q" Towers (these are the four bases), and the specific "clips" for my car...the yakima site helps you determine which clips you need for any car model
- The two cross bars (obviously)
- The Yakima "Hully Rollers" for the back bar. This is a roller system so that you can roll the kayak onto and off the car roof by yourself...SUPER helpful. I can't recommend this enough given the weight of the PA.
- The Yakima "Mako" saddles for the front: these are curved saddles that you can adjust to fit the hull of the kayak
- I chose to buy the keyed locks for security reasons

While I went with Yakima, Thule seems to have a solution just like the Yakima one I bought. Fair warning...they're just not cheap. The Yakima came out slightly cheaper than the Thule everywhere I looked, but both are still pricey. In the end, the total price of the Yakima was north of $400.

A couple notes about loading/unloading:
- I adjusted the hully rollers to be very narrowly spaced, as this hugs the back of the PA perfectly...the downside is that it focuses all of the weight to a very small area in the center of the cross bar...the cross bar does dip/bend a bit, but not close to the roof, and seems rock-solid/stable/safe.
- I use two rubber-backed bath mats while loading and unloading...I put one on the roof between the cross bars, and one on the trunk...just to protect my paint.
- The antenna on my Passat is indeed right in the worst possible place, but it turns out (to my surprise) that I can just unscrew it and remove it while I'm loading/transporting the kayak.
- With all the proper straps (rack, bow, stern) in place, it drives great. I was up to almost 80mph for a 1 hour highway drive getting it home from the dealer. While there's a bit of wind noise, it seemed very stable...I breathed a sigh of relief.

Hope this helps, and good luck.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 28, 2010 1:36 pm 
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Helps a ton! Great post, thank you!


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:10 pm 
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This reply is way late as I'm new to this forum, but maybe it'll help someone who hasn't decided or figured this out. I have a Prius and Pro Angler and transport the plastic boat on my car. I have a Yakima roof rack that has worked well other than loosing a couple of miles per gallon. I bought a piece of steel pipe that I install with U bolts that connects perpendicular to the rack between the two bars all the way to the edge of the driver side door. The bar is heavy duty steel a little wider than the Yakima bars, so I could probably do pull ups on it on the side of my car. I wrapped the bar around a pool noodle that revolves freely around the bar. I lift the tip of the boat and lay it on the bar. Then I grab the boat from the back and lift it over my head and push the boat in. The noodle allows it to roll without moving the bar. While pushing in I rotate the boat to position it on the rack. I'm then ready to tie the boat. I keep the bar on the rack the entire time so I can easly unload and reload at the end of my day. I then remove the U bolts (with butterfly nuts) and store. The entire loading and unloading takes about 5 minutes. The boat is fairly heavy, but by doing half the weight at a time with the help of the cross bar it makes the job manageable. I have no pictures , but would be happy to load some up if it would help anybody. My homemade fix cost around $4.

Loading the boat from the rear with factory aided rollers is impossible as the Prius is a hatchback and has a plastic spoiler in the back that would make contact with the boat when lowering it onto the rack. The spoiler is super fragile and would fall off in a strong wind gust, so that was not an option. I already "accidentally" tore off a mirror on my car with my previous yak, so I wanted to avoid any accidents. And I insist on being solo powered.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 5:16 pm 
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Location: Falfurrias, TX
This thread is worthless without pics. :mrgreen:


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PostPosted: Sat Jun 19, 2010 7:13 pm 
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Location: Point Lookout, Maryland
Lat22 wrote:
This thread is worthless without pics. :mrgreen:

How about this one? :lol:
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Last year we put a Sport and an Outback on top of our Prius with Thule racks and Hullavators. The Hullavators worked well, but I threw my back out moving the Outback from the Hullavator in the down position on the car to where it was stored on the garage wall, so this year we're trailering and it works a lot better for us.

With the gear on top of the Prius, our milage dropped from 56 MPG to the low 30's. No problems with the antenna at all.

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PostPosted: Mon Jun 21, 2010 6:26 pm 
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Does the Pro Angler tip your Prius over when you load it up? :lol: Sorry, us gas hog driving F150 guys got to have a little fun. Pics Please!


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:02 am 
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On a happy note, I spend about $50/month on gas, Mr. F-150. All jokes aside I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures, but for the life of me I can't. If anyone can show me how I'll be happy to post shots of my hybrid wussmobile with my 138 pounds of plastic on top.


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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 10:41 am 
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Location: Central Florida
Try this: http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=12574

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 6:09 pm 
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nmagana wrote:
On a happy note, I spend about $50/month on gas, Mr. F-150. All jokes aside I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures, but for the life of me I can't. If anyone can show me how I'll be happy to post shots of my hybrid wussmobile with my 138 pounds of plastic on top.



Do your brakes work? JK That 50 dollars a month on gas leaves more money to buy tackle I imagine. How do you like your PA? Do you fish it offshore? I haven't taken mine offshore yet but fish inshore every week. I would have to peddle 40 miles off the coast to get to 100 feet of water, darn continental shelf.


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PostPosted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:16 pm 
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Mother of God is it complicated to post pictures on this forum. Sheesh! Anyway...The car brakes are good. Even if it did run away it would take half an hour to hit 60mph :lol: I love my Pro Angler. I've been fishing the bay, mainly. I'm dying to take it off shore (I live in Miami) but have yet to convince anyone to risk it with me. Still afraid to go it alone. The boat (it's a plastic boat, really, rather than a true kayak) is as stable as a house. I imagine it would take a rogue wave to flip it over. Anyway...I'm attempting to attach some pictures of the monstrosity loaded up on my Prius. Let's see if it works.

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PostPosted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 6:16 pm 
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That's a pretty sweet loading job! I like that color on the PA, mine is Ivory Dune. I see you really haven't added much to yours, mine is bone stock too except for a camera mount in the mast hole and an anchor trolley. These boats already have everything I need already. You need to go out and try to catch some sails in that PA! You have deep water in close compared to us. I can't get anybody to risk the 40 miles to go off with me either! :lol: Of course I am the only one around here with a PA :!:


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 9:40 am 
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I've done no upgrades, indeed. The beast is amazing as is. May add a fish finder if I venture out into the sea. But must convince someone to go with me. Too scared to risk a solo voyage. I liked the dune color better, myself, but for visibility's sake I chose yellow. Miami beaches are full of idiots drinking and speeding. I may spring for the sail at some point soon for the fun of it.


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