Hobie Cat Forums

I am a recent TI owner and enjoying it very much. No surprise to the readers of this forum. I have noted there is considerable interest in car topping the TI. I don't suggest car topping a TI is the best or preferred method for anyone. However, for my wife and I it was our best alternative. The car on which we transport the TI is our full-time towed vehicle behind a motor home.

The design premise was, how do we travel with the boat car topped and get it down/up without risking injury (we are not young/strong) and not damage or stress the boat in the process.

We came up with a concept I think would work on any large car but it is ideal for a pick-up truck with ladder racks. In our case we drive a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (i.e., 4 door).

1) We mounted an aftermarket rack system functioning as the foundation for the other components. The rack ties into the frame, not the body.
2) Then I mounted fixed for/aft rails on each side that measure approx 10' long.
3) Three Hobie saddles are mounted between the rails. A fourth support (Kayak Pad) supports the bow.
4) Removable rail extensions are fastened to the fixed rails extending to the rear of the Jeep. These have supporting legs which are also removable. This creates a "track" that extends approx 10' beyond the Jeep's rear bumper.
5) The boat is hoisted up to a rig I call the "travel lift" that manually can be moved for/aft on the rails. When the "travel lift" is furthest aft its bow is clear of the jeep.
6) The boat is lifted or lowered by a pair of lifting tackle, one on each side, attached to the Hobie Dolly saddle in place of the wheels (the handle is not attached at this point). The lifting tackle has 4:1 advantage so little is needed in the way of muscle power to raise or lower the boat.
7) Once almost down to the ground the scupper cart is inserted at the stern and beach wheels are put on the Hobie Dolly (which is also the lifting saddle)and we are ready to go.

This is a two person operation and is not without some effort. While no single part of this process requires significant strength there are a lot of steps. It takes us about an hour to raise or lower the boat. This does not include rigging the boat or stocking it with supplies which must be done regardless of how you move the boat.

For us this works since we typically pull into some locale and stay for a week or more. So, we do not lower and raise the boat in the same day we also use the boat. That would be downright exhausting for us.

This is hard to imagine without photos and there are many details that we worked out to make the system work for us. I have photos of the rig but I do not have a way to link them to this note. If anyone is interested let me know and I can e-mail the photos to you. Alternatively, if anyone volunteers to post the pics I can send them the photos.

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Martin Hochberg
Tandem Island 2012

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Move it green
Jeep Wrangler parts

send me the photo's and I will post them for you

send to

Alan (AT SYMBOL) ITNNETWORKS (DOT) C0M

and put "HOBIE TI PICS" in the title

If the files are big, I need you to keep the sum of all photo's in a single email to under 15 meg. If this is a problem, just send me multiple emails with a single file/photo attached to each

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Alan W.
'07 Hobie Adventure Island #1
'07 Hobie Adventure Island #2 Golden Papaya AI LadyJane
'06? Hobie Outback SUV

Thanks for doing this. I'm looking forward to seeing them as I have a Wrangler also.

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sorry for the delay - I was unexpectedly out of the office yesterday (I wish it was because I bagged work to go sailing ... )

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Alan W.
'07 Hobie Adventure Island #1
'07 Hobie Adventure Island #2 Golden Papaya AI LadyJane
'06? Hobie Outback SUV

That is the coolest thing ever, a gantry crane! Way to go. How long does it take to set up the travel lift frame work? I assume the one hour you mentioned was setup and unloading or loading and take down.

Cheers,
Jesse

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2011 Golden Papaya TI with a 250 square foot spinnaker!
also a more manageable 100 square foot spinny...
&
the TI3 rear ama mod

OMG!! THAT was worth the wait.

It takes about 60-70 minutes to get the framework off the jeep, set up and get the boat lowered to the ground. After that you are loading and launching the TI as you would normally do, loading/launching is not included in the 60-70 minutes. Once the boat is brought back to the Jeep and unloaded it takes about the same length of time to raise and secure the boat atop the jeep and return the framework to its transport position.

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Martin Hochberg
Tandem Island 2012

What an amazing contraption !!!

I've often thought about the possibility of getting a small jib crane, mounting it on a small pedestal on the back bumper and just lifting the kayak and then swiveling it around and placing it on the roof rack.

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that is 1 big unit

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Paul, Rebecca & Stephanie

Crikey
I'm impressed.

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Now THAT is different!!!