Mirage Sport transport solution

My wife and I take our Mirage Sports to many different places (Colorado, Utah, High Sierras, SoCal), so I built this rack to carry them on the back of a motorhome. We have about 6000 miles of transporting them in this manner, with no problems. I've since added a small electric winch and swiveling lift arm, that allows me to raise or lower either kayak with the push of a button (too many old shoulder injuries!)

Hope this is helpful to someone else working on a solution. The rack is mounted to the frame, only, with no attachment needed to the coach body. This picture was taken at Gerle Creek Reservoir, west of Lake Tahoe. Wonderful lake to kayak and camp....22ft limit on the camper and no power boats allowed.

Regards, JimL

how hard was it to get the Kayaks in position to be tied off? I am going to our local rv store tomorrow to see if I can get some kayaks strapped to the back of there display model!

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Brad Stephens
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In answer to your question, I made carpeted metal pipes that carry the weight of the kayaks in the drive hole. At the time of the photo, I loaded the kayaks by standing with my back to the motorhome, the lifting the kayak straight up (looking up on the inside to see the pin).

Due to a neck injury, that became difficult. I added a swiveling arm with electric winch to lift the kayaks. I'll be replacing this rack with a new design that will eliminate the winch and be easier to load than the current setup.

As far as strapping the kayaks on the back of a motorhome...you really need a dedicated rack. The body/coach structure is not strong enough to mount into or onto. All of the weight and leverage must be handled by the frame ends, below the back of the coach. I built a new spare tire rack under the back of the coach, so that I could use the mount area at the frame/bumper to securely position my kayak rack.

I believe I can build a rack that will mount in a Class III hitch receiver, using a pair of clamp on secondary supports. The rack you see took a lot of welding (but can be unbolted from the motorhome).

I hope this answers your question.
Regards, JimL