Maine Island Trail Association

[chinooktrail]

Right now I have the J style. Somehow last year I managed, but this year I dropped the kayak 4 times in one attempt. I have the bar that extends out and knew a few tricks, but no luck. I decided to stop before I hurt something...

I looked at a lot of different types when I was out at a trade show for outdoor gear last week. I managed to sweet talk the Thule Dealer into giving me a deal on a demo model from the show. I will soon be the proud owner of a Thule Slipstream 887XT.

With any luck, and a lot of weight lifting I will soon be able to get the kayak out of the garage ond into the water where we both belong!

 

[Jay H]

Ah, I have a 56ish lb plastic 16' touring kayak that my small frame could not lift on a J-carrier which is why I have a set of 2 Yakima Mako Saddles and use that to solo load the beast on my Subaru Outback. I don't even use the Rollers, as the saddles are slippery enough for me.

I think the Mako saddles and rollers would be way easier to load solo than most J-carriers (sans the expensive Hullavator types)....

Just use towels to cover any place where your kayak may contact your car and for the ground...

Jay

 

[chinooktrail]

yup, a friend has the kind that is slippery felt in the back and we just put towels over her car. they even make a pad that is some sort of toughtech on one side, padding in the middle and soft on the top to cover your vehicle when loading. I think I can make something like that pretty easily...

 

[spider solo]

Heading up to Muscongus Bay tommorow ( Tue 28th) with the tandem. This is our 1st time being in that area. I think we will only have about a 1/2 day to paddle to an island or two.
On this trip we will drive to a campground and later in the day catch a "Puffin Cruise" out to Eastern Egg Rock around 5ish, which should give us a good chance to see them when they are returning for the night.
This is a bit more "touristy" than we often do, but the tour will have a naturalist from Audubon so we willl be learning something about what we see.

The window of opportunity for viewing is till about the 3rd week in August, when the birds will pesumably head on out to the open sea.

This should also give us a bit of an over view of the area islands and give us some ideas for a paddling trip in the area for September for some camping over nights on the MITA.

www.projectpuffin.org should be a link for further info...

Stonington area also looks tempting. I know the Maine Coast has areas that are known to have a good chance to see Humpback Whales which, I believe, are some of the most visible of whale species.
We will be trying to do our home work as to what is the best months for viewing them as unobtrusivly as possible.
Hope folks have some nice summer paddling and maybe we will see you on the water in Sept.

 

[daxs]

I have a 17 ft impex that I am able to get on top of my Audi w/o too many problems. I put a cloth over the trunk and lieft the end of the kayak onto the trunk. I then lift up the other end and lift and push.

 

[andinista]

Even better than a towel is an old bathmat. The fuzzy side is great for the boat to slide on, while the sticky side keeps it from moving as you put the boat on.

 

[daxs]

Thanks for that advice. Never thought about a bath mat

 

[Brambor]

a trip

I just returned from 3 weeks out west but I'd be in for a day trip somewhere Maine (preferably Saturday).