Re: [Paddlewise] Car-topping vs. trailering? Pros and cons?

At 11:59 PM 4/5/00 EDT, you wrote:

>won't suffer the wind noise and mileage deficit.    I've read previous posts 
>where people have been concerned that trailered boats are more vulnerable to 
>damage from rocks and other highway projectiles. 

Trailered kayaks are lower, and probably more susceptible to damage from
road debris. However, I've never had it happen.

>Does anybody have any 
>experience with going from car-topping to trailering?  Which is more 
>convenient? Secure? Is it less taxing on the motor to pull a low profile 
>trailer rather than  car-top a couple of boats?  Your thoughts would be 

I've trailered boats for a number of years, and in most cases would prefer
to trailer one. I will tell you this: two years ago I made a fairly long
trip with two kayaks cartopped. Got about 17 MPG on my van. Made the same
trip last year, same two kayaks, same van, on the trailer. Got 21 mpg. That
say anything?

Loading a kayak onto a trailer is considerably more convenient than
cartopping. The real savings comes from the fact that you cut an entire
cycle out of the load/unload hassle per trip. The kayak is stored on the
trailer and doesn't get unloaded at home. That's a huge time savings
itself. Secure? Depends on what you mean. I think it's easier to get a good
tiedown on a trailer since everything is down at a reasonable level to
inspect it. Secure from theft? Probably not, unless you use the same sort
of theft-provention stuff you'd use cartopping.

I've put together a page with my thoughts about kayak trailering, if you're
interested:

http://www2.dmci.net/users/wesboyd/trailer.htm

Hope this helps

-- Wes

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