I have a Wilderness Tarpon 120 (12'). It's great, it tracks well, has a rudder (which I don't use except for faster water), and is pretty fast.

But I'm getting too old - it's heavy and it's getting harder to get onto the trailer, and especially the roof rack.

Any one with experience with the Eddyline kayaks? Something like the Skylark or Caribbean in 10'? They seem to be more expensive but lighter. Any compromise in hull strength or deformation susceptibility or anything with the Eddyline vs the Tarpon?

I'm happy w/ Tarpon except for the weight.

Do you want to stick with a SOT? If so, the Caribbean would be the Eddyline model for you. The 12' model will save you 20 lbs over the Wildy. It will be noticeably faster on the water, too.

Are you sure you want to downgrade to a 10' kayak? There's a drop-off in speed with shorter boats that, to me, is not worth it unless you run a lot of tight rivers or just don't have the storage or hauling capacity for a longer boat. I actually prefer a 14' kayak when I can find one.

I can’t imagine you’re really having trouble with a trailer if you can still get it on and off the roof rack. My suggestion is to use the trailer more.

Barring that, how are you getting it on and off the roof rack now? Maybe we can suggest an easier way.

I'm either using a swinging T-bar at the back hitch or using the Malone Telos loader.

I can do it but it's a little unwieldy, especially the T-bar route.

The trailer kayak J-rack is about 4' above ground; it's a little heavy for me to lift one end that high. But especially difficult for my wife to lift the other end. We can still do it for now but after kayaking, it's getting a little tough. Lifting her 10' tarpon is a bit easier.

12' Eddy may be nice and light enough - still notably lighter than the 12' tarpon. But the 10' (40lbs?) might be what we 'grow' into as we continue to age and get weaker.

The 10' would be less tracky and slower. But that's okay - we're not racing anymore Basically, relaxing picnic on the water.

I used to have a 14' tarpon but got rid of it - that was too heavy to manage.

I love my Tarpon 140 and I can still lug it to the water and back but, I have been thinking about a set of wheels for it. I carry it in the bed of my pick up truck so loading it is the easy part.

Have you looked into any inflatables? Some of them look pretty sturdy.

I too have a Tarpon 120 and love it. They used to make an ultra lite version a few years ago but it’s not listed on their website any more.

Let me recommend talking to the fine folks at Appomattox River Company. They carry all major brands and are one of the largest sellers of Kayaks in the country.

While you’re talking to them look at the Native line of Kayaks.

https://paddleva.com/collectio...ultimate-fx-12-kayak

Swinging T-Rack like this:



That’s basically what I was going to suggest without the T-rack. The T-rack is better.

How many kayaks are you transporting? The only kayak trailers I’ve seen that require lifting kayaks 4’ have been for transporting 4 kayaks or more.

I’m trying to think of way to use pulleys and a rope.

Yea. Got that T rack. It’s harder when the suv is taller and I'm shorter than depicted in the video. and maybe lighter sit inside kayak. Also, a little cumbersome loading into J racks inside of flat. J rack, I think, better supports without deforming the bottom. And can easily fit 2 kayaks up top.

The tarpon is great, just wish it were lighter


The kayak carts are great, especially after you figure out the right balance point - very little carry weight. Just pulling. For sand, i like the beach wheels. On sale at rei right now.

I’m thinking a shorter kayak will exacerbate the problem. While lighter, the angle to the SUV will be more acute forcing you to have to lift a higher percentage of the kayak’s weight before some of the weight is on the SUV.

I’d be looking at light weight sit insides. I built a 17’ one that weighs 50lbs.

I have a couple 17’ folding kayaks that are lightweight, but they take awhile to assemble and disassemble. There great for a week in the RV at a campground where they can be assembled once and disassembled once.

Inflatable kayaks might be worth considering.

For loading up top, I'd probably use the Telos lifter from the side of the SUV; not use the T loader anymore. The T loader is hard for me anyway because the SUV is tall and I'm kinda short. You're right, a shorter kayak would make the issue worse in terms of reach and angle. The 12' is not bad in that respect, just too heavy and the suv is still too high for me.

I'm interested in the sit insides like the Pungo for my use. The problem is that we sometimes take guests and I think the SOT is much easier for them to recover. Inside is too tough to recover, even for me.

The Caribbean seems like a nice kayak, durable and the weight of a Wilderness sit inside. But expensive. I've never heard of the brand but seems to get good reviews. Hoping to find a used late model one at half MSRP.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
How many kayaks are you transporting? The only kayak trailers I’ve seen that require lifting kayaks 4’ have been for transporting 4 kayaks or more.

The rack base is actually about 3' above ground. I need to lift the kayak handles to about 4' to get the kayaks into rack. So, a little heavy, cumbersome load to about chest high....

Doable now but may be more challenging soon...

I’ve had four kayaks, and used many more as rentals. Two I owned were Hobie sit-on-tops, I think they weighed 65 pounds. I had a pickup then with a Thule rack, and it took two people to load one kayak.
I had two sit-in kayaks: one was a rotomolded PE, and one a fiberglass. The fiberglass are much lighter and much more expensive. I looked seriously at Eddyline, I think they’re very good.

But the next kayak I buy will be an inflatable, probably a Sea Eagle, the kind with “drop-stitch” construction, which allows much higher pressure, and gives you a rigid bottom and sides. That means a much faster boat, more like a rigid kayak. Biggest advantage: you can take it to the lake inside an SUV. Whether you want to take a wet kayak inside, or put it on the top rack to dry it at home is a question I haven’t gotten any advice on.

Among the lightest rigid kayaks are kit—built plywood kayaks, e.g. those from Pygmy Boats in Washington State. I’ve paddled one and it weighed about 35-40 lbs. It would be car-toppable.

I am writing all this because I had a similar problem, made worse by a bad back, which was made worse by having a kayak get away from me (and my wife specifically) while getting off a mini-van. I looked into Thule loaders that have some counterweight or spring or something that lightens the burden of getting the boat on top of the car.

As others have said, I would not recommend going with a shorter boat; longer boats are faster and track better.

I looked at the Thule's before - considerably out of my price range for one, let alone for two. My compromise was the Telos. More manual but good enough.

We have a 10' already and I do notice the speed and tracking differences. Very noticeable. But I could live with it for the kayaking we do. I may consider the Caribbean 12' if I can manage the weight (ie load on/off by myself). Otherwise, the 10' will have to do.

Look on Facebook marketplace, Craigslist, etc for a used Hobie lynx. I just got one last week because my Hobie pro angler 14 is a beast for me to man handle by my self putting it in the back of my Ram Power Wagon pickup truck which sits higher than usual. I’m 64 with horrible lower back troubles and the lynx is no problem at all loading/ unloading solo.
Both come with Hobie’s outstanding mirage drive with retractable rudder which is so much more efficient, quiet,stealthy and much dryer than paddling but of course you can always paddle if you want or if your in shallow water.
Hobie kayaks are not cheap but they are high quality, well thought out, stable and well equipped boats.
Hobie also makes some excellent lightweight inflatable kayaks but I’ve never used one personally.

I was just at Costco. They have a 12 foot inflatable kayak with drop-stitched bottom and sides, basically a ripoff of the Sea Eagle, for $400. Comes from China, of course. Says it weighs 36 lbs.

Made in chicom. No
Stolen IP. No

Costco, lots of good products but this one is sadly shameful.

If you get a kayak, let's go!

What about a trailer that you can back into the water? Or somehow winching them onto the trailer you have now if you put a roller on the end like boat trailers have?

I thought about a trailer, looked into options; but then you've got a trailer to store. No thanks.

Even thought about buying a station wagon as it's easier to load by far than an SUV.

Konata, I agree with you about the Chinese kayak, I wouldn't buy it. Even though for all I know the Sea Eagle is made in China.

Edited to add:
Sure enough:
Aug 4, 2024They design nearly all of the 30 inflatable boats and kayaks they design and sell, with nearly all being made in China.

I got the Malone Micro XT trailer w/ the extendable tongue. I collapse the tongue for storage but I don't store it vertically since the kayaks are on it. I've got the space in the (2 car but a little deeper) garage so it's worked out well for its use. It's a little cramped but no issues.

But yes, if you don't have the place to store the trailer, then it would be a no-go.

I think there was a winch type system for kayak roof racks. Don't know if it's still available.

At this point, I'm attracted to a light Eddyline and the Telos loader. Just need to be patient for an excellent condition, used Caribbean 10' or 12' is listed.

That being said, it was expensive for single purpose use. If I knew then what I know now, I would have gotten a regular 5x8 (or at least 4x6) trailer and installed racks on there - I found that there are racks you can use w/ normal trailers. And then the trailer could have multiple purposes.

That also being said, the trailer is great for local use (day trip) but I'm planning to use roof rack for trips - trailers are inconvenient for trips. For the roof rack, I'm using the Telos assist loader (Malone). It works okay but mine bars were bent upon arrival (either bad QC or UPS). It still functions but the legs aren't really collapsible. We'll see how well Malone stands behind their products.

I can swim somewhat decently but if the water is cold and/or I have a guest that can't swim well, the chicom made kayak isn't safe enough for me. I won't take those risks. Too bad for Sea Eagle, chicom will pirate anything that's made there. Not that it would be hard to reverse engineer even if it wasn't. Especially if Sea Eagle bid for Costco and the pirated version won.