Anyone tried loading a Mill Creek 16.5 onto a Thule Hullavator? I'm not sure the Hullavator cradle is deep enough to hold the boat and would like to know before shelling out the $900. At home I use my Yakima trailer but when traveling I tow a Jeep behind my RV and put the boat on top of the Jeep. As gravity continues to increase I want to find an easier way to load the boat onto the Jeep.
thanks,
John in San Diego
Mill Creek 16.5 (completed 2020)
Chesapeake 17 (completed 2001)
Sport Tandem (completed 2006)
Mill Creek?.... no . But I just got back from a 4,000 mile trip with a C-17 and a Petrel Play on Hullivators on the truck. I'm puzzled by your concern. I'm thinking its plenty deep enough. However width is a little made for wider boats than mine. Then again I have to load the boats foward to keep the boats from hitting the front of the travel trailer. The front sits on cradles on a Yakima rack mounted on the cab with the Hullivators on racks above the bed. The Yakima strap and cradles hold it down. The Hullivators put them up there and hold them during transit.
My biggest problem is the difference between the heavily rockered Play and the "flat" Cheaseapeake.
Thanks Grumpy -
I was mainly concerned that the lower arm of the Hullavator wouldn't fit the hull of the MC quite right but if it works with a Chesapeake it should work with an MC it seems. I'll go ahead and get one and post the result after I try it out.
John
Apparently I never posted the promised result of using the Hullavator to carry a Mill Creek 16.5. In brief, it works great - I can easily load and unload the boat alone, just have to lift or lower it a few feet, usually using a “Wheeleez” kayak cart with balloon wheels. My one gripe with the Hullavator is that it is difficult to adjust the cradle to fit the width of the boat as the locking knob ends up between the boat and the cradle where it is hard to reach and turn. Once adjusted it doesn’t matter though.