Kayaks for 10 months

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RVMommaTo6

RVMommaTo6

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Joined
Aug 5, 2018
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Rochester, NY
I'll be on the road for 10 months. I originally planned on bringing my kayaks but I think that's impractical. I think it's too long for them to be mounted to the car in such heat. Has anyone ever done anything like that? Regrets? Advice?
 
I believe you're going to have your hands full as it is....think I'd leave the kayaks for another time. 

There are places that rent them, Monterey Bay in California for example.
 
We carry a canoe on our TOAD for our 8k mile adventure these days.  I don't see a problem with that.  Not sure what your kayaks are made of, but I never heard of heat being an issue.  Once on the car, it becomes part of the travel routine to check the tiedowns, etc.
I hesitate to take our canoe along, but we always happy to have it when we come across a nice area to use it.
 
As a hard core kayaker: I would say if you think you will be using them a lot take them.
If you think you will not be using them much, leave them home and rent them

If you do take them and they are plastic just make sure that when you are parked and they are strapped to your vehicle roof ; loosen the tie down straps or they could deform from the heat.
Another option is if you will be at certain places for a few days or more, just put them on the ground and  throw a silver tarp over them

We travel with ours constantly and they would be on the truck roof for six months at a time in the Florida Keys sun. they are composite and were never harmed, but prior to them we had plastic ones, and they definately would deform if I kept the straps tight in the hot sun.

Jack L
 
I have an inflatable kayak that I always keep stored in a basement storage compartment of the motorhome.  Depending on how tight you are for storage space, this is an option to consider.  The inflatable folds up to the size of a large backpack.  It is also easy to carry in my small towed car when I need to drive to a kayaking site.  I never miss an opportunity to try a new kayaking spot.

Hope your trip is a great success!
 
Thanks everyone, I kept going back and forth on the issue. I think we're going to leave them home. I would love love love to have them, but I'm way more into it than the kids are, they couldn't care less. Their vote is to leave them home. I've thought of bringing just one, the single one, on the back of the motorhome (the other 3 are too long because they're tandems) but Idk if I would use it if the kids weren't coming with me. So I'll probably leave them all home :(
 
I had that debate with myself going on a family reunion houseboat trip with my folks and my sister's family.  It was just one week, but I couldn't see being on the water the entire week and not having my new kayak along.  I finally decided to bring it, but at 2am the morning we were supposed to leave, as we were finishing packing the truck and boat we were pulling (everyone packs like this before a trip, right?) DH determined that it just wasn't going to fit to bring the kayak.  :-[  In the end, I rented a kayak for a few days of the trip.  No one else was really interested anyway, and it gave me a little time to get off by myself.  I am glad I did it that way - I really didn't NEED it for the whole week and it was a little crowded.  But 10 months is another story.  Maybe just take the small one unless you are able to rent one sometimes, if you have someone to stay back with the kids.  I feel like being out camping there would be plenty of times you might just want to hop in a lake and explore, depending where you will be.  I am jealous of your long trip!  ;)
 
RVMommaTo6 said:
Thanks everyone, I kept going back and forth on the issue. I think we're going to leave them home. I would love love love to have them, but I'm way more into it than the kids are, they couldn't care less. Their vote is to leave them home. I've thought of bringing just one, the single one, on the back of the motorhome (the other 3 are too long because they're tandems) but Idk if I would use it if the kids weren't coming with me. So I'll probably leave them all home :(
Click to expand...

Amanda, when we left Florida last spring I had both of our yaks on top of our enclosed trailer with the idea of using them at several of our planned stops.  Now, almost 6 months later I haven't had them off the racks once!  You probably made a good call.

Actually last year using them in the Caloosahatchee River (Ft Myers) I had a couple close calls with some unfriendly gators so I will be selling them when we return.  There are several good places to rent on the salt water close by and I think we will just do that from now on.
 
Back in the late 1960s, one of my paddling friends was a grad student at the University of Chicago. He lived in a small apartment, and had no place to store his kayak. It ended up living on top of his car for two years. It did look rather strange up there in the middle of a Chicago winter.

Joel
 
Lol mine wouldn't be seeing snow. I'm glad we left them, there have been a couple times it would have been nice to have them, but for the most part, we've been so busy that fitting in time to kayak would be a chore. However, I do saying that "next time" I'm taking myself, a little class C, and a kayak and exploring the country after the kids are gone. I've probably found a hundred perfect kayaking locations that I want to return to someday.
 
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