When we moved and no longer had a waterfront of our own, we became trailer-sailors again and needed to make it easier to transport our various boats to the launch ramp. One challenge was our 17′ Grumman Double-Ender canoe. Trailering it seemed overkill, and cartopping would be the way to go if only the 70-lb canoe didn’t require pressing a crew of two or three to load or unload it. We purchased and installed the Reese Towpower Hitch Mount Canoe Loader, and now I load and unload the canoe by myself while Skipper supervises from a comfortable chair in the shade.The loader weighs 18 lbs and consists of a lower receiver tube, adjustment tube, upright tube, a 21″ cross support with rubber strip, a shock cord, and a hardware packet that includes a hitch pin, hex bolt with locknut, and a 3/4″-diameter square-head bolt to attach the lower receiver tube to a hitch drawbar. The hitch drawbar must be purchased separately to fit the vehicle’s receiver. The cross-support can be adjusted from 36″ to 60″ above the center of the receiver. This height should be sufficient for most vehicles except for very tall vehicles with high roof racks. With the loader taking a bit more than half the weight of this aluminum canoe, loading and unloading it is a lot easier.
Photographs by the authors
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My dad purchased a 14′ Alumicraft and we had something similar to this loader. One person could load the 130 lb. boat easily.
Would there be a way to put a wider cross piece on the loader so that you could use it to load a light, narrow rowboat?
Hi Ben
We had contacted Reese to see if they offered longer cross bars, but they didn’t. You might find a metal shop to make a wider crossbar. Or strap/bolt/glue on a longer piece of wood or metal to the existing bar.
Audrey says “Take pictures!”
Cheers
Clark and Skipper
I just bought one of these from Home Depot website for about $50 and free shipping. It came in two days.
This year I can no longer lift my 83-lb canoe onto my vehicle by myself. I used this loader yesterday evening and it was a piece of cake. I recommend it highly.
How wide is the top bar? I think this may be just the thing to load my clc NE Dory onto the roof of my truck.