Packing pontoon boats

[gbaglo]

My buddy Keath and I will be off fishing for a weekend at the end of May. We'll attempt to load our Buck's Bags Southfork pontoon boats on the RAV. In fact, we'll try it out before then.

But, I've been looking around and there is the EZ Packer rack that mounts in the 2" hitch receiver on the back of the trailer. The nasty bits are that it weighs 35 lbs. or more and costs $675 in the U.S. plus shipping.

Quite a bit to spend considering that neither of us like fishing lakes, and both prefer rivers.

Seems to me that it wouldn't be that hard have a hanger made for the receiver, but there are obviously a whole lot of issues that haven't occurred to me so far.

I'm guessing that the cheapest way to go is to totally deflate the pontoons and secure the boats to the RAV rack.

I've not seen any alternative to EZ Packer, but maybe you have.

baglo

 

[GaryH]

Hi, I've managed to load my pontoon onto my roofracks. They (roofracks) aren't as far apart as needed, so i just put some ABS pipe between them & it sits up there great! I'm going to get around to a more permanent solution later, but it works for now. BTW, i have a FJ Cruiser. Gary

 

[gbaglo]

I think we've done it. I bought a couple 2x2s and cut them a few inches wider than the pontoon boat. We zap-strap them to the existing cross rails and then tie down to the rack. I also dropped $60 for one lousy eyebolt ( actually a Toyota tow hook ), so now I have two to tie down the front. I'm using the equivalent of foam pipe insulation to protect the paint on the hood from rope burn.

When we load up both pontoon boats, stacking them on the rack, I'll send a picture.

baglo

 

[GaryH]

Just remember to tie down to the truck body, not the racks! Have fun out there! Gary

 

[Jim Bennett]

Glenn, I wanna see video footage of how you do the roll at the waters edge so you end up with the RAV floating on the boats. ;D

 

[gbaglo]

This will have to do in the meantime. Just don't tell my boss.

baglo

 

[JeffZ]

I guess you will be the news!