Last Updated on July 16, 2022 by Ecorf
Travelling in a motorhome is one of the many ways of travelling without losing out so much on the comfort that you get from staying at home. Not only can the motorhome carry all your luggage at once, but it can also give you a lot of comforts while travelling as you can easily take breaks and nap conveniently in them.
What’s most interesting is that you can even carry stuff as big as your kayak on your motorhome. You don’t have to forget about kayaking the moment you leave your house just because you can’t carry your kayak without causing inconveniences for yourself, or without looking really awkward with a big kayak on your small car. With a motorhome, you can have your kayak with you and still have your comfort and convenience.
In case you were wondering how you could carry your kayak on your motorhome, this article is just for you.
Table of Contents
Transporting Your Kayak
The first thing you need to put into consideration is the length of your kayak. The reason why this is important is that your kayak might not even be so big that it needs to stay outside of your motorhome. If, for instance, you have a kayak that is just about 10 feet long or thereabout, you don’t have to worry about hanging your kayak outside your motorhome as you can make space for it right inside your motorhome.
Having said that, it is now obvious that you can transport your kayak using your motorhome by either keeping it Inside the motorhome or hanging it outside the motorhome.
Inside The Motorhome
Here are the few steps you need to take to help you keep your kayak in a motorhome.
Clean the kayak
The first thing you need to do before even going any further with this process is to clean and dry your kayak for obvious reasons. You don’t want to get dirt all over the place in your motorhome.
After you must have thoroughly cleaned your kayak, you can open the small rear window of your motorhome. If your motorhome doesn’t have a window or any other opening through which you can put the kayak, just skip this part and go straight to the part where I talk about hanging the kayak on the outside.
So, when you open this rear window, cover the lower pane of the window with a piece of cloth or a towel. This way, you would be protecting your kayak from getting unnecessarily scratched or even damaged. At the same time, the window of the motorhome doesn’t get damaged too.
Lift the Kayak In through the Window
The next thing to do now is to lift the kayak in through the window from one end. Place one end of the kayak on the window pain and gently push until the kayak is almost completely inside. Then go into the motorhome through the side and gently drag the kayak the rest of the way in and make sure the kayak is resting on its side.
Immobilizing the Kayak
If you have gotten to this stage then you’ve done almost all that you need to do. However, this final part is just as important as every other part mentioned before.
After you must have lowered your kayak into the motorhome and you have it lying on its side, you need to pad it by its sides so that it lies firmly and tightly in the motorhome. For this, you could just use some seat cushions and pillows in your motorhome and you’d be finally good to go.
Outside The Motorhome
This is the more popular way of transporting your kayak as most kayaks are long and wouldn’t fit into your motorhome. And the best way to do this is to hang the kayak on an appropriately designed rack on the back of the motorhome.
Apparently, you can also hang your kayak on the roof of your motorhome. However, this is not advisable for these two main reasons:
- Although the motorhome is built to be strong enough to be able to withstand some weight, the weight of a kayak may cause the roof to be damaged. For instance, an adult could probably walk on the roof of the motorhome without issues but constantly putting a kayak on it and leaving it for long periods of time (as you would be expected to do since you’re transporting the kayak) might damage the roof.
- Another shortcoming of hanging your kayak on the roof of the motorhome is that you would have to go through some unnecessary stress to take the kayak up the roof and also bring it down. If there is no help around you may eventually end up having to leave your kayak behind.
Do you now see why hanging your kayak on your motorhome isn’t a great idea? Hanging the kayak vertically on a vertical rack on the rear of the kayak is just the best for a motorhome.
You can buy one of these racks from stores. Some of them are even designed so that they can hold up to two kayaks and a bike. Isn’t that just great? You could also improvise instead and make one for yourself if you find that the racks don’t fit really well in your budget. As long as it is well fitted and strong enough to withstand the weight of your kayak for a long time, you’re good to go.
Wrapping It All Up
If you need to take your kayak with you on long journeys and you happen to have a motorhome, then be happy. You don’t have to disturb yourself about how to transport your kayak as you can easily do that with your motorhome. Just follow the methods I mentioned in this article and you’ll be okay.
If you have any questions or other contributions to this, by all means, drop them in the comment section and we’d be happy to attend to you. Remember, never stop kayaking!
