Thule Hullavator - Easy Loading (Strut Assisted) Rooftop Kayak Carrier System

Video Transcript for Thule Hullavator Kayak Carrier System Review

Today well be reviewing part number TH897XT, the Thule Hullavator Lift-Assist Kayak Carrier. This carrier will carry one kayak up to 36 inches wide and 75 lbs. When first receiving your Hullavator, there is some assembly required. This kayak carrier will work on Thule Square Bars as well as Yakima Round Bars, will also work on Thule Rapid Aero and Xsporter Load Bars. Once weve checked our packaging to make sure everythings here, well go ahead and begin assembling. You need to make sure that your crossbars have a minimum of 4 inches extending from the foot.

We also need to remove the end cap at the side that the Hullavator is gonna be mounted on. Well now take our bar mount, well slide the pivot the pin into the bar mount itself. Well then take the rackets and slide them into the hooks on either side of the load bar. Well place the bar mount over the load bar so that the pivot pins just clears the end of the load bar. And with the ball mount in place, well take our carriage bolt and nut, slide it through the mounting bracket, up to the load bar and install the nut.

We can then use the provided Allen tool to tighten it down. Well then simply repeat that process securing the other clip to the load bar. And with both clips tight, our mounting bar is now secured to our roof rack. And with one ball mount secure, well simply repeat the same process on the second load bar. Now that our bar mounts are secured to the vehicle, lets go ahead and assemble the top cradle to the arm.

Well take the slide plate and slide it into the cradle making sure that the two holes that are closest together will point toward the center. With it slid into the cradle, we can take our wing nut and install it on the outermost hole and just simply snug it down. We can then take our Allen bolt and this will the shorter of the two sizes that are provided in the kit. We can then simply put our washer on and line up the holes with the cradle mount and drop our bolt in and then tighten down using our Allen wrench. And now that our top cradle is tight, youll notice that it will slide around and we can use the wing nut to tighten it down.

This will adjust to our kayak. With our top cradle installed, we can now move on to the bottom cradle. This time well use 2 square nut provided in the kit and well slide them into place here in the same channel as the top cradle. Well then take the bottom cradle, and, again, well take our Allen bolts with the washer and line up the holes with the square nuts to secure it in place. And with the two bolts snug, well slide it so that it contacts the plastic trim here on the arm itself. And with that, we can then tighten down two securing the bottom cradle in place. And with this arm done, well simply repeat the same process for the other arm. With both arms assembled, were ready to install it on the bar mount. The quick thing to make this easier, were going to take off the lanyard off with the pin extend the pivot out. Go ahead and reinstall the pin and let the pivot stick out. This will help us when youre loading it and into the bar mount itself. Well now bring it up and pull the pin on the bar mount, slide the arm over the top and reinstall our pivot pin. And with our pivot pin back in, hold the pin and lanyard and let it fall back into place. And thatll do it for the first arm. Well go ahead and do it for the second arm on the same way. And with both arms now secured to the roof, were ready to load our kayak. First, well undo the lanyard and pull the pin. We can then grab the handle here on the side, squeeze it and well simply roll it towards us. We a can then pull down on it and then well latch into place. With the arms in this position, well take the top cradle and slide it up as far as possible and tighten it down. And with both arms in this position, we can go ahead and set our kayak into the cradle and center the opening between the two bars themselves. With it centered, well then take the top clamp, loosen it up and bring it snug into the kayak itself. Well do that in both arms. Well now take the blue straps included with this kit and with the logo side up, well slide the buckle bumper over the buckle to protect the boat and the vehicle and strapping it down. We can then us the strap between the bottom and the top cradles. Well slide the excess strap back through the bumper protector and well bring the bumper protector up to the strap itself and we can tighten it down. Well then take the excess strap and secure it. Were now ready to use our bow and stern tie-downs. This kit does come with two rotating spool rationing tie-downs. Well take the provided nylon rope and feed it into the strap, rotating it until it feeds the rope back through. We can then use the black nylon strap, also provided, to hook around the kayaks carrying handles and then well simply clasp our tie-down to it. Well do the same thing on the bow side of our boat. Well now take one side of the rope and attach our hook. With our bow and stern tie-downs in place, we can now grab the handle on arm and simultaneously squeeze them as we lift up our kayak. When we get into this point, well simply roll it down and latch it into the latches. We can then install our pin and lanyard on both arms. Well now move on to our tie-downs. On this vehicle, we can use the safety chain loop for the rear. Were now ready to put our front tie-down and find a suitable location. This vehicle has a front tow hitch so well go ahead and use the islet here. They also have hooks on this particular vehicle. If it does not have a hitch on the front, there will be a tow hook here for it to grab to. We can then ratchet it down. And with that, our kayak is loaded and were ready to head for the water. And that will do it for our review of Thule Hullavator part number TH897XT.