Canoe Loading Device

Pool Noodles ... and you thought they were were for kids!

I just got a minivan, and loading a canoe alone can be quite a chore, on my old station wagon, I just came up beside it, put the canoe on the roof, and walked away. Now the roof is too tall to toss the canoe onto, and if I try to lean it up from behind, I'll scratch the paint. Once the canoe is about halfway up, it comes crashing down and smacks the roof of the van, coming damn near to going through the windshield... What to do...

Well, I got a pair of Pool Noodles, one I put behind the rear cross bar of the roof racks, and the other in front of the front crossbar, about half way to the windshield.

Now I can rest the canoe on the back pool noodle, get the ropes lined up on the front of the van, push the canoe up onto the roof and have it come down on the front noodle. from the front of the van I pull the painter (front ropes on the canoe) and the noodle rolls under the canoe as it moves forward.

Once the back of the canoe is tied down the front noodle falls out, but by then the canoe is up and in place. Tie down the front of the canoe, pull out the back noodle, and away you go!!

Chris Potvin