TriGrip Kayak Load Roller,3 Suction Cups Kayak Roller Loader,Kayak Helpers -Pump Vacuum Type- Kayak Roof Roller Loader Load Assist Mount,Kayak Loader Lift Assist System for Car SUV,Kayak Accessories

I own a Ford Expedition and rather than using a trailer, I occasionally load my 80lb kayak onto my roof racks. I saw these on amazon and decided to give it a try. To my surprise, I was impressed. It sticks to the glass by using suction cups. You simply place them onto the glass. Make sure it's clean glass. Dirty glass will lead to inadequate suction and could slip off the glass. Having spent over a decade in the glass, window and door business, I am experienced using suction cups for lifting glass. I always cleaned glass before attaching my suction lift assist tool to install the glass. When placing these onto the glass, make sure they are pressed firmly and flat to the glass to allow for good contact of the rubber suction cup. You then simply pump the pump button until the red on the button disappears. This takes about 3-5 pumps. I always tried for more to ensure a secure suction. Once attached, you should tug on the load assister to make sure it is firmly attached. You are now ready to load a kayak onto your roof.I lift the front of the kayak up onto this load assister. The back of your kayak may slip on the ground as you lift the front, but putting something down on the ground will help with this. When needed, I like to use a cheap plain black rubber floor mat on the ground under the rear of the kayak to reduce slipping. Once I lift the front onto the load assister, the foam rollers cradle it nicely. Then I carefully transition my grip on the kayak to the middle handles and I work my way to the back of my kayak where I grab the handle and lift it up. I should mention that I was afraid that the rollers would roll too freely. There is a nice balance of friction in them so that the kayak doesn't slide out of control. I lift the back of the kayak higher and slide it up onto the roof. I am 6'4" so loading onto my tall truck really isn't a problem for me.This load assister prevents my kayak from rubbing the vehicle as I am lifting. It makes the process a lot easier and safer. In the past, I loaded by sliding the kayak over my upper roof edge. I had a kayak slip once and fall 7' to the ground. It wasn't good. That will no longer happen as I have faith this load assister feels very solid. I have seen another design with just two legs and no third vertical support arm. They might work, but I prefer this load assister with three points of contact to stabilize the loader better. It feels very solid. Another benefit of a three-leg load assister is that it dissipates the pressure on the glass better with three cups vs two. Auto glass is very strong, but it's always best to be cautious.After loading and securing the kayak, you pull up on the tabs of the suction cups to break loose the suction. It lifts up fairly easily. If needed, it comes apart into smaller sections for storage.

This is an elegant solution to loading a kayak on a 2025 4 runner with its huge spoiler that is not something you can put any weight on. Easy to put on and take off. Super secure, and well designed.

I am constantly on the lookout for a better way to load my kayak onto the roof of our relatively tall SUV. When I first came across the TriGrip Kayak loader, it seemed like a great idea. Now that I've actually used it to load one of my kayaks successfully onto the roof, I've started to think about the long-term wisdom of the stress the loader exerts on the rear windshield. The loader uses suction cups on the rear windshield, and the weight of the kayak, as it's being loaded, creates significant leverage and pressure on the glass. While windshields are designed to handle stress, they are not designed to bear load structurally. This is probably fine for my smaller kayak, but I would never use it with my heavier Hobie.So, while I am impressed by the design and the excellent suction, I'd personally steer away from using a loader that relies exclusively on the windshield as the weight-bearing structure as you load your kayak. Too many things could go wrong, and the potential for costly damage to the vehicle if the windshield or the loader were to fail outweighs the reward, in my opinion.

I was conflicted about ordering another window mounted kayak loader assist as I already have one and it does not work on any of our three vehicles and the suction hold is so inconsistent that the risk of it failing during loading is almost 100%. After considering that this unit has plunger vacuum pumps on each suction cup similar to glass and granite installation tools I got drawn in. And I'm so glad that I did. Each cup's vacuum is activated by a pump that the user pushes a plunger about 3-5 times until it has reached it's full suction strength and visibly indicated by a red line which much disappear below the plunger cavity. The three independent suction cups hold so well that I can not pull them off. I tried to the point that I felt like the automotive grade adhesive holding the windows on is now the weak point and not the suction. If the suction ever does fail on any of the cups there will be a visible warning which is built into the plunger dynamics where you will see the red line reappear - meaning suction or vacuum is no longer in effect on that particular cup. I really need these to hold a lot of weight and withstand torsional leverage as I have a large 14 foot fishing kayak that is rigged with a lot of fishing electronics, batteries to support them, marine gear, anchors, etc and weighs approximately 200 pounds fully rigged. It is difficult to get the vessel on top of any of our vehicles and has become such a task that I have been using trailer hitch mounted carriers which require my vehicle to be left open. With this roller, I can now load either from the side (on my vehicle with an exo cage with side bars) or on the rear lift gate glass to start the bow of the kayak onto the roller and then move up from there. I was a little worried about the central connection point of the three legs from the suction cups to the roller cross bar and the plastic clip in joint but it has held up in my initial testing. There does seem to be some flexion at the main 3-point connection joint which I think is good when absorbing a not perfectly aimed bow. I was worried though, that designed with a central point to distribute the load vs having the legs attached more spread out across the lateral roll bar would create more torsional stress on the connection joint and to be fair it does put more stress on a single joint rather than two load bearing joints spread out (think of a teeter totter vs a long bench). But I've noticed that this joint does tilt slightly with an imbalanced load. I'm not an engineer but I think that puts more pushing force on one side cup against the window and more pulling force on another. It's something I want to watch out for as, like I mentioned above, I think now that the kayak loading roller is not going to be the weak point but the window adhesive or even perhaps the window itself might be. My assessment is that as long as I don't try to over torsion it or be reckless with it and give it a reasonably centered approach from the kayak it will never have to test the structural integrity of the window. The fact that I don't worry about this loader coming off and instead worry about the window itself is a testament to how robust it's connection to the vehicle is. Paddleboards, longboards and regular sized kayaks will likely never stress this loader at all and it can load heavy fishing kayaks and although I don't have a canoe, I think it will handle loading a canoe and perhaps a skiff.The rollers are made of a thick dense foam. There is not any ball bearing system inside the rollers and sometimes the vessel will slide on them vs roll on them. My fishing kayak does not have a deep structural keel and a retractable skag so that it does not interfere with the central angled bar in between the foam sliders however a more pronounced keel or sharper V-bottom hull might have an issue with this roller so keep that in mind if your vessel has that. Obviously you want the hull making contact with the rollers. I was a little concerned with the bow and stern as the shape becomes more pronounced before and after the rocker but what looked like a problem turned out to be OK. The kayak never rolls completely to the stern keel and I don't put the bow on the loader on forward most point. It works very well for my kayak and I am very happy with this loader.The three legs that connect to the roller bar joint connect with a push button snap lock and can be quickly disassemble for a somewhat more compact storage. But with all of the curves this does take up a moderate amount of space in your vehicle, even when disassembled.