Rear Boat Loading System – Pickup

Hi all,

I’m wondering if anyone has experience with either of these rear boat loading systems:

LoadIt https://loadit.com/

LoadMyBoat https://www.loadmyboat.com/

They’re roof rack systems designed to help load a 12–16 ft bench-style boat onto ladder racks, typically mounted on trucks. Both are Canadian-made and seem fairly popular north of the boarder, but I haven’t been able to find much information or user feedback from folks here in the U.S.

For context—why I’m even looking into these—I do a lot of off-grid camping while towing a small camper and hauling a side-by-side on top of it. I used to carry a Grumman sport boat on top of a Suburban, but recently upgraded to a 3/4-ton pickup, which means the roof rack is quite a bit higher. Lifting the boat up there is going to be a challenge, and the idea of a purpose-built loading system is pretty appealing (especially being able to bring a bigger boat).

If you’ve used one of these systems or know someone who has, I’d really appreciate any feedback or contact info you can share.

Thanks,
Pete

Those look pretty rugged, sorry I don’t have any first-hand experience to share. I used to car-top a 14ft 60’s alumacraft on my station wagon but I can imagine it would be a lot more challenging on a full size pickup. My car always smelled like two-stroke. I had 3-gallon tank and a 6hp Yamaha wrapped in a tarp in my backseat. When you want to fish badly enough, you do weird stuff.

dirtywater wrote:

When you want to fish badly enough, you do weird stuff.

Love this quote DW!

Pete that system looks slick, I have never seen or used one.

John Rasmussen wrote:

Love this quote DW!

I had to go find a photo. This was so ridiculous.

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dirtywater wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>John Rasmussen wrote:</div>
Love this quote DW!

I had to go find a photo. This was so ridiculous.

That actually doesn’t look too bad

I ended up going with a Grumman sport boat several years ago, mostly because of the width and how well it fit on top of the Suburban. Even then, it’s over 100 lbs, and getting it up there is a serious workout for me and my wife—especially trying not to scratch up the sides of the truck in the process.

Now that I switched over to a new Super Duty, the roof is way higher, and there’s just no realistic way we’re lifting the sport boat up onto ladder racks. Being able to bring a 14 or 16 ft boat would be a big win too.

The price is the sticking point for me at the moment. It’s around $3k for the Load My Boat setup and $4k for Load It. Seems like anything niche like this comes with a premium…

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I’ve been thinking about ways to load a small 12 footer on top of a ladder rack, too. This is for the trips I’m towing a camper and it would be nice to have a boat with. I think this is why people get those port-a-boats.