That looks good to me. My twelve footer fits inside like you mention doing,
but yes it's a pain with another person and getting to the fridge etc. etc.

I put my 17 footer on top of the car just like the guy in the video, but
without the mechanical aid, which would be very nice if you could get it to
fit the vanagon (the cars in the video didn't look like they actually
required accessing the rear hatch. Try to make your vanagon hatch unusable
for as little as 30 minutes and your oil light will come on and you will
need coolant.

I put the kayak on the ground behind the vanagon. I pick up the nose and
heave it on to the back of the poptop (I think every time I do this how I
would like to have a roller mounted on brackets that were themselves
mounted in the same holes as the rear hinges). Then I very carefully walk
aft while holding on to the cockpit and deck lines so as not to the the
boat move back and fall off to damage the back hatch or the boat or both.
When I have a hold of the stern, then forward and up I go until the boat is
sitting on the fiberglass top. I've done this hundreds of times and nothing
has happened yet. But it will.

The device in the video is a good addition because it solved the problem of
the boat wanting to scoot back on you and fall off damaging the car, and it
only requires about half of the lift that's needed to put it on top of the
car. And it isn't so bulky as to be a problem, it seems.

Jim

On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 8:37 AM, Gary Anderson <gary.anderson@usm.edu>
wrote:

> I normally carry my kayak in my vanagon. With the front passenger seat
> turned sideways, a 12’3” kayak just fits from the hatch back to the
> dashboard, but leaves no room for passengers (and also tends to make a mess
> with saltwater, dirt, and fish stink). I’d like to carry it on the top of
> the van, but I don’t think I could handle the loading/ unloading sequence.
> This accessory might do the trick? Has anyone on the list had any
> experience with it?
> Gary
>
>
> > http://www.abc.net.au/tv/newinventors/txt/s3148158.htm
>