What Cartopper would you get?

[Barraholic]

A mate of mine has asked for some advice on a car topper - something around the 12 foot mark and he has said a max of 140kg (I think that will be way too heavy though from both a handling and max limit on the car side of things)

I'd appreciate any recommendations or experiences on car toppers. What brand/model would you recommend? What to steer clear of? What would you think would be a maximum weight to handle (He's got a recent model Pajero)?

At this stage I am leaning toward a max. weight of 75 kg and possibly the edgetracker 3.7 lite but its still an open book at this stage so any advice would be appreciated. I would say he would mainly be doing mainly estuary work in the boat (he lives in Mt Isa and does weekenders to Karumba and the likes)

I've attached a table of some of the most popular brands ranked from lightest to heaviest but it may not be a complete list - so please suggest others if they look the goods.

Thanks,

Barraholic

[peterbo3]

I purchased an Allycraft for my son-in-law. 12 ft. Rated 15 hp.
Was a used boat so not sure if they are still made. Had a pair of wheels mounted midships on the chine so you could push the boat around single handed even with the motor on. The wheels were removable of course. Carried 4 people. Wt about
70-80kg. A very stable rig for river work.

[waznot]

140 kgs!!!! shit mate how many blokes you takin to help get it down? :D. mate i got a 3.7m (12 foot) stessl deep v. bought it off an ex pro up here, magic bush boat, more stable than a 3.75 dart i had and weighs approx 72kgs- no floor. i reckon you wouldnt wanna go too much heavier than 75 kgs, especially if its goin on the roof of a car, mine goes on top of an off-road trailer. a guy i know had his on top of his car and the road up north was pretty rough and it broke the rails of the roof of the car and fell off! :-[ i prefer to sacrifice a little bit of stability for higher sides up in croc country mate. the deep v also helps if you wanna sneak out the ocean now and again. ;)
happy hunting
wazza.

[reefraider_II]

i just did a cooktown trip and i bought a 2nd hand 12 foot savage snipe mkII ,it came with a 25 hp jonson and the tinnie is easily lifter onto a campertrailer with just me and the mrs providing its not blowing 30knots.

[basserman]

one of my mates old man has a quinny 350 travler and that was heavey enoght to get on and off the roof but nothing two couldn't handle and one could do it although a bit of hard yakka

he has now got it on a trailer and fitted out the inside with floors and casting deck so a fair bit heaver now ::)
powered by a 15hp yamaha and it goes very well ;)