Bob,
I have the large Magneta trailer with the inverted V frame and it works great for tranporting boats, I can put 2 kayaks on each side on each of the 3 lower levels (12 kayaks) and 2 canoes on the top. I had the lighter duty Magneta trailer with the t frame and 3 levels. It went over on it's side going down a highway in a twisty canyon. I had a person coming the other way around a curve that was about 75% of the way in my lane so I did a mild brake and swerve on a downhill slope while turing on the broader turn but I was still shocked it went over. It was kind of a slow motion thing the long tongue just kind of twisted. I tell you this just to warn you the axel is not wide so you want to keep the weight low. For the rest of the story fortunately it was one of the few places you could pull out right around the bend. I had to just pull the trailer on it's side to avoid a major accident potential. All of the kayaks (3 were wood boats) came out of it fine, one wood boat had some minor abraison on the end. The driver that created the mess of course just kept going. Now concerning the canoe question, I would avoid tranporting a nice canoe on it's side because the structure does not work well but I think it could be done.

: I've always been an inventive sort of paddler making all sorts of
: things to make boating more interesting. Now, I've got this idea
: noodling around in my head that I've never seen done before and
: I'd like to solicit some feedback before I get the tools out..

: I've got 2 Royalex canoes along with 3 wood and 5 plastic kayaks
: and carrying very many at a time has become a challenge. I can
: get 3 kayaks on the roof racks on my truck using side load
: carriers but as soon as I want to take a canoe too, I'm
: challenged for space. I've got a Magneta trailer on order and am
: equipping it with 78" Yakima bars so I can use my current
: accessories and am looking forward to no longer lifting boats on
: top of my truck.

: So, here's the radical idea.... I'm considering making some custom
: side load carriers that will allow me to carry the canoes on
: their side rather than on the gunnels. The canoes are 33"
: and 35" wide but only 19" deep so theoretically, I can
: cut the rack bar requirement from 68" (side by side) to
: under 40" if they were on their sides (hull to hull) in
: cradles. If the cradles were situated under the thwarts, I would
: think the canoes would be fine structurally. If this scheme were
: to work, I'd still have room for two kayaks on their sides in
: cradles.

: I made 3 sets of custom cradles for my wood boats this past winter
: from 1/16" oak veneer laminated in 5 strips to conform to
: rhe hull shape. At 5/16" thick, 4" wide and glued and
: screwed to laminated plywood mounts, they worked beautifully to
: carry my kayaks on a 700 mile trip a few weeks ago. I've never
: seen such a setup for a canoe but seems like it would work just
: fine if the cradles conformed to the shape of the canoe.

: How about sharing thoughts of the pro's and con's before I start
: the dust flying......

: Bob Beaullieu