Dear Prius Plug-in owners I love my Prius Plug-in and only buy 8 gallons of gas per month (I have a 240 charger and charge multiple times per day). But... I wish I had been told to: 1) buy a Sears trickle charger and permanently plug it in to the tiny battery. In that way, before vacation, I could just back the Prius Plug-in up to the washing machine and plug the trickle charger in. On return, my Prius would be ready to go 2) buy a second "eyelet" or tow hook ($75). Why? To tie down the nose of my kayak at two points. 3) buy hooks to install in the 2 holes under the rear frame in order to tie down the stern of my kayak 4) buy two K-assist easy load kayak widgets that suction cup on to the rear glass and roof to make sliding my kayak onto the roof rack easier. 5) Finally, cans of compressed air work just fine to blow out the charger head and contact. No cleaning with damp cloths like the manual advises. Oh, I forgot: 6) negotiate with Gas&Electric to get cheap times to charge the Prius. Best wishes, Suzimai
I would have titled this "How to configure a Prius to carry a Kayak" so folks could search for it. If you like the idea, report your Post and ask a moderator to change it.
I do not know about the toe hooks being in place for normal driving, gonna be kinda catostrophic if you hit someone.
Welcome to the forum. Before you go on vacation, you should switch to HV mode before turning the car off.
What will HV do on turn off? The pip will default to EV on start up. As for the front I would get some of the under hood style straps.
Sorry, I wrote it poorly. Deplete the EV charge so that the car is in HV before going on vacation. This helps maximize traction battery life.
Gotta get me a new Prius to see kayak tie-downs, but on a Gen2 I have 4 big tie down eye holes..one at each corner. But these days you do not need really tie downs, with all the nifty tie down accessories available at Amazon etc. The ones I am thinking you close under the hood or any door and you are good to go.
Take a look at the Solar Chargers at Amazon- that should keep your 12v batt charged without plugging in at home... Schumacher SP-400 4.8W Solar Battery Charger / Maintainer
