Are you ready
for spring yet? Pretty soon it'll be kayak season again, so it's time
to start thinking about how you're going to get your kayaks down to the
water. If your vehicle has a roof rack, all you need now are some kayak
saddles...or J-racks...or foam pads...or rollers... Actually, there are
a lot of options, so why not read on and decide which kayak
racks best suit
your needs?
Kayak
Carriers for Roof Racks and Pickup Truck Racks
First off, you'll
want to decide how many kayaks you'll need to carry at once. Kayak
saddles are a great way to carry your boat
flat on its bottom, and may be paired with rollers in the back to make
loading your kayak easier. This is the perfect way to carry lighter
kayaks to avoid deforming the hull. Most factory installed roof racks
are only wide enough to carry one kayak this way. This also applies to
racks on smaller vehicles, so you may want to consider J-style kayak
cradles instead.
J-style kayak cradles carry your boat up at an angle, so they take up a lot less space on your roof rack. Most roof racks can hold at least two kayaks this way. Depending on the length of your roof rack's bars (and its weight capacity) you may be able to fit three or more kayaks at a time with J-style cradles. Loading the center kayak(s) will be more difficult this way, as you'll need to lift the kayak over the outermost cradles.
Rather than mounting several sets of J-style cradles to your roof rack to carry several boats, consider kayak stackers.
Available from Thule and Yakima, these stackers
are rated to carry up to four
kayaks at a time! They only come with enough tiedown straps necessary
for one boat, so if you'll need to pick up more tiedown straps and bow
and stern tiedowns to carry two or more kayaks.
For those of us who'd rather get our workout paddling instead of
struggling to lift our kayaks up onto the roof, there are plenty of
different load assist options available. For kayak saddles, you could
slide the boat on from the rear of the vehicle. A rolling system like
Yakima's Hully
Rollers makes this much easier. If the rear crossbar on your roof
rack is too far forward to make regular rollers practical, Yakima's ShowBoat
Slide-Out Roller System can be telescoped out from the rear
crossbar to load and unload your boats. Other loading options include
extension arms for Thule and Yakimas roof racks which slide out from
the end of the crossbar, allowing you to rest one end of kayak on the
extension while lifting the other end into your kayak cradles.
The most innovative load assist by far is Thule's 897xt Hullavator Lift Assist Roof Rack Kayak Carrier.
The
Hullavator is a complete kayak carrying solution for one kayak,
integrating padded kayak cradles with pneumatic struts
which do most of the lifting for you. If you would like to see a video
demonstrating the Thule Hullavator, click on the image at left.
If you have a pickup truck or SUV, and would like to carry longer kayaks than your roof rack would normally allow, a hitch mounted T-bar may be just what you've been looking for.
Yakima's
DryDock and Thule's
GoalPost both allow you to mount a standard crossbar on your hitch,
and both are height adjustable. This setup allows you to utilize
standard kayak cradles while giving you a stable, secure mount for
longer boats. The Fulton
Hitch Mount Canoe Loader is a similar system with a shorter,
swiveling crossbar
to help load the boat. While designed to carry canoes upside-down on
their gunwales, you could also use it to carry a kayak. The swiveling
rear mount makes one person loading and unloading of a boat much
easier. Standard kayak cradles won't fit on the Fulton Canoe Loader
though, so if your kayak's hull is fiberglass or is otherwise easily
dented, we wouldn't recommend it, as you would need to strap the kayak
directly to the rear crossbar.
If you'd like to check out kayak carrying optinons in more detail, head on over to rackwarehouse.com. We stock everything you need to get your boats out of your garage and out on the water.
flat on its bottom, and may be paired with rollers in the back to make
loading your kayak easier. This is the perfect way to carry lighter
kayaks to avoid deforming the hull. Most factory installed roof racks
are only wide enough to carry one kayak this way. This also applies to
racks on smaller vehicles, so you may want to consider J-style kayak
cradles instead.J-style kayak cradles carry your boat up at an angle, so they take up a lot less space on your roof rack. Most roof racks can hold at least two kayaks this way. Depending on the length of your roof rack's bars (and its weight capacity) you may be able to fit three or more kayaks at a time with J-style cradles. Loading the center kayak(s) will be more difficult this way, as you'll need to lift the kayak over the outermost cradles.
Rather than mounting several sets of J-style cradles to your roof rack to carry several boats, consider kayak stackers.
Available from Thule and Yakima, these stackers
are rated to carry up to four
kayaks at a time! They only come with enough tiedown straps necessary
for one boat, so if you'll need to pick up more tiedown straps and bow
and stern tiedowns to carry two or more kayaks. 
For those of us who'd rather get our workout paddling instead of
struggling to lift our kayaks up onto the roof, there are plenty of
different load assist options available. For kayak saddles, you could
slide the boat on from the rear of the vehicle. A rolling system like
Yakima's Hully
Rollers makes this much easier. If the rear crossbar on your roof
rack is too far forward to make regular rollers practical, Yakima's ShowBoat
Slide-Out Roller System can be telescoped out from the rear
crossbar to load and unload your boats. Other loading options include
extension arms for Thule and Yakimas roof racks which slide out from
the end of the crossbar, allowing you to rest one end of kayak on the
extension while lifting the other end into your kayak cradles. The most innovative load assist by far is Thule's 897xt Hullavator Lift Assist Roof Rack Kayak Carrier.
The
Hullavator is a complete kayak carrying solution for one kayak,
integrating padded kayak cradles with pneumatic struts
which do most of the lifting for you. If you would like to see a video
demonstrating the Thule Hullavator, click on the image at left. If you have a pickup truck or SUV, and would like to carry longer kayaks than your roof rack would normally allow, a hitch mounted T-bar may be just what you've been looking for.
Yakima's
DryDock and Thule's
GoalPost both allow you to mount a standard crossbar on your hitch,
and both are height adjustable. This setup allows you to utilize
standard kayak cradles while giving you a stable, secure mount for
longer boats. The Fulton
Hitch Mount Canoe Loader is a similar system with a shorter,
swiveling crossbar
to help load the boat. While designed to carry canoes upside-down on
their gunwales, you could also use it to carry a kayak. The swiveling
rear mount makes one person loading and unloading of a boat much
easier. Standard kayak cradles won't fit on the Fulton Canoe Loader
though, so if your kayak's hull is fiberglass or is otherwise easily
dented, we wouldn't recommend it, as you would need to strap the kayak
directly to the rear crossbar.If you'd like to check out kayak carrying optinons in more detail, head on over to rackwarehouse.com. We stock everything you need to get your boats out of your garage and out on the water.
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