Roof rack options for kayak.

[kennyosemite]

I will be purchasing a Perception Carolina 15.5 day touring kayak in a few weeks. Looking for best roof rack setup with ease of load/unload (polyethylene - 63 lbs). So far, this Yakima gear of Hully Rollers (left) for the rear crossbar and Mako Saddles (right) for the forward crossbar appear to be the trick setup. Comments / suggestions? Any kayak aficionados out there?

[kennyosemite]

Here be the boat . . .

[evldave]

I would recommend against the rollers if you leave the kayak up on the rack for any length of time AND it's thermoplastic. I have a Necky Looksha IV (17.5', 57lbs) and have two noticeable divots on the bottom from my rollers. It hasn't affected the tracking at all, but looks funny and likely does affect the long-term durability of the material.

I've switched to the saddles now, but the damage is already done. A friend of mine that knows thermoplastics says I can fix it by filling it with rocks on a hot day (heat will allow the thermoplastic to loosen up and the weight of the rocks will eventually flatten out the divots).

It's up to you, the rollers make it very easy to get on the truck, but they will over time cause damage to the shape of the kayak. Personally, I'll probably stay with the saddles, keep the bottom of my kayak well waxed, and just muscle it up there - it's not much more work.

[kennyosemite]

Sound advice, evldave, and thanks for your insight. So sorry to learn at your unfortunate expense. I still haven't taken delivery of my truck yet (just ordered last week), so I'm investigating lots of options regarding accessories. One that I've seen, which might be an asset if no roof rollers are used, is this ladder that GOBI makes, fashioned after the H2 version, and new for the H3.

[wcm4804]

I ran into the same problem. What you need is yakimas universal mighty mounts, They will fit onto the hummer cross bars. I paddle a curent design gulfstream (glass). The key to not making "dents" with the hully rollers is to not tighten the straps as if your strapping down King Kong.

[H3less]

I e-mailed Gobi several weeks ago and they are working on a rack with a tire carrier and a ladder that may be put in the empty space left behind by the spare. Should be out in the next few weeks...Doesn't help with the Kayak thing but the ladder is a good idea for anyone with a rack! I have also seen a roller at the edge of a rack so yo can roll the kayak up for loading but it rests on pads once up on the rack.

[Ma\'Deuce]

Kenny, first off, your gonna love that boat! I had a chance to paddle that same model while vacationing on the Outter Banks(Okracoke island). It's a great all around yak. I'm 5'11'' and 175lb and it fit me perfect. X2 what wcm said about not ratcheting straps down too tight. Just snug is good. It wont go anywhere. I like the rack set up you posted up top. for a longer boat it would be very easy to load and unload from the back. I've had the yakima with the vertical bars for loading multiple kayaks.pain in the a** for loading and unloading. I always seem to have to fit ONE more boat so that was my only choice. For a single boat, the rollers would save a lot of hassle and it would be a 1 man job loading. I've seen a few guys put a chunk of carpet on the rollers too to keep from marking and denting their boats. just slide it in after you load the boat. Evil is right though about leaving your yak on the rack too long in the direct sun. your gonna get some marks, but are not permenant. Let us know what you decide and post pics of the set-up when you get it.

[nmikes]

That Gobi ladder is where it is at for accessing the roof... I'd highly recommend.

[ree]

I'd avoid the rollers given the weight of the carolina. I have some 58lb fiberglass kayaks and even with the rollers attached as hard as I could on the round bars, the rollers would twist around the bar under the weight of the boats.

See here:
http://www.yakima.com/Product.aspx?id=48

Download the instructions PDF and you can see how the weight of the boat on the rollers will really be directed straight down on one side of the round bars. Being round, if the boats are heavy or you tend to tie down pretty tight on the ends, you might experience this problems.

Yakima suggested I tighten them more. I did and eventually tightened them down so much it literally crushed the lining on the bar. They send me a new bar and a free set of Mako saddles to use in place of the rollers I bought. Now I only use saddles on each end. The way they mount the weight is centered over the round bars and they won't twist around it. Plus, it seems you can get the boat more firmly tied down on the saddles than on the rollers.

I've found that if you don't want to just lift the boat directly onto the saddles, you can slide it along the saddles just fine. Of course, I don't car top on anything taller than my grand prix. So I can't vouch for how hard it would be for you to do it this way onan H3...certainly easier than an H2.

BTW, don't tie a plastic boat at the ends too tight. I've seen far too many people cartopping their plastic kayaks with the ends bent down (i.e. bending the hull) in warmer weather. This might be okey on a quicky run in town, but any longer will damage the boat.

[kennyosemite]

Thanks to wcm4804, H3wanabie, Ma'Deuce, nmikes and ree for great insight. Not only am I new to H3s, but new to kayaking. A buddy of mine turned me onto it two months ago. We took out the tandem kayak he and his wife use on an alpine lake here in the Sierra and it was amazing.

Can't wait to get my truck (due end of April) and the kayak. I'll most likely go with ree's suggestion, a safe one: use two sets of Mako saddles. Appreciate the tip on tieing the ends too.

Well, boyz, here's what the setup will look like in several weeks. The H3 I ordered looks just like this one, Boulder Grey with chrome appearance package and the factory wheels chromed by an aftermarket shop, except I've ordered the 35" Toyo mudders like Neocon1 got. Both the H3 and Perception Carolina are 15.5 feet long, so this is pretty close to the final product:

[Raydog]

I have a Carolina 14.5 and a Avatar 15.5...

Question is...How do I get them both up on my H3 at the same time? You guys think its possible?

[ree]

Originally posted by Raydog:
I have a Carolina 14.5 and a Avatar 15.5...

Question is...How do I get them both up on my H3 at the same time? You guys think its possible?

Yes. You could get both of these on top of a tiny hybrid if you wanted.

Get a wide enough bar and put two pairs of saddles side by side.

Carolina: 24.5" wide
Avatar: 23.25" wide
H3: 74.7" wide

Way more than enough room to fit up top without even clearing the edges of the truck.