Can someone walk me through the decision making behind buying a roofrack?

1- I just bought a canoe, and need to tote it on top of BlackTatanka2

2- Should I just get the cross bars from Toy [that should be included with the vehicle]?

3- Should I get some fancy thule/yamica/whatever device?

In the past (rodeo, grand cherokee) I just threw stuff on top of my cars without caring. The factory rack did the job. But now that I actually love my vehicle, I'm not sure which way to go.

The 4runner is a black sr5, 2010.
Canoe is a discovery 174, 85lbs.

I just hauled a few kayaks with my 3rd gen factory roof bars. They make attachments to put on the front crossbar to raise the front of the boat up so it doesn't rest on the sunroof deflector. I couldn't find mine, so I just rolled up towels to wedge underneath, and it did the job. Heres a pic of mine.

3rd Gen T4R Picture Gallery

I would love a baja rack or surco rack, but this works for now. If putting the canoe up there is all you need it for, I would save the 300-400 bucks for a rack. If you want it for looks too, well that's a different story...

You'll need the factory crossbars if you want to use the factory rails. You need rails for most aftermarket roof racks. The exceptions are the baja rack, or a custom rack like mine, which attaches to the factory mounting locations. Obviously, I made my choice already, buI wouldn't put a canoe on the roof without some cross bars at least.

Hi,
I have carried two (16') kayaks on my SR5. I have the factory rails and crossbars, but this doesn't work for a long kayak which needs its (lengthwise) center of gravity to be centered between the crossbars and also near to the center of the vehicle. I am guessing that the reason the factory racks are so far towards the rear is for airflow and hence mileage reasons, but that is certainly not helpful for carrying boats.

Luckily my Yakima crossbars from my old 1998 4runner fit (more or less) on my new one. They clamp down on the door frame and while the fit isn't perfect, it worked. I put one Yakima crossbar on the front near the front of the front doors and used the factory crossbar on the rear. Sorry I don't have a photo, I am on a vacation now with no access to my vehicle.

The height of the vehicle makes it hard to get the kayaks on top and the spoiler makes it hard to stand on the rear bumper to adjust things, but carrying kayaks or canoes can be done.

Jon

A lot will have to do with the conditions that you may be driving in - mainly wind. I carry two 20+ foot carbon outrigger canoes that weight 20 Lbs a piece. I use Yakima cross bars and a Drydock system (cross bar mounted to a system coming from the trailer hitch) to carry my canoes into head/cross winds gusting as high as 30-50 mph. That gives me approximately 7 feet between crossbars - plenty of spread to handle these types of winds. However, I do not like how far back the canoes hang off the rear of my 4Runner. I wish Yakima or Thule would come up with a cross bar that could be mounted over the front doors like my 3rd Gen. That would give me an additional 2.5 feet of spread and better center the canoes over the vehicle.

Here is a picture from another thread of one of my canoes loaded up.

Holy Smokes, those are long boats! If you could get a hitch on the front, you could put two Thule Goalposts on your truck - one in front and one in back
http://rackattackportland.files.word...0-hybrid-2.jpg



Anyway thanks guys, I'll take a deeper look at my options. I don't really have the cash for a real rack right now, might settle for the crossbars just to get started.