I got a couple of 12' fishing kayaks for my wife and I the other day, and with the way I rigged it up the first time, it would be nearly impossible for her and I to load and unload them away from home by ourselves. Does anyone have any suggestions on a better way to rig them up there? My rack is a Thule with 2 stacker attachments in the center of each crossbar. i was thinking that maybe I could lay them flat on the hull, but the sides of the kayaks would be hanging over the sides of the crossbars, and i'm not sure if that's kosher while driving. This is the first time strapping anything to the roof of my vehicle, and actually the first time having a vehicle that I could actually strap anything to.

This is how I put them up the first time

Lay em flat on the roof, preferably bottom up. Its Kosher if the Kayak hangs over the side rail as long as its fully supported on the Thule crossbeam. If the crossbeams aren't wide enough, get wider ones (they make em).

Ditch the ratchet straps, won't hold worth a damn. Go to you local auto parts or hardware store and buy some appropriate rubber straps with S hooks. Criss cross two straps on each kayak to each crossbeam (that's 4 straps per kayak, 8 for two kayaks.) Easy to put on and take off (open the door, stand on the door sill to stretch/attach rubber straps), rides like its welded to the rack.

HTH

David

Old pic of the truck but this is how I run mine. These Old Towns are heavy even with two people. I need to bring a step ladder along as well.

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thanks for the replies. my kayaks are 63" total width but the crossbars are only 58". Think that's enough of a difference to warrant buying new bars?

We carry ours flat, bottom up, on 78" Yakima bars.





Probably could have gotten away with 66" bars but the 78" ones were the same price so I got them.

No problems or issues, including on a 300+ mile trip with heavy crosswinds. I used ratchet straps, 2 on each Kayak. I only strapped the sides, not the bow and stern. Checked the straps at every stop, no problems at all.

Ours are flat-top (open) 9.5' kayaks and are 34" wide at the widest point.

Martinjmpr, is there a tour of your teardrop somewhere? Did you build it? It's really nice looking.

The only kayaks we have are youth kayaks for people under 135 lbs. They are 6' long and only weigh 35 lbs. They fit nicely inside the 4Runners when the seats are laid down. No exciting pictures. My oldest is 6' so it's time to get bigger ones. I think he only weights 135 still though.

Hauled kayaks around for years. Ive had 4 on top of my Honda accord and 7+ in the back of our old pickup. I go with the longest bars they (Thule/Yakima) offer and lay your kayaks flat (bottom up). From the picture you're look like a flatter more aerodynamic version vs the old yakima bars used to be just a round pipe which we would get close to the same thing at home depot. Get the good straps, not a harbor freight variety and I like to just use two straps around the kayaks and the outside loops around the tower. On longer trips I'd use a third nose strap. the picture is from a long trip down to south florida.

Also, we bring a small step ladder makes loading way easier on a lifted vehicle.

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I've been doing some thinking and I think I can set it up so my wife can help me get them off and on no problem. The kayaks are a Malibu stealth 12' and a field and stream 12'. If I move the Thule stacker post to one side I can put the lighter kayak (field and stream) on its side on the very edge and lay the Malibu down flat since it is wider and that setup will give me more horizontal room for the wider Malibu. Gotta go get a couple step ladders. I think the initial removal was so hard for my wife and I since I didn't plan out where the ratchets were positioned and she had to climb up on the roof. Hopefully the weather will hold out this weekend and I can try it out with some lake fishing.

Thanks guys!

Malone Seawing for the win. They also have an easy loader out there for the vertically challenged.

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Thanks!

Here's the build (rebuild) thread on TNTTT:

Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers ? View topic - Bubbles version 2.0: DONE!!!

We didn't build Bubbles but we call her a "rescue" because she needed a LOT of work when we got her. We have now been out 5 times this year with 5 more trips planned, our last one at the end of October!

I like those malibu Stealths. Going to pick up one for myself this month.

We have 2- 6 foot 2x4's that we lash to the roof rack. We then use ratchet straps to hold them down side by side and bottoms- up. Sorry, but no pics and I don't want to go get 'em out lol. It's a great cheap alternative to extra wide metal cross bars.

I like it a lot so far, but have not had the opportunity to take it out on the sound or ocean yet. If you get one, make sure to get a recent version since they did a lot of waterproofing updates after the first couple years. People were getting lots of water in the hull in the earlier ones since the gator hatch in front was not nearly secure enough.