Need help outfitting truck for kayak expeditions

[Tmcgahe2]

I've been kayaking for over 2 years now, and I'm officially addicted. I've been trying to figure out the best way to rig my truck for our kayaking expeditions.
Right now I've got a Yakima roof rack with a stretch kit on it, and a Yakima dry dock system in my trailer hitch. This is what it looks like right now to give you an idea:

I want to get rid of the dry dock so that I can free up my trailer hitch, and be able to raise & lower my tailgate again. I also wanted to keep the bed empty in case I wanted to throw the bikes in the back.

I was thinking about putting a pair of Yakima Outdoorsman with kayak carriers, or something similar, on the bed rails to carry the kayaks and putting some type of cargo basket on my roof for the dry bags. I also like the though of putting lights on the roof basket to aid with driving at night, which is a big plus.

Now the problem is, if I put those Outdoorsman in my bed and the cargo basket on my roof, will the kayaks clear the basket? I have 2 boats that are 12 feet, and one thats 16 feet.
I think if you put the kayaks in the carriers that turn them on their side that there might be enough clearance to get over the roof basket but I'm not real sure. Does anyone have a similar set up or advice?

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Streakerfreak]

Hey man,

I had the same problems as you and it took me many try's to get it right. I tried the Yakima hitch thing but hated it. I stumbled onto this site and I think it is a great product. I used it on my old frontier until I got my Tacoma and put a cap on it. Check it put. They have great customer service.


I bought style #2

http://www.oakorchardcanoe.com/racks.php
I carried two sea kayaks with it and used Thule kayak cradles.

They are much cheaper then the Outdoorsman. Now on the clearance thing with either product. Not from my experience. Of course, I have very long kayaks 16+. I wanted to put a gear basket on the roof of my Tacoma, but the bottom or top (depending of how you carry them) of the kayaks would be the same height as the basket. There is also another product by either Yakima or Thule that you can use the basket as a kayak carrier too. Not sure what it is called.
The only way I think you could fit both kayak and basket might be J-cradles by either Thule or Yakima. Do not take my word on that one, but they generally carry the kayaks higher and the angle of the kayaks face outward allowing more room.

What ever you choose to do you will like it much better then the drydock. When I was a kayak guide in Florida for a few months I spent a lot of time experimenting with Thule and Yakima stuff. When I was using the drydock, I almost lost the entire load on Rt 1 while heading down to Indian Key.

 

[Tmcgahe2]

Yea carrying the kayaks in those J saddles should raise the boat up so that the tip of the boat is over the roof basket, but Im not 100% sure. I was hoping someone here would know for certain. I talked to the guy at the yakima booth when they came to town for the big kayak race, and he wasn't even sure.

As far as the dry dock. I HATE that thing. Your right I can't even remember how many times I've almost lost my kayaks. Those straps that keep the dry dock stable and keep it from moving side to side ALWAYS come off. I have no idea how they do it. I could tighten them as tight as I possibly can without bending the bumper; next thing you know your driving down the highway and you look in the rear view mirror and theres your kayaks swaying back and forth. Thats the other reason I want to get rid of it.

 

[paulj]

Would the Thule Xsporter help?
http://www.thuleracks.com/product.asp?dept_id=75&sku=421
bed rail mounted cross bars

paulj

 

[Tmcgahe2]

hmm that looks like it might work, thats alot though for 2 rails.

 

[j_nigrelli]

in the olden days most guys built their own racks...

 

[Streakerfreak]

Here is a pic of my truck when I first got it (looks much different now with our two smaller kayaks on top. This would be about the same height as the Outdoorsman or the Xsporter. As you can see, there is no room for a basket. Well technically it is a pic of the 05 four banger I bought and had for a week until I realized I needed a V6. They were nice enough to do an even trade.

I hope this helps. Unfortunately, there is no perfect rack. I have spent a lot of money trying to find what works best for me and what I have now is by now means perfect, but it works better then everything else I have tried.


You will like whatever you get much better then the DryDock. The slightest bump would make the load shift on that thing. My new set up I even took the kayaks offroading and the rack worked great. As seen here. This is my new 07 V6 thank god.

Anyways, I think your only bets for using a basket would be to try the J-Cradles or find out about using the basket itself as a carrier. I think the Thule Basket allows for use of mounting 4 foot bases and two load bars to the top of the basket. I believe I saw it hanging up at the canopy shop I went to.

As said above you might just want to fab up or have some one fab up a rack that would allow for the use of a basket.

 

[Nullifier]

My thoughts are this. Get a THule xporter if you are going to be running over rough terrain. The yakima system will not hold up the wieght of 4 boats on rough trails. The crossbars will bend because the "towers" are to far apart to support that much wieght given the thickness of the pipe. I speak from experience on this. The Xporter is significantly stonger. I have been a dealer for both products for years and have run both on my Tacoma. There is no comparison between the 2 units. Spend the extra $125 on the thule system and you will be happy. The second time you drop $60 for new bars you will have matched the cost of the thule unit and trust me you will be replacing bars regularly.

As far as having a basket on the rack and kayaks on the Xporter, If you go to a side load configuration you might clear it. The easiest way to over come that issue is to get the xporter system for a full size truck everything is the same betweeen the 2 modles of exporter except the hieght of the towers, The full size truck system has a taller tower and you should clear the basket no issue.

The standard Xporter tacoma model would be about 2-3" lower then the basket mounted atop a pr of yakima cross bars. I would strongly recommend getting a pr of yakima control towers with the mounts that have the plus nuts designed to be bolted to the roof. The Stretch kit piece tends to move around alot when it is supporting a heavy basket on rough terrain. The control tower system will not move unless something really crazy happens like a roll over or something.

I will try and calculate the hieght of the xporter vs a basket on yakima bars for you tommmorow I have everything in my garage to figure that out exactly.

 

[LawBlazer]

This might interest you: http://atlanta.craigslist.org/car/400784385.html

 

[Tmcgahe2]

You guys have all been a lot of help. Looks like I've got some thinking to do and some pennies to count.