Rack System for Long Kayaks

[guitar1999]

Hi All!

I come to you seeking advice (and examples) of rack setups for hauling long kayaks (or canoes) on trucks with shells. I have an '07 Tacoma Access Cab with a Snugtop shell. The kayaks are 16'6" and 17'7" long.

My initial thought was to use a Thule track system with Yakima saddles and rollers on the shell. However, with this setup, in order to have the roller far enough toward the back of the shell to be useful for loading, I'll have ~5' hanging off the back of the shell and it'll be a stretch to get a bow line down to the hooks too. Does that seem like a reasonable solution?

Or, do I add a third load bar and more saddles, and just use the rollers to get the boats up in to the saddles on the front and middle bar?

Or, do I put a load bar on the cab? This seems like a bad idea given the independent motion of the cab and the shell. Is it as bad as I think?

Or do I put two racks on the cab, ditch the roller, hit the gym and lift the boats on from the side? This will center the boats over the truck.

Or something else... As you can see, I'm over-thinking this but I'm going to invest a chunk of money in this. I'd also like to make loading as simple as possible, esp. when I'm out solo. I'd also like a strong solution that will stand up to long drives on bad dirt roads and worse highways. So what have you done to move your kayaks around? What do you like about it? What would you do differently? Thanks in advance for your thoughts and I'd love to see some pictures of examples.

Jesse

 

[Gear]

My initial thought was to use a Thule track system with Yakima saddles and rollers on the shell. However, with this setup, in order to have the roller far enough toward the back of the shell to be useful for loading, I'll have ~5' hanging off the back of the shell and it'll be a stretch to get a bow line down to the hooks too. Does that seem like a reasonable solution?

This is how I did it for years with my 89 Toyota Extended Cab with a shell. Worked fine. I never used a bow line. I simple added another NRS strap to the front bar. Wrapping the NRS strap around the Yakima bar over the kayak around the other side of the bar and thru the cam buckle.


Or, do I add a third load bar and more saddles, and just use the rollers to get the boats up in to the saddles on the front and middle bar?

This seems like overkill. If you do go this route I would try putting a rack pad on the rear bar and simple use it as a roller to cushion the kayak as you slide it up and into the saddles. I know the older Yakima saddles tended to be grippy on fiberglass hulls. For the most part you had to shimmy the kayak back and forth up and onto the truck.

Or, do I put a load bar on the cab? This seems like a bad idea given the independent motion of the cab and the shell. Is it as bad as I think?

I think it would be fine. I just don't think it will look right.

Or do I put two racks on the cab, ditch the roller, hit the gym and lift the boats on from the side? This will center the boats over the truck.

This is a nice option too. Here you might find the load bars are to close together. I would try and space them out as far as possible.
Now personally I have gone away from the saddles and simple use a rack pad to tie my fiberglass kayaks to the bars. I have had no problems doing this. You just want to make sure that the kayak is only touching the pads and not the roof of the vehicle. This setup is nice and easy and allows the rear rack pad to act as a roller.

Now personally I have gone away from the saddles and simple use a rack pad to tie my fiberglass kayaks to the bars. I have had no problems doing this. You just want to make sure that the kayak is only touching the pads and not the roof of the vehicle. This setup is nice and easy and allows the rear rack pad to act as a roller. I would use saddles if you are going to being on ruff roads.

 

[washington taco]

I have my forward load bar moved up to the forward end of the canopie (shell) and streched the aft load bar out as far as a bike track would allow. My kayak is 16.5" This works well.

 

[T.Low]

I put one bar all the way to the front of my cab, and had three across the canopy for various uses. I usually haul the oats up dies down, but not always.

 

[guitar1999]

Awesome! Thanks for the quick replies. I feel more confident with my original plan.

Jesse

 

[Christophe Noel]

For years I hauled around two kevlar Seaward kayaks, one at nearly 20' and the other at 17'7". We used a Ford Explorer and a Mazda truck with a shell. I used the Yakima rollers in the rear and hated them enough to give them away. They sound great on paper, but make no sense at all once you employ them. For one thing, they don't roll for poop. Secondly, think of the interface with your boat. Being a roller, the surface contact with your hull is extremely small, like resting a beer can on it's side on a table. Not much surface contact, which adds intense pressure to delicate hulls. For that reason I used Thule Glide and Set saddles. Way nicer. The felt pads on the rear saddles slide far better than those cheesey rollers. The front pads are rubber which give a nice purchase on the hull.

Where should the bars go? If you can, place your bars and saddles so they rest under the bulkheads on your boats. That's a strong point on your hulls and that will lessen the chance of any deformation or cracking if you have glass hulls. I don't worry too much about putting long glass boats on a system with half on a shell and half on the cab. You don't crank down too hard on the straps if you have the saddles where they need to be. If ever I was on super ugly terrain, I'd loosen the front strap a tiny bit so the boat could float in the saddle a tiny bit. So, where to put the bars is often dictated by where the bulkheads are. You might have to position the saddles based on just the rear bulkheads as two boats of two lengths won't have them in the same spot. I'd also plan on having the boats slightly off the back a bit. Tough to avoid if you get the rear bar positioned properly for the boat's health.

In most cases, those bulkheads will be at narrower portions of the boat which means your boats won't have much chance of sliding forward or back. That means you don't have to run bow lines unless you really feel you need to.

To qualify my recommendation, I used this system to haul two $4000 custom kevlar kayaks from the far reaches of Alaska to remote beaches in Baja with no problem at all. In fact, we even had three bikes on the roof with the boats!

For your Tacoma, I'd recommend the Thule kits over what Yakima offers. I like both brands, but sometimes I feel like Thule has the advantage. You'll need a half pack (two towers) of Thule's Traverse foot pack. On the back you'll have a few options for mounting to a glass shell. Log onto Thule.com for ideas.

 

[guitar1999]

Thanks Flounder, I hadn't given much thought to the hold the saddles would have on the boats. Up to this point, I've been hauling these around on an old Integra with a Thule Stacker which doesn't really do much to prevent fore/aft movement. I'm definitely going with a Thule system because I can cannibalize some parts from my old rack system. I had only considered the Yakima rollers based on how they looked like they would function. Thanks for the advice on that too. I think it's about time to order the new rack!

 

[DesertBoater]

I've always had good luck with the thule stackers for whitewater boats and then just the formed foam pads and straps for long boats. My bars are bolted straight through the fiberglass shell and I'm fairly sure I've gone waaay over the load limit on numerous occasions with no issues. Due to the rack being overloaded, I've noticed two small hairline cracks in the bottom of the framed corners at the back end of the bed. Thus I am looking into a tacomarack system that mounts into the frame in the bottom of the bed and extends out over the cab to relieve the stress on the topper/bed sides. For what it sounds like you're doing, a set of foam cradles or the rollers would work fine...just watch out on where you park...pull through spots or parallel are best. Don't park with your back end sticking out on the street.