Suggest a rack for carrying mid length kayaks

Searches have revealed lots of photos of shorter kayaks on a variety of roof racks, a few on roof racks mounted on toppers, and various contractor/ladder racks. I've yet to find any suggestions for two longer 'yaks on a truck with a topper.

I've got an '08 DC with a cab height topper. I also have the need to carry two kayaks around (one 14', one 15', likely to include a 17' boat in the future). I've considered bolting Thule racks to to topper, but that leaves the boats pretty far back on the truck. I've also looked at using the OEM roof rack on the cab, but I think I'd be at the upper limit weight wise. I suspect spanning between the roof and the topper wouldn't be a good idea...

Anyone else dealt with this?

/rl

 

I have an OEM roof rack and I love it w/ my 16 ft dagger kayak..

 

it weighs around 65 unpacked..

 

What about one of these?

 

how much can they hold? easy to remove?

 

That's an idea, but I'm not sure about spanning between the topper and the roof. Going down relatively smooth roads there's a fair amount of twisting going on between the cab and the box. I don't think I'd want to tie the two together.

If I was only going to carry one kayak I'd just get the OEM rack. The two together are probably 110 lbs or so. Is the OEM rack up for that?

/rl

 

After another look at the photo it looks like maybe that ladder rack is only attached to the topper... Hmmm.... Seems like that's a lot of weight cantilevered off the topper.

/rl

 

I think you would be ok at 110... "they" say it holds up to 100lbs.. but never tested it to find that out

 

Use a conventional Yakima rack for the cab and buy one of those goal-post t-bar things that attaches to your receiver hitch for the back. It will keep the boats off the topper and give you an extra foot or so of length. I added some reflective stickers to mine and I use a couple of tie town straps to anchor it to the bedrail hooks.

Works great.

Chris

 

I installed a Thule 430 Tracker kit on my DCB camper shell. These are just hardpoints to which the crossbars clip. I use this system to carry my shorter kayaks, but to carry longer boats I use the Tracker bar at the back of my shell with a tower-mounted bar on the cab at the front door. This gives about 7 ft or so between the bars.

 

Its a Kargomaster rack.

It is only attached to the shell at 4 points.

I have carried a large canoe on any 8 hour fwy trip.

Plus all summer I use it for 20' long pvc pipes and have put 20 10' 2x6's.

For the winter I take it off.

I am not sure exactly but I think it can carry 500 lbs?

 

BHP & you dont have any issues with twisting between the cab & the bed?

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by BHP
I installed a Thule 430 Tracker kit on my DCB camper shell. These are just hardpoints to which the crossbars clip. I use this system to carry my shorter kayaks, but to carry longer boats I use the Tracker bar at the back of my shell with a tower-mounted bar on the cab at the front door. This gives about 7 ft or so between the bars.
BHP & you dont have any issues with twisting between the cab & the bed?

Chace,
looks like BHP posted that over a year ago and hasn't done much on the forum since.
I'm about to go down this road and am also interested in how much twist will occur.
on my '01 DCSB I carried 2 or more kayaks on Yakima Hully Rollers mounted to artificial rain gutters on the cap for 13 years with no problem, but my long (18') boat stuck out quite a ways in back.
I now have a 2014 DCLB, with Thule rails on the cap and I will be installing the OEM rack on the cab. At least when I'm pulling my camper, I'll probably span between the cab and cap to keep the boat forward. I'll be watching very carefully to see how twisting affects it. The rollers and saddle have a fair amount of give to them, so I think that if I don't overtighten, they should be ok.

 

I use 2 closed cell foam blocks with a "V" shape on the top and crossway slot on the bottom to fit my rack bars. Then I tie down with rope. this lets the boat move a littte which eliminates any trouble with vehicle body twist. I have a 19', a 17', a 14.5' and a 13' kayaks. Haven't lost one yet

 

14 ft kayaks mounted on cap.

 

I moved to just using the camper-mounted hardpoints. My longest boat is about 12 ft., so I really didn't need to use the forward mounts.

 

I built a free standing wood rack for my canoe that sits in the bed. Very simple and it works great.

 

Question for you, In the photo it looks like you have it pulled down pretty good where the kayak is bending. I was told to never do it because the sun will heat it up and warp your kayak. I don't know how long you keep it up on top.

 

Few min out in the sun and off the rack...and its perfect...two to three hours

 

Three 14 footers and a 17 foot. Thule setup with J racks.