Prinsu - carrying kayaks

I have been looking at getting a Prinsu cabrac and was wondering if anyone has experience with carrying kayaks on it? I have two 12 foot sit on top kayaks and would like to have the bed available for camping gear still. The kayaks I have are 75 pounds each. Thanks for any input!

 

I originally developed the PRINSU rack system for hauling my personal kayaks. I have used mine to carry (2) 8' kayaks together, and also a 15' tandem on its own.

Two is tough but doable mainly due to the width of the boats exceeding that of the rack (rack is only 47.5" wide) . You will need to get j style cradles and put them on their sides, or a saddle style cradle that hangs out over the rack a little so you can cantilever each boat over the side of the rack slightly to fill them both.

Also with any touring kayaks that are 10-16' you will want to tie off the bow and stern to keep them from twisting and shifting in the cradles. I used to run a strap from the bow down to the front factory tow hook before I had a plate bumper. In the back I just run the strap from the stern down to the bed loops or down to the tow ball.

 

Do you have any pictures?

 

I will have to look when I get home. It has been about 3 years since I had the hard kayaks. Space required me to convert to inflatable kayaks and SUPs.

 

I've tried a few options, modified Rhino Rack J Cradles (4 available if you want them), bed extender with raised 72" bar and camper shell roof rack. The J cradles are the most secure, but also add the most wind resistance and aren't the easiest to strap to the boats to. You can do two cradles or four. Bed extender/raised t-slot bar is a sweet setup but you have to reinforce the boats at each contact point because bed flex and wind movement will run the plastic. Trying the camper shell setup this summer ...

 

I believe these are 9.5’. Just some cheap mounts from Amazon and they work well

 

I had a pretty heavy sit on top fishing kayak (14' Redfish) and got the yakima rollers and cradles as I didn't have any desire to try and lift it up onto j-bars, and that was when I had a outback. My redfish was pretty wide (awesome fishing yak... could stand up and flysfish on it), and I knew I couldn't fit a 2nd kayak on the roof with it, so I got a set of j-bars for when I was hauling two boats.

I've since gotten ride of the redfish, but still use the cradles with my other kayak:

 

Looking for options too. Would likely only carry one.

 

I carry a 50+lb 17’6” sea kayak as well as multiple paddle boards. I’ve at this point abandoned fancy kayak rack systems and stick to my old blue foam blocks and Blue Vitamin pads for the boards. The rack is more than strong enough for two boats.

 

Not a kayak, but a Mad River 14 Passage fits the prinsu pretty well on a DCSB

 

I'm sold. Are there any TW discounts available? (Good info to have before pitching this idea to my wife )

 

Works well with my canoe.

 

Can you do me a favor? Measure the complete rack length front to rear if you get a chance. I have an 11'9" Old Town Canoe and am wondering how much of it would hang over the ends (if any).

 

I'll get you exact numbers tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure it's just about 4'x9'. You might not be able to rest strictly the flat part of the canoe on the rack.

 

@CBI Offroad Fab owns prinsu now. They don’t offer sales. Only thing I’ve seen is free shipping for Black Friday.

 

Hey buddy, sorry for the delay but I got caught up on adulting. Measurements from front of first 8020 extrusion to rear of last one is 109", each extrusion is 47" wide and the aluminum side pieces are 1/4" apiece. This is on my 2013 DCSB

 

I was going to build a bed cage with a kayak bar across near the rear, and install Rhino Rack Ditch Channels in the cab roof rack mounts. However, I am considering a Prinsu rack where I don't have to build the bed cage, as the cage would have to go over a Softopper. I like the looks of your wooded kayak over the cab, but curious what the length of it is? I have a Hobie Adventure Island that I use the hull only most of the time and it's 16' long. Just curious how it will handle up there.

 

It is 17 feet long. It isn't the easiest thing to load out but my boat happens to be very light so I can manage. It is more of a pain loading my wife's 14 foot plastic boat than my wooden one.

 

Thanks.

I think my Hobie Adventure hull is around 70-80 lbs and 16' long.

 

I have the exact same J bars.... did you have to do any modification to get them to work?