Kayak caring with Tacoma OEM roof rack

Hi, I have Tacoma OEM roof rack with cross bars installed. Need your advise on caring 12 ft kayak (s). I like the option of Truck Bed Extender Rack (i.e. Yakima LongArm Truck Bed Extender + cab extension, see the picture - stock image with Chevy , however ideally I want to leave hitch free to be able to care bikes. I was thinking about adding one ladder rack to the back of the bed and use it together with the roof rack. Is this doable and if yes, could you recommend a rack (adjustable height?). Thank you very much!

 

No need for any extenders for a 12' kayak. I carry a 15' canoe and this 10' kayak on my roof rack (Rhino Rack...not OEM) all the time. Here's my kayak.

 

I would be careful using the OEM Roof Rack crossbars for mounting a kayak, there have been a number of people that have reported catastrophic failure with the bars. They are not meant to handle a lot of stress.

 

Example? How did they fail?

 

Here is a quote from a few weeks ago, I have come across some earlier as well, but can't remember what forum.

 

Just curious. I have an OEM rack, with a MaxHaul basket to go on top to hold a couple duffle bags. The basket really firms up the rack and ties everything together.

 

I think if the basket is mounted to the rails and not the crossbars, you should be okay, especially if you just have a couple of duffle bags on it.

 

I have a prinsu. I just bought a 10 foot kayak as well. I am wondering if I can mount it flat and strap it on top or is it advisable to put a jhook type mount on the prinsu? I obviously haven't tried it yet either.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oem-roof-rack-with-2-kayaks-is-it-possible.497291/page-2

 

Pricey though.

 

I was on one of those threads. Apparently the arm came apart where the clip/head attaches to the bar. I didn’t ask about their tiedown setup then, but you should be tying the vessel down firmly around its girth and then also at the tips — the bow and stern; I look at the picture of how people load these things, OEM and otherwise, and many people here don’t put straps on the bow and stern of the kayak, or they share straps that just hump over two kayaks that aren’t seated well. Solid tiedown setups don’t take long and will prevent the failure of any one piece. (We used to strap racing shells down on trailers and you absolutely had redundancies built in — like tying down the tail of the straps so that if the buckle failed the straps would keep the boat on, albeit a bit looser.) Also, as other people have mentioned, the bow and stern straps keep the boat from becoming a projectile.

The OEM isn’t the best for these things because it flexes and has a limited weight carrying capacity, but it tends to work fine if you use it properly.

 

I always looked at the rack as keeping the payload off the roof. Straps keep the payload off the highway. Point well taken.

 

A kayaking buddy put this on his new Chevy Colorado. It looks great and he can carry 3 kayaks on top.

https://www.discountramps.com/universal-truck-rack/p/UPUT-RACK-V2/

 

My 2 cents...it was my roof rack that snapped, I was going down the highway, I was traveling at about 65mph, the kayaks (2) were well strapped down. The drivers side failed, specifically towards the back where the plastic hinge connects to the aluminum bar. It snapped clean. Luckily for me and others no one was behind, the kayak went up at least 15 in the air before it landed and ended up skidding onto the emergency lane. The kayaks were properly strapped down, like many times before. The Passanger side was fine and no issues. The kayaks combined were about 85 pounds combined, 6 footers. I still am afraid to use them after that so, saving up for prinsu or the like. Never had this happen to me from a oem part. But I do count myself Lucky no one got hurt or major damage. The kayak that flew still had the straps and kayak holders attached. In retrospect the fact that it was a mostly plastic oem part should of put up red flags for me.

 

I have 2 large tandem kayaks, so i guess that would be out of the question to use the OEM rack?
It does seems so cheap for a factory product, i should've dropped the coin for Prinsu or the like.