How are you mounting your kayaks?

Very cool set up! With the bed extender; did you have room in the bed for a cooler and a box of gear? How did it do driving on the highway? It looks like a good bit of your kayaks are passed the bit, which makes me a bit nervous. Thanks!

 

I ended up doing this for our trip this weekend. Swapped one of the boxes for a cooler and put a box in the cab.

 

I carry an RTIC soft cooler back there, I don’t think you could fit a full size hard cooler but maybe if I shifted the kayaks to one side instead of centered. There’s still lots of extra room for gear.

Never had any issues on the highway with it, would forget they were there if not for seeing em in my rear view.

There’s probably 2-2.5’ of boat past the extender with my 12 footers but the large majority of the weight is in the bed/before the bed extender. They don’t move or sway when I drive and I have both flagged.

 

Nice! Mine are 10’ and 8’. I may look into that if we go any bigger. Thanks!

 

IKURAM Kayak Rack on OEM crossbars

 

Billiebars high kayak mounts. Wanted a way to haul our kayaks while using my tonneau and the Billiebars set up fit the bill perfectly.

 

For today's trip to the beach. Works a lot better than the pool noodle method I used last time. Will definitely have room between them for storage boxes for a longer trip. Picked up two brand new sets of J-Bar mounts on OfferUp for $50. I'd say it was money well spent.

 

Climbing anchors are much more affordable than RhinoRack or Yakima tie downs- $4 vs 15-20 each!

 

update, they finally came! took almost 2 months... but they are great, very solid. I have yet to fit my kayak brackets on, but the bars fit perfectly.

Cost enough! $476.99 CDN plus tax and shipping from Texas came to $578.44, from Overland Outfitters in Surrey, BC

 

The maple leaf conversion shows that isn't too awful in bald eagles thankfully. At least it wasn't a total reeming and they fit for the purpose!

 

How do you like the Yakima rack? I've been going back and forth between the Yakima skyline towers and landing pad #24 or going with a softopper compatible bed rack like this - https://heavymetaloffroad.com/colle...er-bed-bar-21-inch-3-set-heavy-metal-off-road

I need some sort of a rack system so I can bring our two 10' kayaks along with the camping trailer.

 

I do like the Yakima setup. It has been solid and the kayak rack works well. One downside is wind noise. When the kayak racks are folded down I can hear a whistling noise (with the windows down) but they are easy enough to remove if I feel like it. When I have just the bars and fairing I do have some wind noise but nothing that bothers me. I have not tried removing the bars when not using them. I just leave them on all the time.

 

I have a small trailer. I have hauled kayaks/canoes many different ways, and the trailer really is the way to go. No lifting, kayaks stay stored on trailer when not in use, frees up bed space for camping gear/cargo. Some downsides are you need space to store it, license/registration fees, and periodic maintenance.Plus it wont work if your already towing a camper. I am investigating bed racks though also, for using on any real long distance vacations if we want to take them if there is a possibility of hitting a place we want to paddle. Plus it would be great to be able to haul long items that are unexpected. Lot of good info in this thread, thanks for posting up your solutions.

 

How long are those kayaks? Any issue with the overhang and making tight turns with the trailer attached?

I'm looking for a solution to take our two 10' kayaks with us along with the travel trailer when we go camping. The Yakima cab roof rack is only rated at 165lbs. With two sets of hullavators and two kayaks I'd be at 181lbs. So, I started looking at bed racks (the TracRac TracOne from home depot). But now I'm concerned about the overhang on on the rear.

 

Just under 11’ no issues with trailer even on tight turns. The Yakima racks I have will more than take your load. 500 lb load rating bars are 300 rated.

 

I haven't seen anyone else do this, but I've been using this PVC 'sled' for a couple years now, and it works great. To me, this seems simpler and cheaper than a bed extender and the whole thing slides off and assists with loading and unloading. I will eventually build a mobile rack that matches the height of the truck bed so I can slide it off for easy storage in the garage.

 

wow pretty genius. Good work

 

I realize this is an old thread, but the info is still useful. Using 5 x 8 utility trailer with a kayak support structure. Previous owner had it fabricated.