How are you mounting your kayaks?

That's brilliant....simple and highly effective. Thanks for the photos.

 

I'm pretty happy with the Yakima extender.

 

J cradles mounted on BillieBars. I also have the Bakflip MX4 which so far has remained weatherproof even with the billiebars…

 

Goes on my OEM roof rack. Works great so far.

 

That is super cool, very creative. Love it.

 

Standard Yakama rack but a couple of pieces of PVC that run enough length of the hull not to cause a divot or warp. I always load my boat hull down since I usually keep my seat mounted and a bunch of crap under it.

 

just curious, why not use the roof rack? Over 100 pounds?

 

Right at 100 lbs with two kayaks, yes, but also a bit too high to load easily. I have actually added 2 inflated 11’ paddle boards and the two kayaks on the rack and a bed full of camping shit, so its kindof an overflow. Works quite well as a tie point for camping tarp. Also, part of the reason for the roofrack was to stop the channel filler from blowing out all the time.

J bars are adjustable for angle.

 

I just ordered an RCI roof rack and need to mount some j-bars to it so I can haul two, maybe three kayaks while I have my camper on the hitch. In the past I saw a member had made some flat brakets that made it easy to bolt the j-bars to the 80/20 rack instead of clamping them around the 80/20. I tried searching through a bunch of the kayak threads, but couldn’t find it again. It’s a long shot, but does anyone know of anything like that or remember what I’m talking about and which member made them?

 

i dont recall what you're talking about, but cant you just put the t nuts into the aluminum and put the bolt through the top part of the j hook mount? and not use the bottom?

 

From what I remember the spacing is too wide for the 80/20. The bracket they made bolted to the 80/20 and gave holes at the correct spacing for the j mount

 

I got some flat 1/4 aluminum plate from onlinemetals.com
Bolted the plate to the t-slot then the j bars to the plate. Makes it real sturdy. Used the system 3-4 times a week all summer.

 

that will probably be the route i end up going, i appreciate the pictures

 

Thule Hullavator on Rhino Rack bars with quick disconnects.

 

Questions for you:

1. How much of a PITA is it to get those up onto the roof? How do you do it? I have the same setup (roof rack, TBD on the kayak mounts but looking at similar). Wondering if it will tweak my back to do it. I have the same/similar weight and size boat.
2. You didn't have luck with the 2 by bars? My wife does not currently have a boat, but I was thinking about getting a 2 by setup anyway in case that does happen, future proof it, sort of thing. But if they're janky then I will reconsider.

So you just put noodles on there, put them flat and strapped them down? No mounts, racks, etc?

I have the same roof rack - just trying to get a decent plan for this year. I have a rack similar to this, my plan was to do J bars like above.

Are these one of those ones that slides down and makes it easier to load? If so, how do you like that? From my comments above, I'm just skeptical about lifting a boat over my head every day (I use it on a very frequent basis to take the dog swimming).

 

Yes - they drop down to about waist level for loading, then are spring loaded / assist to move up into position. They're ok...what I don't like is the noise the mounts make that are on the crossbars. The yak racks themselves disconnect pretty easy (1 pin) from the mounting bracket, which is semi-permanently mounted in the crossbar. I tried keeping the crossbars on my truck, just to declutter garage a bit more, but the wind whistling is too much...so I have to remove crossbars and store with the yak racks.

 

Woof. I just looked up the price.

Cool, but I'll see if I can make do without these for now. For that I can get a HF trailer and set up for the same cost, too, so TBD. Thanks for the input though!

 

I use my Martin Offroad rack with some j bars, they came with the kayaks. Kind of a pain to get them up there but I am working on something to make it easier

 

Mounting yaks on the roof is definitely a young man's game! My back and knees just could not handle that anymore! That is why I bought a used jet ski trailer for cheap on Craigslist. Slide the boat on the trailer, strap her down and off you go!

 

Right there with ya. I got a roof rack for my kayaks, tried once to put them up there and gave up. Now the J racks live in the basement and the kayaks go in the bed. I need to come up with a better way to carry 2 10 foot fishing kayaks and 2 6 foot kids kayaks (sometimes 3 10 footers and 2 6 footers). I think a trailer is in my future soon, as a added bonus, the swimming lake has no parking for trailers, so I get to park it in the drop off area and leave it there.