Wife gave me the ok to go ahead an order the pair of the J-style kayak holders so I can transport 2 if need be. I do like how it looks fairly easy to load with those malone sea wings however my boat is a short 10fter So I dont know If I could quite load it the same way as that one or not. I'll let you guys know how the J-style work out for me. $54.95 for 2 of them off Amazon. Not bad!

I've tried all sorts of cradles and carriers on my roof rack and found the easiest , cheapest and safest solution. Get one of those closed cell floor pads (come in 2' squares that interlock about 3/4" thick). Slice off 4 sections about 8" wide xa foot or so long. Wrap 2 around each bar overlapping so it's 3 thickness at one point then secure the wrap with electrical tape. You now have 2 pads that slide on the bar. Load your kayak upside down with pads supporting the sides. A strap over top front and rear and you are good to go. Pool noodles don't work because they take a set and won't rebound however the floor pads always come back to size even after my yak has been strapped on overnight or days at a time. I've hauled like this up to 90 mph and its steady as a rock-, no bow/stern lines needed.

Do you guys that use the roof racks leave them on your car all the time or take them off when you are not transporting your kayak? I know they have locks but just wondered how secure they are from theft.

One of the reasons I got the Thule Stacker is because it folds down when I'm not using them. My garage door is fairly low so I can't drive in with the J-Hooks or similar racks.

I do leave the Stacker on the rack.

I take mine off during periods of non use, not necessarily out of fear of theft, but they make a difference on gas mileage. I'm a penny pincher

That's a good point I thought the gas mileage might suffer but wasn't sure how much. Another question is how much wind noise do they make by themselves?

I would probably take them off when not using them that much too.

Good info in this thread!

Thanks

the racks come off when not in use. I have a wind deflector on my Yakima rack and it really helps the wind noise. Without it, it is noticeably noisy. Transporting upside down helps mileage and makes a big difference in the wind...much better

Hmmm I may have to get a wind deflector for mine. I had planned to leave it on my car as to avoid having to put it on my car every time I wanted to yak. Im trying to eliminate as many steps as possible for loading my yak on my car because as of right now its about a 20 minute affair. I'll leave it on for awhile and see what I think about the noise and gas mileage. I drive less than 10 miles to work every day and usually take back roads to avoid highway traffic so im only going about 40mph anyways most of time. Lots of good tips in here though! im glad I asked about it!

Nathan, shouldn't be to bad for ya then, the fairing is highly recommended and helps on gas and noise. Some cars may not even notice but my hatchback reacted strongly to the broken airflow

These two things change loading the kayak from a PITA to a piece of cake.

http://www.austinkayak.com/products/1094/Yakima-Mako-Aero-Universal-Saddles.html

http://www.austinkayak.com/products/158/Yakima-Hully-Rollers.html

I have the yakima rack also and I use the boat loader assist bar to help me with loading my cuda 14 when I'm by myself. Look it up on youtube. I also haul my yaks upside down and strapped directly to the bars, no hully rollers or saddles, works just fine.

Good thread. I have a question. I have a set of 66 inch bars that I use with the brackets that you clamp in the bed of a truck. What do I need to get to attach them to the roof of my Tahoe?

Got it on late yesterday before I left work and tested it out on the highway. On my car at least the wind noise was minimal (really not much change at all that I could tell) Did'nt drive long enough to see any mileage difference though but Im thinking I'll just leave it on for now.

I looked at those and thought about it but $200 for just those 2 things is a little steep.

I understand. Having dealt with serious back problems in the past, $200 is a drop in the bucket and was well worth it for my case.