Hi Chris - I was surprised to learn that Yakima flatly states that their racks will not safely carry boats longer than 12-14 feet, or loads more than 50 lbs. (Those numbers are not exact - I'm working from memory here - but anyway, lengths and loads way below what I need to carry with safety. As I read about people with rusty rain gutters pulling out, pressure clips working loose from window or door-edge sites, I wonder how many flying kayaks are due to that sort of thing. The arrangement I have will never (accidentally) come off the roof, no matter what. That gives me some peace of mind. Yakima makes a really nice and really tough set of tracks for the roof of various vehicles (small cars, big cars, vans, trucks, etc...) which they warrant will support the boat lengths and weights I carry. I regret to say that I've forgotten the name of the package, but I'm sure Yakima will be glad to tell you. It includes all the bolts, sealer, etc one would need, and even a drill bit of just the right size. Directions for installation are specific for each make and model of vehicle. For many vehicles the track will need to be trimmed. (For clods like me, that means using the universal rule: THINK once, think twice, think again. Then measure once, twice, three times. Then cut.) Same for the drilling - though with the drilling, I guess you could just fill in a hole if you made one in the wrong place. I'm not an especially handy guy with tools. But the directions were clear and the tracks went into place without any hitch at all. The drill bit supplied lasted just exactly long enough to drill all the necessary holes before becoming so dull it was useless. Nice obsolescence there. In addition to the tracks you will "towers" which fit onto the tracks, and are removable, as well as the crossbars. Once the towers are removed, the tracks add almost nothing to the vehicle's profile or and wind resistence, but I leave the whole setup in place year round, since I paddle almost year round. There are cheaper packages around, of course. But sometimes I spend a little more up front, for safety's sake. To me, it seems to be very inexpensive insurance. Happy hunting - Bill Hansen *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
I'm not an especially handy guy with tools. But the directions were clear and the tracks went into place without any hitch at all. The drill bit supplied lasted just exactly long enough to drill all the necessary holes before becoming so dull it was useless. Nice obsolescence there. --------- For those of us even less handy or shudder at the thought of drilling holes in kayaks, cars, etc. you could probably take it to one of those places that sell truck caps, campers, etc. and have them do it. I had my Yakimas bolted to the truck cap when I bought the truck, cap, bed liner, racks, etc. As far as I can tell, everything is as tight as the day I bought them. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
Bhansen97_at_aol.com wrote: > Hi Chris - I was surprised to learn that Yakima flatly states that their > racks will not safely carry boats longer than 12-14 feet, or loads more than > 50 lbs. (Those numbers are not exact - I'm working from memory here - but > anyway, lengths and loads way below what I need to carry with safety. I recently (3 months) installed a Yakima Q Tower rack system on my little car ('93 Geo Prism sedan), and the paperwork/manual that came with my rack clearly states the Yakima racks will carry up to 165 lbs. I had to put the Stretch Kit on my car to get a good spread between the bars, especially for carrying long boats. I've also heard that Yakima used to say their raingutter racks would carry 300 lbs., but "downgraded" their load capacity to match the Q Tower clip systems when Yakima introduced them. While we're on the subject of racks, I'd like to say how much I love my Yakima Sweet Roll system. When the boat is cinched down (without bow and stern lines), if you grab the stern of the boat and shake it (my boat's plastic, YMMV) you move the entire car. It's rock solid. Nonetheless, I still use bow and stern lines. Using ropes it takes me about 2 minutes to put bow and stern lines on my boat. Being trained as a lawyer, I can only imagine the sh!tstorm of a lawsuit that 16 feet and 60 lbs. of polyethelene doing cartwheels down a crowded freeway at 75 MPH would create. Plus, It gives me a chance to keep my knot tying in practice. Cheers, Steve ================================ Steven Jarvis sjarvis_at_dicksonstreet.com Fayetteville, Arkansas USA ================================ *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
I use bow and stern lines because I'd feel really rotten if somehow my boat decided to go for a fly and end up hurting someone. It takes me a whole whopping minute to put them on for that added piece of mind. Greg *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:32:58 PDT