Samuel wrote: > I am trying to figure out what is the best vehicle to purchase that > will carry a Kayak. Mr Sailboard Restorations wrote: > Subaru Outback -- best all around car for kayakers. I looked into this fairly carefully since I run a sea kayak tour business here in Sydney. I like the Subaru Outback but found the roof rails are quite a bit closer together than on the Subaru Forester. If you want to fit two kayaks on the roof check this out first! One of my US customer's last week told me they fell for this mistake and were shocked when they found they couldn't fit their two boats on the Outback. You can always get roof racks (I use Mont Blanc) that extend over the sides of the rails however there will be legal limits to this. I opted for the Forester and I'm very happy with it - I can just fit two doubles on it. I seem to remember as well that the max roof rail loading weight wasn't that great for the Outback. You might need to check the brochures for that spec (I couldn't find it on the Subaru website). Patrick Sydney, Australia *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> I like the Subaru Outback but found the roof rails are quite a bit closer > together than on the Subaru Forester. If you want to fit two kayaks on the > roof check this out first! One of my US customer's last week told me they > fell for this mistake and were shocked when they found they couldn't fit > their two boats on the Outback. I frequently carry two kayaks on the roof of my Outback. I have carried three. I have also carried two canoes, and (separately) a twelve foot rowing skiff. It's a simple matter. When you add the Thule racks (I removed the factory cross-bars, although you could leave them in place -- they slide fore and aft), you just install slightly wider bars than are standard. The bars extend a few inches outside the fore-aft factory rack system. The outside saddle mounts outside the factory rack. It looks quite natural, since even with the extra width the bar doesn't extend anywhere near the actual width of the car. I see this all the time on Outbacks. I actually have room for two sea kayaks and the smallest Thule roof box (in between the yaks). I can't imagine having a problem with this. It's way simple. Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
I frequently carry two kayaks, one of which is 19' long, on a Subaru legacy (lower than the outback). I left the factory rack untouched but didn't trust it's strength and the close spacing of the bars. I put on Yakima's hybrid system with hulley rollers on the back and saddles up front. This system utilizes the factory rack for the back bar and gutterless towers for the front bar which is rated at twice the carrying capacity of the factory rack recommendations. This gives six points of contact with the roof. It increased the spacing and lowered the front bar in relation to the back. Thus the wind pushes down somewhat which I believe is less likely to result in an airborne kayak. The kayaks are a breeze to load and unload. They ride rock solid. Another important consideration to me, being a paramedic, is safety. The all wheel drive and antilock brakes are amazing. The lower center of gravity helps,too. But most importantly, this car has perfored superbly in crach tests. My insurance rep. stated that it is up there with Volvos, Mercedes, and Ford tauruses??! Bill At 10:33 PM 10/8/00 -0400, Sailboat Restorations, Inc. wrote: >> I like the Subaru Outback but found the roof rails are quite a bit closer >> together than on the Subaru Forester. If you want to fit two kayaks on the >> roof check this out first! One of my US customer's last week told me they >> fell for this mistake and were shocked when they found they couldn't fit >> their two boats on the Outback. > >I frequently carry two kayaks on the roof of my Outback. I have carried >three. I have also carried two canoes, and (separately) a twelve foot >rowing skiff. It's a simple matter. When you add the Thule racks (I >removed the factory cross-bars, although you could leave them in place -- >they slide fore and aft), you just install slightly wider bars than are >standard. The bars extend a few inches outside the fore-aft factory rack >system. The outside saddle mounts outside the factory rack. It looks quite >natural, since even with the extra width the bar doesn't extend anywhere >near the actual width of the car. I see this all the time on Outbacks. I >actually have room for two sea kayaks and the smallest Thule roof box (in >between the yaks). I can't imagine having a problem with this. It's way >simple. >Mark *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
On Mon, 9 Oct 2000, Dibben, Patrick wrote: > Samuel wrote: > > I am trying to figure out what is the best vehicle to purchase that > > will carry a Kayak. > > Mr Sailboard Restorations wrote: > > Subaru Outback -- best all around car for kayakers. > > I looked into this fairly carefully since I run a sea kayak tour business > here in Sydney. > I like the Subaru Outback but found the roof rails are quite a bit closer > together than on the Subaru Forester. If you want to fit two kayaks on the > roof check this out first! One of my US customer's last week told me they > fell for this mistake and were shocked when they found they couldn't fit > their two boats on the Outback. > What about oval supports for the kayaks? (Example at http://www.eckla.de/english/satz1e.html) Without these supports I could not fit the two rapid racing kayaks (4.50 meters long) of my son ( I myself paddle a Klepper!) on the roof of our Subaru Outback. They fix the kayaks firmly (here in France we drive a little bit faster on highways than in the states) and if fixed at the end of the bars they extend a little bit to the side, so you can transport two kayaks (and a bike!). A general disadvantage of vans (not just the Outback): The racks are located at the end of the car and the kayaks extend over the back of the car. This can pose some problems depending in what state you are driving as this length is mostly limited (I imagine here a loong, hardshell sea kayak on my Outback). Reinhold Weber *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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