My Kayak-Transportation Odyssey Pictures of all rack/trailer options shown at http://community.webshots.com/user/johnsonkw1 For my first 15 years kayaking, I used a Yakima Rooftop Rack (Towers, crossbars, and two saddles) on my first 4 cars (Mitsubishi Mirage, Honda Civic Hatchback, Ford Escort Wagon, and Hyundai Elantra). Carried one or two kayaks to begin with, and then a year ago switched from saddles to center posts to be able to carry 3 to 4 kayaks. I knew I was pushing to limit on roof and rack weight tolerances, but it all worked well for about a year. But on my last 1600 mile trip through Mexico with 4 kayaks, the system failed. The rear towers dented the car roof. I don't know if it was the narrow roads with fast trucks/busses wizzing by, or the rough roads, but the system failed. While my car roof was being repaired, I used a 1996 Hyundai Elantra Wagon with its own roof rails to support my Yakima crossbars and center posts. No towers to clamp on the rails..just used the straps to tighten the kayaks and crossbars to the car side rails and it worked fine. This set-up was strong enough to carry the 4 kayaks with no strain, but that was a 6 year old car, and I needed something for my sedan that couldn't accommodate a heavy load on the roof. After the roof was repaired, and tried a Yakima trailer hitch support for the back crossbar. That took half the weight off the roof, but the hitch device was too low and stuck out too far so that it dragged too frequently on high spots in the road. I finally ended up with a SportsRig kayak trailer to tow behind the Elantra. It is very lightweight, can be easily used by hand to portage kayaks, and eliminates the need to lift the kayaks up on the roof top rack. The same Yakima center posts fit on the trailer crossbars providing a very solid strapping arrangement. One to four kayaks all handle well on the trailer. Looks like a good solution, but I will monitor the results over the next year. Great device for elderly people who drive tall cars, SUVs, or trucks and have heavy kayaks. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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