Rack system for 3 kayaks

[bazzert]

Hi All,

Does anyone carry 3 kayaks on your roof rack ? And if so, what system do you use, how wide are your load bars etc ?

I'd like to get my wife a kayak and do trips with our son. I have an old tandem but it's so big and ugly I hate using it :-)

Thanks!

Barry.

[lhunt]

I do three sometimes on my Toyota-Matrix-like Pontiac Vibe. I use two regular J racks (one on each side), and put the 3rd kayak between them. Orientation of the 3rd is upside up, upside down, or on its side, have done all three. Picture here. The pink thing over the bars is a pool noodle, slit down one side and squeezed onto the crossbar. If I'm worried about one of the kayaks rubbing on the metal part of the J-bars, I slip a piece of pipe insulation over the offending bar.

If the kayak is on its deck or its hull, I tie a rope or webbing under the crossbar, then over the center kayak, then under the other side of the crossbar, then back over the same kayak. Like that on both crossbars. If the center kayak is on its side, I tie it to the back of one of the J-bars.

Since one of my J-bars folds down, two people can put the center kayak up from that side pretty easily if the side kayak has not been loaded yet - in fact I've done it by myself easily enough. Alternatively, I sometimes put a blanket up on the windshield and slide the boat up from the front. Can't do it from the back because my car is much narrower in back than in front.

It's a tight squeeze and a bit of a production but it's not that bad once you get the hang of it. Recently I swapped out the pool noodle for one of these things, (I didn't pay anywhere near that for them though) forcing the oval channel over my square crossbars, but it's not really any better than the pool noodle, and the foam tends to rotate and fall off when sliding the boat onto it.

The usable part of my crossbars (the part between the towers) is 40" in the front and 34.5" in the back.

Hope that helps,

Lisa

Edited July 9, 2014 by LHuntington

[Phil Allen]

Lisa pretty much nailed it. We have the Yakima 48" crossbars on the Jetta sportwagen with the Bowdown J-cradle like things. Can easily slip another boat in between on it's side.

best

Phil

[jason]

3 upside down with 78" cross bars on the roof.

[Paul Sylvester]

easy,

one in the thule saddles and two on edge. one set of vertical bars with padding and a line holding all bows to the front bumper.

[scamlin]

Like Paul, I use a 48" Yakima bar and one vertical Yakima stacker. The first two boats are Explorer/Explorer or Explorer/Romany on edges, so they fit nicely either side, both hull to the vertical bar with the upper flat section of the hull flat on the bar.

Since the third boat is usually a plastic Valley Avocet and has a round hull, the hull doesn't nestle very well against the deck of the center boat. So I put it on edge deck to deck with the center boat, bow to stern so the cockpit peak of each boat fits into the cockpit space of the other. If you slightly offset the boats, the bow and stern tips cross past each other nicely. I sometimes slip bits of foam between the boats, but since the Avocet is plastic, I often don't bother.

I put the vertical bar quite near the driver end of the horizontal bar: first to make it easier to throw the boat up and second so I can fit the third boat on if I need to. Since that locates the edge of the boat on the rack fitting, I cut down one of those gray foam cradles (like Lisa posted) to fit between the vertical bar and the end of the horizontal bar. The upward slant of the cut down cradle tips the boat towards the vertical bar, so it rests in place until I can get a strap on it. For the horizontal bar on the other side, I use the Yakima padded tube they sell for surf boards--which can catch the bottom edge of both the second and third boats.

I don't bother to cushion the vertical bar since the NDK boats are laying flat: only damage is some black marks which wash off.

Using this method, there is room to instead put the third boat hull or deck down beside the center boat-- which I have done when the third boat is glass--using a second Yakima tube or a foam cradle.

On occasion, I've squeezed four boats on edge on the 48" bar--both with a second vertical bar and by simply lashing the fourth boat outside the third boat, tucked at the very end of bar on the passenger side.

One thing to remember is that most factory rails are rated somewhere around 150 lbs max load. Which means three boats are usually pushing or exceeding that limit--and a fourth boat is definitely over the rated limit. The real risk is not weight bending the bars, but the wind loading on the boats at highway speed or in cross winds. Ask some of our club members who know from experience.

Scott

[bazzert]

Lisa, Phil, Paul, Jason & Scott,

Thanks for the great information! The photos really helped, I'm amazed that you can actually achieve this with 40" to 48" of space. I have a pair of LB50 bars from a previous setup and just need to get the right feet for my current truck. I already have a Thule Hull A Port (ie. J rack style) and am now considering either pairing that with another one and using Lisa's approach of putting the 3rd boat in the middle on foam blocks or pairing it with a stacker which can take 2 boats side by side.

Scott, point taken on the safety aspect ... I have seen the aftermath of a loose kayak caused accident on the highway and it's not pretty!

thanks again,

Barry.

[Suz]

Check the weight of the Hull A Port system as it is heavier than just a rack. Remember to add the rack weight into the total including your boats on your roof. I would hazard a guess that if you do two Hull a Ports, you won't be able to fit a third boat on your roof. The "system" takes up a lot of room. Probably once the weight of the rack system is added in you would top out at max weight load for the roof with two boats regardless.

Bow lines are really important when you are carrying so many boats on your roof - it helps to prevent the wind from lifting the whole rack and the kayaks off. (Meaning your kayaks are secured to the roof but the wind/updraft? pulls the rack off the car. I do know of this happening.

All that said, I have really long cross bars and with stackers, I can fit 4 boats on the roof but prefer doing no more than 3. Plus, the only time I do that is when I have multiple (TALL) people to help (read between the lines and recognize they are doing the loading) load the boats on the roof.

Never saw the purpose of the dual hull a port systems because if you are carrying two boats, you have a second person to help and even with short people to help, 2 people to load boats means no second hull a port system is needed. (Plus they look like moose antlers driving down the road when empty!)

[lhunt]

Hi, Suz, are you getting Hull-a-port mixed up with Hullavator? My J-bars are Hull-a-port...

-Lisa

[lhunt]

Barry,

... I'm amazed that you can actually achieve this with 40" to 48" of space...

Just a clarification - my bars are also 50" long. Before I gave the measurements of what is between the towers, since that's the only usable space to mount J-bars on. What really counts is the width of your roof. My rear towers go onto the factory rack, which is what makes it so narrow. You will notice that my red boat ("Mustang Sally") is pretty squished in there, and that boat has a 20" beam. However, I have put wider boats (22.5") in there by positioning them so that they take advantage of the shape of the available shape (deck down for example, since the J-bars slant in, or up on the side). It takes a little experimentation. It would be hard to put a 24" boat in there, I think. Maybe a plastic one where one isn't worried about scratching, dunno.

I would think that if a stacker works for you that would be more flexible in boat sizes, and make it easier to load. I already have the J-bars, and don't put 3 on very often, so this works well enough for me.

Also maybe your truck is wider than my little Vibe.

Lisa

[Suz]

Hi, Suz, are you getting Hull-a-port mixed up with Hullavator? My J-bars are Hull-a-port...

-Lisa

Lisa,

You are totally right... hullavator is what I was meaning instead of hull a port...

Suz

[Marshall]

Here's a way to do 4 kayaks (3 on a loading system) on 58" Thule Bars

http://wp.me/pFgdM-I0

See you on the water, (or at the Blackburn)

Marshall

The RIver Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

[rfolster]

The link doesn't seem to work.

[Marshall]

Perhaps now.

http://wp.me/pFgdM-I0

[NateHanson]

Hey Marshall,

I've always been curious, how much weight do you you need to lift to raise a kari-tec 3-boat rack system up onto the roof, with boats loaded in it?

Thanks, Nate

[Suz]

Good question Nate. Marshall - can Dorothy lift a loaded Kari Tec rack? Years ago I remember paddling with Jeff Allen in Cornwall, England and he used the Kari Tec and put loaded boats on the rack and the two of us had to lift it up.

[Marshall]

Hi Nate & Suz,

With 3 boats on the ELRR it's going to be about 150+lbs so it's technique thing not brute force lifting. Keep in mind the bars on the Land Cruiser are at about 6'4" from the ground so the longer ELRR 1500(?) would actually be easier as the angle of attack would be less.

The overall goal is to have the ELRR swing out like a pendulum to a point where your skeleton is holding the load and not just muscle tension.

Here's the steps for 3 boats and to keep you out of the chiropractors office

• Squat and grasp lift bar with a palm downward grip
• Extend legs while stepping back and perform an upright row for the lift bar to reach collarbone height. As the bar reaches this height roll your wrists back into a palm upward position (weightlifting term = Clean? but no jerk) keeping your back straight.
• Walk toward the vehicle lining the guide wheel on the ELRR rail with the triangular ridge on the top of the bar mount assembly.

Video on request.

The longer unit has an additional sword pin so you can load one boat, stow it, insert the pin then redeploy the rack with the top boat being held in place as a counterweight. At this amount of shuffling I'll just hook up the trailer for a 20 boat capacity.

Dorothy can load her 16' freestyle tandem canoe this way but remember her height and the rack height. She prefers to load it on her Mini. Makes a great canopy over the car in case of rain.

Time to run the Demo Day before the weather arrives.

See you on the water, (or the Blackburn)

Marshall

The River Connection, Inc.

Hyde Park, NY

www.the-river-connection.com

hudsonriverpaddler.org

[agraham]

On 7/9/2014 at 1:04 PM, lhunt said:

I do three sometimes on my Toyota-Matrix-like Pontiac Vibe. I use two regular J racks (one on each side), and put the 3rd kayak between them. Orientation of the 3rd is upside up, upside down, or on its side, have done all three. Picture here. The pink thing over the bars is a pool noodle, slit down one side and squeezed onto the crossbar. If I'm worried about one of the kayaks rubbing on the metal part of the J-bars, I slip a piece of pipe insulation over the offending bar.

If the kayak is on its deck or its hull, I tie a rope or webbing under the crossbar, then over the center kayak, then under the other side of the crossbar, then back over the same kayak. Like that on both crossbars. If the center kayak is on its side, I tie it to the back of one of the J-bars.

Since one of my J-bars folds down, two people can put the center kayak up from that side pretty easily if the side kayak has not been loaded yet - in fact I've done it by myself easily enough. Alternatively, I sometimes put a blanket up on the windshield and slide the boat up from the front. Can't do it from the back because my car is much narrower in back than in front.

It's a tight squeeze and a bit of a production but it's not that bad once you get the hang of it. Recently I swapped out the pool noodle for one of these things, (I didn't pay anywhere near that for them though) forcing the oval channel over my square crossbars, but it's not really any better than the pool noodle, and the foam tends to rotate and fall off when sliding the boat onto it.

The usable part of my crossbars (the part between the towers) is 40" in the front and 34.5" in the back.

Hope that helps,

Lisa

Hi Lisa, not sure if you are still on here, but could you post another picture.  the link doesn't work.  I need a visual to try this! lol thanks!

[Michael_Crouse]

TracRac on (of course) a truck, bars are almost 70” and it’s rated for 1250lbs. The original ad for this rack had a large truck with a small Toyota on the roof rack! ?

I’ve had 4 kayaks on the rack and I could probably carry five.

[Coley]

Hi. I'm new to this kayaking thing & I'm struggling to find all that I need to travel with the kayaks. I have a 2007 Mazda 3S Hatchback, does anyone have any suggestions on all that I would need & what brands/sites are best to check out. I appreciate any advice! Thanks. 

[prudenceb]

20 hours ago, Coley said:

Hi. I'm new to this kayaking thing & I'm struggling to find all that I need to travel with the kayaks. I have a 2007 Mazda 3S Hatchback, does anyone have any suggestions on all that I would need & what brands/sites are best to check out. I appreciate any advice! Thanks. 

Thule, Malone and Yakima all make good racks.  You need crossbars and then saddles for the boat(s).  Straps to tie to the rack and bow tie down as well.  I know that Thule and Yakima sites have a feature where you can plug in make/model of car and find out what racks will fit.

[Coley]

On 6/20/2021 at 7:52 AM, prudenceb said:

Thule, Malone and Yakima all make good racks.  You need crossbars and then saddles for the boat(s).  Straps to tie to the rack and bow tie down as well.  I know that Thule and Yakima sites have a feature where you can plug in make/model of car and find out what racks will fit.

Thank you so very much ! We are going up to Wisconsin in a couple weeks & looking forward to being able to bring the kayaks with. Being my first time I just wanna make sure I have/get what I need for the trip. Thank you again for your help.