Carrying sea kayaks?

What’s the best low price kayak carrier for roof bars (with T track/channel)  for occasional use of a sea kayak?

We use a mate’s spare sea kayak for 1 or 2 trips per year, so I don’t want to stump up £200+ for a Thule wonder thing.  I’ve got lots of straps to tie it down but need to secure it.

Cheapest option?

Toyota Yaris and a can do attitude.

@matt_outandabout to the forum please

Oval Kayak Foam Roof Rack pads – Pair

When we paddled the Great Glen and needed to add an extra carrier to one of the cars we used something similar to the linked items.

Lomo do different ones to suit different racks but these are adequate for occasional use.

How did I forget about LOMO? Our cags and other kit are from there !

Something like this from RUK:

Roof Rack Cradles with T Track

Depends if you want to carry the sea kayak flat or on its edge. If on edge then a lot of the cradles/posts don’t like using the T tracks as the straps are tied to the cradle. If flat the straps can go round the cross bars.

I have never found the foam blocks fit or give decent support to a ‘proper’ sea kayak. There is always to much V in the hull, especially the front one. Maybe work better with a SOT (sit on top)

If you use the Ruk style ones linked earlier in the thread then don’t forget to get a cockpit cover or you’ll end up with a boat full of water.

personally unless it’s a very fancy composite kayak I tend to just use pads like the Palm 80cm roofbar  pads.

If it’s more than one plastic boat that needs to be carried then it’s Eckla folding uprights for T tracks

Plastic boat, just lash it to the bars, nice glass boat I use Karitek j cradles like these – https://paddleandpitch.com/products/karitek-j-cradles?srsltid=AfmBOopA6hndHupKqtxTiCJVvk0LvysLXgw0z5GJwFci-dv2oJ2WL4B-

Just strap them down to existing bars. No extra fancyness needed.
Put bars as wide apart as you can.
I prefer proper straps – and I am not shy of leaning on them.

Or buy the Yaris which @joshvegas suggests…

@owenh

Depends on your boat, we had a Northshore Atlantic and my Aries and the foam pads worked fine for short shuttles.

My car has a Karitek rack, the other car had a j craddle for one boat. We had no issues with the Lomo foam pads they were cheap and good value when we needed a cheap and quick solution for a short time.

You can always cut away surplus foam to fit you boat if you have issues with fit.

Huge differences between lashing a plastic boat down with straps and carefully cradling a fragile glass or composite craft. That’s what we really need to know from the OP.

plastic boat, not fancy pants artisan hand reared fibreglass thing rolled between the thighs of Tuscan titanium welders

Straight onto the roofbars and crank the straps in that case. Just avoid hatches and buckling ‘shaped’ edges either on the deck or hull.

For plastics I’d use uprights with padding, they tend to be more resistant to squashing on their sides. For composite I use a cradle of some description out of preference.

thanks all

I might get some 2nd hand j bars as I don’t want to damage someone else’s boat

And tie the front and rear off the boats to the towing eyes of the car for additional security. That’s additional not instead of the main straps

@elshalimo I’ve got some that aren’t doing anything now I’ve sold my sea boats. You can have them if you’re anywhere near Shrewsbury.

In the unlikely event your car has a gutter, I’ve hiyt some old bars and uprights I need rid of.

(Manc)

And if you really want support, Facebook marketplace for £20 kayak supports:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/567325955735398/?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A48e5881b-b7cd-44f2-b54f-29a6dd786373

Sell your fancy pants plastic ones and buy inflatable ones from Aldi ?

Sell your fancy pants plastic ones and buy inflatable ones from Aldi ?

Don’t do that. Not for sea kayaking.

I have several composite sea kayaks including an enormous 7m sea double which requires a bit of thought when on the roof rack. I’ve also a small flotilla of white water and surf kayaks.

I use straight forward uprights and the boats go on  their sides, hull against the upright with the gunwhale in foam on the roof bars. Straps go through the eye at the top of the upright and then round the roof bars. Another boat can go on the other side or against the deck of boat one

I have found that the uprights are the most versatile and will cater for many types of boat, plus also good for ladders and timber for diy etc, so they are multi use.

J bars are good but not as versatile, and also slightly more difficult to load as you need to get the boat a little higher to get it in the cradle. Difficult if you or partner are short. Also less good for said ladders and diy materials. A free pair would be fine though!

Sitting composite or plastic boats in cradles is ok but it’s possible to over tighten if not careful. On a hot sunny day it’s easy to reshape plastic boats and some epoxy based composites, especially dark coloured ones.

I have also had boats straight on to bars with only foam, fine as a stop gap and if it’s your own boat. Same problem with overtightened straps and hull deformation

Current uprights were about 25 quid, aero ones probably a bit more.

Hi viz vest looped through the rear overhanging stern grabloop, length of cord from bow toggle to bumper.

As matt says, try and get the roof bars as far apart as possible, although many modern cars are pretty woeful in this regard.

If the boats are flat on bars, try and get the bulkheads within the boat on top the bars, it’ll stop the hull deforming

Any idea where to get those boot/bonnet tie down straps for when you don’t have a metal hook to tie the  bow or stern tie downs to?

Do you not have a towing eye you can install?

There’s a few on Songofthepaddle who lift bonnet, undo a single bold holding wing of car on, then rebolt with a loop or of tape through the bolt. You can then open bonnet, flip up loop and close bonnet.

I personally don’t think they would hold much and only really damage the bonnet. And if your boat is either coming off due to wind or someone has crashed into you, you’ve got an issue bigger….

I rarely fit a front tie down – a proper tight lashing over roof bars works well. I do usually add a painter from bow to roof bar to stop sliding forward.

Thanks @matt_outandabout