Kayak carrying on the roof?

[weekender]

Does anyone have any history of carrying small kayaks on the roof? I have 2 small kayaks, and it looks like I could carry one on either side of the roof AC (being careful of the bathroom fan and tank exhaust vent). Is the roof rack railing strong enough to use ratchet tie downs?

Any better suggestions for carrying 2 kayaks?

[ChasingRain]

I've got some experience is this. (ok, really a lot of experience) I took off the luggage rack and built a steel rack that screwed into the hole the luggage rack was mounted to. I doubt the original rack would be strong enough, it's pretty light weight. Mine is set up with a cage sort of deal around the AC, so I can put a boat on top as well. Keep in mind that the luggage rack is also the TV antenna, so if you take it off, you'll lose that as well. The other option, depending on the length of the boats, is to come up with something that mounts to the hitch. might look something like this: (sorry, can't see the rack on top well in this picture)


I think my record is something like 10 or 12 boats on the van at once.

[RobertL]

Hi- Love the concept of carrying the Yaks on the back instead of the top.
We have 2 9.5's and I would love to know how you fabricated the carrier you have there.

[craigmar]

We have for the past years, used Sevylor inflatables and have never had a problem with taking eight inflatable kayaks and one four man raft because they fold up into a nice small package. This year, however, we purchased two eight foot-sit on top-kayaks that are hard bodies. There have been a couple of folks carrying thier kayaks on top of the van which seems to work but I don't like the idea of having to climb up the ladder and trying to wrestle the kayaks on and off (maybe if I were in my 30's again I might try it but I'm twice that now) so I've looked into a cargo rack hitch mounted like the one above. You can find them on the e-bay fairly cheap and also some of the listings under the e-bay listed ones are for dealers (sponsored results) and they also have very good prices as well. I am against the ones that only have a 2 or 3 inch lip as I think some of the places we go the kayaks might bounce out so I am looking for one with a 6 inch or better railing or buying one of the two inchers and having someone locally adding a higher rail. For me and my wife that is the better option.

[craigmar]

In another post (appliances, water heater reline or repair) I mentioned shopping around and finally using local resources in finding a decent unit at a great price and warranty. While looking in the local postings I also checked out hitch mounted racks and found a guy that will weld one up for me the way I want it for according to him $100 or so but not more than $150 which is good because I will get what I want and not have to pay shipping etc.

[BBK]

We are interested in finding or having made a verticle kayak rack that would fit into our 2 inch hitch. We found one at RV Kayak rack for about $1000 that will also carry 2 bikes. Has anyone tried this?
Barbara