Kayak roof carrier recommendations?

Question

We just bought a kayak from a relative and need to buy a kayak carrier for the top of the car roof rack. I have a Ford Focus wagon with the standard factory installed roof rack. The kayak is a 9.5 foot long recreational sit-in kayak. There seem to be a number of different types of kayak carriers, and I was wondering if anyone has a certain type or brand that they like? Thanks.

Answer 1

Thule and Yakima seem to be the most popular makes.  They may be made by the same company via a recent merger.  I drive a pickup, so I just throw my boats in the bed.  Welcome to the wacky world of paddlers.  Get a whitewater boat and move over to the dark side.

SYOTR

Answer 2

The cheapest solution is one of the kits you can get for about $30 at most sporting goods stores.  It has a pair of grey hard foam blocks with a groove in the bottom that slips over your roof rack and a curved top to rest the hull of the boat on.  There is a pair of long nylon straps that wrap around the boat and the rack to hold it down plus a pair of adjustable straps or ropes with hooks on the ends -- these go through the end carry straps on the kayak and then fasten to the car front and rear bumpers to keep the boat from pivoting in the wind at high speeds.

At the higher end, I have (and love) the Thule J-bar carriers (they list for $140 but I got mine on sale for $99).  They look like two big tilted letter "J"s with padded cushions which clamp easily onto the roof rack (I have the square Thule rack but I think the simple adjustable clamp on the J-bars would go on any roof rack bar, maybe with a small piece of rubber wrapped around if the bar was very thin.  The straps that come with the Thule setup are really nice and quick to install, also the rack makes it really simple for even one person to load the boat.  Since my sea kayak is 15' long I prefer the fancier rack but I think the foam carriers would work fine for you.  I still have my old foam set and use it to carry a friend's boat on the other side of my rack when we go paddling together.