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Hello from newbie Oasis owners! We bought an Oasis, second hand but fully outfitted with transport wheels, paddles, sail, Ama outrigger side kicks, even a depth finder! The previous owner even threw in a Rhino rear load assist, unfortunately we don't have the hitch receiver. All we need now is the roof system and couple of PFDs and we're off to the races!
We borrowed a set of Yakima saddles to put on our Thule crossbars to get this baby home yesterday and now are trying to find a recommendation for the best option to transport this 90+ pound beast on top of our Honda CR-V. We didn't have a lot of trouble getting the boat up there yesterday but not confident the saddles were particularly well suited to the hull. We were pretty nervous driving home, although we had no problem tied down to rack, bow and stern. I've been reading posts on the is forum to see what people prefer. The J style racks look like they might not be the best option for this size boat and the saddle reviews caution that there may be distortion to the hull. The previous owner used the Thule Slipstream but it's only rated for 75 pounds and this baby weighs in at about 93 pounds stripped down to just the hull. Someone at a local car rack retailer recommended the Hullavator Pro but we are two able bodied people that may be changing vehicles so are loathe to spend $600-700 to add on a kayak rack. There must be a better way so I have come to "our peeps" on this forum for advice!
Here's the green horn's questions:
1. What's been user experiences as the best alternative for roof racking an Oasis kayak: saddles, J style, Thule, Yakima, some DIY MacGyver solution?
2. "Best of" strapping technique and favorite straps for hull and bow/stern lines?
3. Don't really want to go to the expense of adding a hitch to our 11 year-old CR-V. Is there a simple solution to guide the kayak and protect the roof top with padding/roller/other as we load it?
4. Refer to above: Since our only vehicle is 11 years old, we may be upgrading to something new in the next year or so. Consequently, so we don't have to go through this again and bear the additional expense, we hope to find a solution that will easily move over to a new vehicle that may have factory installed racks, like a Suburu Outback or something.
Needless to say, we are very excited to join this family and get out on the water!
Thanks in advance for your help and/or referral to other posts and responses that I have been unable to ferret out!
Mary and Joe
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