Roof-Racking the Island

Here is a pic of 2 x AI's roofracked with Thule Gear taken on last years trip to the West Coast of Ireland, the Audi was a champ and never missed a beat although some more ground clearance would have been nice.....






Cheers

SW

I've read the many many posts about roof-racking the AI and am wondering why I can't make it a little simpler. Two questions:

1. What is the problem with just laying the AI upside down on its gunnel on the square Thule roof racks I have.......no J-cradles, no pillows, no nothing.....just strap it down good The Thule cross bars are 'plastic coated' so I dont' think it would harm the Hobie*** and the aka's keep the AI from sliding forward or back (I am planning this for my 2007 VW Jetta). My amas fit fine INSIDE the Jetta (with the rear and front passenger seat folded down), although I imagine I could lash the amas up on the rack as well with a bit more effort.

2. Pirate (or someone) could you please post photos of your 'pirate pillows' again somehow such that a Macintosh computer can read them? They don't show up in your post.....actually, I tried to reload your posting on an XP computer and nothing came up there either.


*** if it would, I could lay carpet piece there or somesuch

No problem at all really. Some people don't like having to flip the boat over once it's up on the racks, though it's easy enough once you get the hang of it.

One other issue if you're sailing in salt water - when you invert the boat, the water in the mast well will be dumped on the car bonnet. You need to drain that water sooner or later anyway, so I just roll the boat over on the ground and leave it to drain while I'm putting the rest of the gear in the car.

_________________

Great! So I need NOTHING then between my AI and the Thule cross bars then? Soooo much easier! I'm in fresh water at all times, so the drainage issue goes away. Thanks.

I don't find it that hard to flip the kayak once on the roof rack. Is that the main reason people figure out ways to 'pad' it so it can ride upright instead?

Not very detailed, but here is a pic of my pink "Pirate Pillows" made of a yoga mat, glue and some ducktape. Looks like s***, works like a charm!



Transporting the boat upright is very convenient, and there is no chance on damaging your car while flipping the AI.

Hope this helps,

_________________
skua

I'm excited to finally see the pirate pillows!!. Yoga mats and duct tape. Got plenty of those around.

Skua, You must have to roll the boat up from the rear. How do you do that without damaging the car or tearing the mats?

I guess that's what the blankie is for?

_________________
The Wind Is Your Friend...

Yep, that's what the blankie is for. I put it on the rear of the car and over the aft pillow, so the hull glides easily over it. Like this.



Remember that the original pirate pillows were of some special, nice black foam, with a kind of glue that works on it so without duct tape. But my low tech pirate pillows work great. My back doesn't allow me to lift heavy things. But this works so easy, no problem at all for me.

_________________
skua

You know what I like best about the system shown above? The car! In North America, we have so few economical wagons, it's crazy. Most of the vehicles with built in roof racks that allow us to spread the bars far enough apart are all SUV's. Small wagons with roof racks are perfect for kayakers, you don't have to lift the boat near as high, and you've got an economical vehicle to safely carry the boat. Love the car!

_________________

There is a solution.

I use my daughters Mitsubishi Mirage (3 door Hatchback) to transport my AI. My own car which is another small car just doesn't take racks unless you get dealer bought and fitted (Alfa Romeo) at around $2,000 for a set of surfboard racks !!

The racks I put on the Mirage (Rhino Aero) is the system where the base/s are fixed to the car and attached permanently. The rack bars can be unscrewed and removed if needed. The benefits of this type is that the bars can be spread because there's no need to be reliant on door mounts. My bars are a full 1000mm apart as opposed to about 700mm for standard door mounted systems and they're a lot sturdier.

One word of caution.....if you've got side curtain air bags a dealer may not fit them. Apparently the drilling can cause the air bags to deploy which could spoil your day.

_________________
Yellow 09 Oasis
Red 2010 AI /Grey tramps.

My long term solution is going to be a custom trailer. I'll take the boat on short trips by car topping it, but I want a trailer to take my two boats, two bikes, and our camping gear. If I can build it light weight enough, I'll be able to drive any economy car that I want.

_________________

Has anyone tried the outrigger II from Thule? http://www.thule.com/en/US/Products/Wat ... 16192.aspx

I see a number of posts from people on the kayak forum but was wondering if anyone was using one regularly with an AI.
Took mine out for the first time last weekend and had to employ the help of my wife to roof top on and off my Jeep. I'd like to have another method that allows me to get it on the roof on my own and the outrigger II looks like an interesting solution.
Pete.

That outrigger should help you get it on the roof yourself. Yakima has a similar system that hides away inside their bars.

_________________

I recently had a Thule rack mount installed with the outrigger. It works well and I can load and retrieve my AI myself.

Thanks dwhite601. Does the outrigger bend much when its fully extended with your AI? Also have you ever come close to the AI sliding off te end of the outrigger, to me it looks like the vertical stop doesnt look that high and that the AI could easily slide off the end of the bar. As an asside do you transport upside down or right side up?
Thanks, this really does help my decision.

Skua, it looks like your yoga-duct tape combo is permanently installed. At the end of the season, do you just cut off the duct tape and pull off the yoga mat bits?

By the way, with my Thule roof rack on my VW Jetta, I have no problem flipping my kayak onto its gunnels to transport it upside down. I have enough clearance that it doesn't even come close to letting the kayak's cross bars scratch the roof of the car.