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# 1
Yakima JayLow Kayak Roof Rack w/ Tie-Downs - J-Style - Folding - Clamp On
I have ordered several products from Etrailer over the past few months-a Yakima roof rack; ski rack; kayak rack and accessories. Every product has been shipped and delivered promptly along with constant communication about timelines. I also find Etrailer has excellent videos and instructions/questions and answers about product specifications and installation. Very pleased.
Needed carriers to haul my old 17 foot P&H Icefloe. Yakima J-low carriers were easily installed and are good fit for my '04 Toyota Highlander. I really dig the low ramp as I dont have to lift the boat as high to get it on the carrier.
# 2
etrailer Kayak Carrier w/ Tie-Downs - J-Style - Folding - Clamp On
Bought two of these kayak saddles for my Toyota Highlander and installed them onto the factory racks. I don't have the name-brand equivalent products from Yakima or Thule to compare against but I have a hard time imagining that they are better quality or better thought-out than these etrailer saddles. They are very high quality gear. They are adjustable from vertical to horizontal so you could carry anything from canoes to surf boards horizontally to kayaks vertically. The accompanying webbing straps are nicer than any others I have ever seen and come with hood and window anchor points and eveything you need to tie just about any boat shaped object on top of your car. Great job etrailer. You won't find a better product at a better price than this.
# 3
Rhino-Rack Storage Rack for Kayak or Cargo Box - Wall Mount - Large - 176 lbs
The padded racks seem sufficiently sturdy, and are deep enough to hold our very wide-bottomed kayaks. I hope they hold up well outside over time. The hardware pack includes long screws to sink through wallboard into studs, which I couldn't use here. Somewhat curiously, only one strap is provided for each pair of saddles, which is why we've got some cheapie straps securing the upper kayak. A second strap would have been really nice!
# 4
Lockrack Adjustable XL Watersport Carrier - Canoe, Kayak, or 2 SUPs - Side Loading - Universal Mount
The product is really nice. I like that most of the parts are aluminum and it's highly adjustable. Included instructions could be better but the etrailer videos were a big help. Also, etrailer customer service was great in providing fast answers to my questions.
The keys are an issue (wish they were metal), but everything else is great! I go sunrise kayaking only and hate putting straps on with cold hands at 3:30 in the morning. I have a Nissan Pathfinder and was able to put this on with another set of Malone J-hooks so that I can have a second kayak when I go with someone. Once the fear subsides of it possibly falling off, you realize how quick and easy this thing is to use. It takes me 1 minute instead of 9-18 minutes to get my kayak up and secure. I have tested it at 75mph without any jiggling or issues. I sat on this in my shopping cart forever and finally pulled the trigger. If you kayak at least 10 times a year or are going at high speeds for extended periods of time in warm weather, totally worth it. If not, well, there are cheaper options out there.
# 5
Thule MultiLift Cargo Lift and Storage System - Ceiling Mount - 220 lbs
The product itself I would give 5 stars, but it took considerable effort before I could get it installed and tried out. The first obstacle I ran into is that there were no screws included. After opening the box I discovered this, read through the manual, looked at the product listing on etrailer's website, and on Thule's website. I did not see any notice that screw were not included. Finally I did see on one end of the box such a notice, and etrailer's customer service confirmed this to be the case. The second obstacle was how to install the product in my garage. The instructions were of marginal help. They are mostly devoid of words, but rather use pictures to instruct. Once I had a good idea of how all the parts were to fit together and be mounted I discovered my garage ceiling would not accommodate the parts. The ceiling rafters are installed on end, from one side of the garage to the other, and thus not wide enough for the screw holes in the pulleys or center rod mounting brackets. I improvised by installing in the garage attic two 2x8 boards perpendicular to the rafters, then three 2x4 boards snug under the garage ceiling, attached to the 2x8s by way of two 3/8 x 3.5" hex bolts on either end of the 2x4s. The 2x4s were 10', cut in half to allow room for the TH572 mounting hardware between the bolts. With appropriate structure in place (a 12-hour one man job), I started on installing the product. I used eight 1/4 x 1.5" lag screws to attach the pulleys to the 2x4s, and six #10 1.5" wood screws for the center rod mounting brackets. This part of the job took only about an hour... maybe two... it was late. Some suggestions: - make sure your garage can hand the load of the box (What you see in most attics are designed to hold the roof, not have stuff suspended from them -- I got lucky and had access to reinforced headers in the right places) - make sure your garage door can still open with whatever you are storing in place - make sure you can get your car in position under the load (rooftop box, kayak, etc) where everything is installed - make sure you can get your car out of the garage with the load attached So, my main complaints with this product are two: no screws, and minimal instructions. But with a little determination and some help from etrailer customer support, I was able to get the job done. Now I need to find someone who can make my garage door opening taller.
Overall I give this Thule Multilift Cargo Lift a five star rating; however installing this device takes some effort and skill. Maybe more effort and skill than the typical DYI'er can provide. The instructions provided do not have any words or dimensions, only pictures. Other than following the routing of the rope through the pullies it didn't provide me any benefit. Also, my system did not come with any screws or bolts. For me that was not a big deal as I have plenty of hardware I can use. There is one center bracket and four pullies to install. The spacing does not line up with typical dimensions so I had to improvise to get the Multilift installed. My garage ceiling has joist spacing that is 16" on center. That is typical, although some may have 24" on center spacing. Either way the spacing for the screws to secure the various components does not match. I guess you could use toggle bolts to hold the components to the ceiling sheetrock but I didn't trust that idea. What I did was to span my ceiling joists with 1"x4" wood and then attach the components to them. The kit comes with a template so getting the actual components set up on the 1"x4" wood strips was simple enough. Once all the components are installed then the rope is routed through the pullies. As you can see in the pictures I had a close clearance between the roof box and my roll-up garage door. I think it is about 2". Since I don't have a tall roll-up garage door I cannot drive my car in or out with the roof box installed. That didn't matter to me since my only goal was to store the roof box out of harms way. My last comment is that it takes two people to lift the roof box up and get the Multilift ropes in place. I tried to do it by myself but that did not work. I do like this Thule Multilift but it took some effort to install it. I really like the way it is raised and lowered by turning a mechanism with a handle. There is a less expensive lift sold on the internet but it did not use as many pullies to raise and lower the roof box and it relied on a rope to lift and lower it.
# 6
Rhino-Rack Nautic Stack Kayak Roof Rack w/ Tie-Downs - Post Style - Folding - Universal Mount
've previously used the Yakima Kayak Stacker (old style), which worked fine but I always worried the straps would slip off the hook at the top while I was loading boats. They also didn't fold down, so had to be removed after use unless you wanted to look odd and cause a whistle while you drove down the road. They didn't have a universal attachment option, requiring adapters depending on the style and make of your crossbars. More recently I got the Thule "The Stacker", which is a superior solution. You thread the strap through a closed loop at the top, so you don't worry about straps slipping off while you're loading boats. They fold down after use and have a universal style attachment that fits around most styles and makes of crossbars. Good stuff. I really like the straps that come with these, as there is a rubber cover that slips over the metal cam buckle to protect your car's paint while you're tossing the strap over your boats to strap everything in. In order to shuttle our boats for river trips, we needed stackers to fit on both our cars, so it was time for another set. I had never heard of Rhino Rack before, but the lower price than Thile caught my eye, so I read about them and decided to give them a try. The Rhino Rack Nautical Stack used a closed loop at the top, which I liked better than the Yakima or Malone options, and came with the hardware necessary to install them into the C-channel of my Malone aero crossbars, which I wanted to try. I remember that with the Malone stacker, you had to buy the C-channel mount hardware separately. I really like the Rhino Rack Nautical Stack. They are a single post design, unlike the loop style of the Thule "The Stacker". I don't know if this cuts down on vortex drag, but it definitely saves you a couple horizontal inches up where the boats stack. The Rhino Rack Nautical Stack has textured rubber strips on either side of the post, which I believe is intended to cut down on vortex drag, but is also quite helpful in that boats tend to slip much less when you're just leaning them up against the post as you load up before you strap them. That's smart. The Rhino Rack Nautical Stack feels really solid. The mechanism for folding them down and locking them upright is easy to use and feels solid. Installation instructions were good. I tried to install into the C-channels without removing the rubber tubing in my Malone aero crossbars, but couldn't get the little squares to slide into the slots with the rubber tubing in place, so had to cut the tubing, slide the Nautical Stacks into place, then cut down some of the tubing I had removed and replace it in the remaining unfilled crossbar slot. That's not a knock on the Nautical Stack; just a tip in case you're trying to do the same kind of install I did. The one area in which I was less impressed was the tie-down straps that come with this kit. The metal cam buckles have no covering at all, so I'll probably still use my old Yakima and Thule straps instead and use these as backups. But overall, I think these are going to work at least as well, if not better, than the Thule option, and for quite a bit less money.
So much better than the 'C-shape' kayak holders. These things allow you to fit inside a garage, and add up to four kayaks. Very easy to use.
# 7
Yakima SweetRoll Kayak Roof Rack w/ Tie-Downs - Saddle Style - Clamp On
Excellent product, easy install, secure on the crossbars, a bit lower ride height and a simple rolling mechanism. A significant improvement over my older Yakima Handroll racks.
The Sweet Roll will not support my Old Town Topwater 10.6. The brackets spread out on the crossbar under the weight. This year I will try a Yakima Big Catch. The Sweet Roll works fine with our Old Town Loons.
# 8
Malone YakSwing Fold Away Kayak Storage System - Wall Mount - 1 Kayak
These storage hooks worked perfectly on my golf cart for transporting kayaks and SUP’s down to our lakefront. The folding feature is essential when the racks are empty. Great quality - I will recommend these hooks and etrailer to others.
Fast shipping from etrailer in the mfg box. Fortunately it's well packaged by Malone and it arrived without any damage. Overall good build quality aside from some weld splatter. What I love most is the design feature allowing you to rotate the bars against the wall. It allows me to load the front end first, then raise the rear with the kayak close to the wall behind my garage door rail. Then I just turn the rear hook into place and lower the boat onto it. For reference, my boat is 14'4" long and I have the bars 80" apart. Also, the dimension from the wall the the tip of the hook is about 15.5".
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