Most Popular Side Loading for 2018 Subaru Forester

Arrived quickly and was very easy to assemble and attach to the roof of my Jeep. Now that I have the initial setup complete with the proper placement of the entire system, attaching and removing the kayaks will be a breeze. Will definitely make hauling our kayaks much easier and safer.

This product is excellent. I have transported my kayak on these J Hooks several times going 70+ mph down the highway. It never moves. The bolts that come with it are short. If you have a thick roof rack, you will need longer stainless steel bolts. Make sure you you orient the blue straps with the buckle on top so you can pull down to tighten it up.

Bought a pair of these to go on 59" rhino rack bars on our Outback Wilderness and am really pleased. I left the bars full width - they are not a head banger on the car - and mounted the Hullavators as far outboard as possible which means the kayaks clear the side of the car and wing mirrors without folding them in. I did have to modify one Hullavator to make the Hobie Lynx fit (36" wide Lynx = 36" max Hullavator width)

The Hullivator was for my wife to give her the option of loading and unloading by herself. It couldn’t be better. She now goes kayaking anytime she wants with little effort and no need for me to help her. Excellent product that’s worth every cent. Was super easy to install too.

Really nice product. Installation is a snap. Will load up kayaks tonight to test, but so far I love this product. Thanks Geoffrey for your help on my order. E-Trailer is the only way to go-easy ordering, great product selection, and excellent customer service!

Great product and great customer service! Very easy to install, but I highly recommend to watch the installation video first. We used typical black office clips to clip the excess straps down since they came untangled when driving. Also, I recommend to purchase locks for the racks since we are concerned someone may steal them because they are so easy to take on and off.

Great canoe rack! Fast service!!

As all Thule products the Thule universally mounted canoe carrier is great. It came with all required items for safe and easy canoe transportation. There are two straps with pull to fasten for the canoe down, two tie down ropes for each end with nice pull tight and release mechanisms for the cord as well, along with two straps to fasten to the canoe ends used with the pull to tighten cords. The Chevy traverse cross bar had to have the plastic end caps removed for use with Thule canoe carrier. This was because my canoe took up the entire cross bar width to allow for Thule mounts. It is not a big deal to remove the plastic end caps. They only provide a finished stream lined look. Happy and Safe Canoeing

4 on canoe rack only because of supplied lower bracket for cross member attachment.

The product is of good construction but probably due to how it fits on my crossbars it needs additional support. The crossbars for my Honda Pilot are wide blade type and these racks seem more appropriate for narrower square type crossbars. Even with the rack fastened very tightly, the rack can twist back and forth. Last year on a trip across Montana the wind was pretty gusty and it caused the front one to pivot quite a bit and we had to pull off and apply a ratcheting strap over the kayak and under the factory rails to ensure it was held tight and wouldn't move again. This year on the same trip we had bad winds but had a roof rack mounted behind these racks giving it support on the tall side. We had to strap it real good to make sure it didn't move. If we hadn't had that additional support behind it and add'l straps we probably would have had more problems. I think if the top metal bracket had a wider channel to fit our crossbars it would be much more stable. The way it is now it just sandwiches 2 metal plates between my crossbar which allows it to pivot under stress.

Just installed it. So far so good. Ran 2 bike cables side to side with 4 pad locks to secure it for the summer,

Sturdy cradle and easy to install. Difficult to keep tie down strap looped over top of "U" bar while trying to get it over the kayak, keeps slipping down. We made a channel out of foam to keep the strap in place and now it is easy.

We just purchased the Rhino Nautic Stack to carry our three kayaks. And the stack and rack gave me confidence that our kayaks were secured to the vehicle very well. Very happy with the product!

Just received and installed. Installation was straight forward and simple, instructions were simple and clear to follow. Can't wait to try them out!

I have not tried these out compleletly yet but am happy to say they fit the crossbars on my dodge caravan and subaru forester so i will update when i lash down our decked kayaks , and you can't beat the price for the complete setup.

Incredibly easy to install and adjust for a perfect fit. If you’re at least 5’9” you will have no issue hoisting your kayak up onto the rack. The rotation makes this very easy. Absolutely no noise while driving. Secure, tough — I’m very pleased and would recommend this product to anyone!

Excellent product! We have two other sets!

I've been using the product for two summers now and it is perfect for what I'm using it for. My canoe is an Old Town Discovery 133, it's very wide and I initially had trouble fitting it in the brackets with how relatively narrow my Rav4 is, but the instructions that came with them mentioned I could just flip them around. That worked perfectly. I only use the brackets and the tie down straps from the kit to tie the boat to the crossbars, and then use the painter lines I put on the bow and stern of the boat to tie those to the car. That rides on the highway very easily with no shifting. With two people, the load/unload time is around 10 minutes as long as one person knows what they are doing. This kit had exactly what I was looking for, seems built to last, and if I ever need another kit to help tie a canoe to a car then I know I can trust this product to get the job done safely and reliably.

Great service from etrailer.com! The Malone roof racks and Kayak carriers arrived on time, went on easily, and seem to be very sturdy and reliable. The only thing I could wish for is that the buckles on the tie-down straps had some kind of a rubber coating. Thanks!

I ordered these with the 50" cross bar and T-Slot install kit and they work great on my 2009 Forester. Only complaint is that they whistle pretty noticeably when you get up to speed. Love that they fold down. Cradles are super stable with 2 kayaks on top. So far very pleased and would recommend these for certain. Almost 3 months on back order but E-trailer folks were good about updating me on the status along the way and that was appreciated.

If I could give 4.5 stars I would! These J-Racks were easy to install and are sturdy and easy to use. The ability to fold them down when not in use is so convenient, especially during the summer months when they will be used a lot. The one minor complaint that we have is that the straps that are included could be a lot better. The bow and stern straps are great, however the straps that go around the J racks and kayaks themselves are a bit thin and hard to get tight. We ended up buying a set of ratcheting straps for this purpose. We actually use two sets of these to attach to tandem kayaks to our Subaru Forester and they work great!

Incredibly fast shipping! Ordered Thursday, delivered on Saturday. Everything needed is included in the kit and fits on my Subaru Forester perfectly. Easy install and very secure on elliptical bars

These pads worked well on our Yakima RailBar Crossbars- Item #Y00448-0449 that we also bought from etrailer around 2020/2021. Not sure if etrailer carries the exact Yakima Crossbars anymore, but think they have a similar model. Both the pads and crossbars work well to haul our kayak on our 2019 Subaru Forester. etrailer's customer service rocks! We had a lot of questions purchasing both items and they were great to talk to!

Ordered and received three products; a Yakima DoubleDown 4 bike rack, a Yakima hitchlock, and a Malone Stax Pro kayak carrier. The website contained a ton of information which allowed me to make an informed decision re which type/model and manufacturer of each item to choose. Ordering was simple and I received the items on the estimated date of delivery. I detected a manufacturing flaw in one of he items, however when I contacted the manufacturer the customer rep immediately shipped me the necessary parts and tools to repair the item. The installation of the rack and carrier was simple, especially having observed the videos on the etrailer website. Thus far we have transported two adult bicycles on the Yakima DoubleDown and the ride was very smooth as if there was no rack or bikes. We have also transported one kayak using the Malone carrier system and like the bike rack, the ride was very smooth and quiet as if there was no 10' kayak on the roof. The bike rack is on our 2015 Subaru Forester and the kayak carrier on our 2010 Chrysler Town and Country. Overall a very good experience and I would highly recommend etrailer and the Yakima DoubleDown and the Malone Staxx kayak carrier system (as well as purchasing the HitchLock to prevent the theft of the rack and bikes!).

We needed a carrier solution that folded down easily because of our garage door height. The Malone Pro2 Kayak Carrier has performed flawlessly over the past year. The kayaks remain stable and never shift even at freeway speeds. The foam blocks fit our crossbar well and offered a rattle free ride, which is nice. The one drawback to this system is how difficult it can be to actually route the straps. Without a ladder, it can be nearly impossible to get the strap over the kayak and hooked into the carrier properly. After you find a system that works for you, it becomes easier but I still think that the stationary carriers are more user friendly in that regard.

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.

Unfortunately I did not have the best of luck with this product . I spoke with the company multiple times to ensure this would work with my rack. It did not. This system is made to work ONLY on a roof rack . I have a truck with a rack and a slot in the middle . We had to make different bolts and holders to install this. For using 2 Paddleboards we also had to modify the back of the racks holders to actually touch the boards to hold them in place . After the modifications and many many adjustments we have it working and it does hold great.

I used the rack to carry my wind surfing board for a ten hour trip to outer banks. Installation went well and easily.Loved design and ease to load and unload as well as to secure rack. One caution though. After riding for about 30 miles I stopped to check cable and had to retighten the cables which had slackened slightly due, I think, to amount of cable on source spool. Had to tighten about two clicks. The board was not in jeopardy of becoming separated from rack.

My representative who helped me was the most helpful representative that I have come in contact with. All representatives are very helpful, but she stood out as she assisted me from start to finish on my order. This is exactly why I use e-trailer for my shopping experiences.