These clamp-on saddles make it easy to carry a kayak on your roof rack. Rollers on the rear cradles allow simple, one-person loading from the back of your car. Tilting, molded saddles grip your hull for safe, stable transport. Includes 4 tie-downs.
Features:
Specs:
Yakima's SweetRoll makes it easy for one person to quickly and easily load a kayak or stand-up paddleboard onto a roof rack from behind a car or SUV. This rack is great for transporting a sea (touring), river (whitewater), or recreational (fishing) kayak.
This system includes 4 saddles with spring-loaded, pivoting heads that adjust to the shape of your boat as you load it.
Rubber rollers on the 2 rear saddles allow you to easily load a kayak onto your roof rack crossbars by yourself. Just place the bow between the saddles and roll the boat toward the front of your vehicle until it rests evenly on the front and rear saddles. Molded rubber pads on all 4 saddles securely grip your boat's hull and protect it from scratches and scuffs. So the hull of your boat will be cradled snugly, and you'll be able to pat yourself on the back for making it look so easy.
This kayak carrier comes with 4 nylon tie-down straps. Two tie-down straps secure your kayak to your roof rack crossbars. Loop these straps through your crossbars and around the hull of your boat and secure them with the integrated cam buckles. The cam buckles are rubber-coated so you don't have to worry about damaging your kayak or scratching your vehicle's paint when you toss these straps over your kayak. Use the optional clips to secure loose strap ends so they won't flap in the wind.
Two Bow/Stern tie-down straps with stainless steel hooks let you anchor your boat to the front and rear of your vehicle. Tying down the bow and stern helps to prevent the boat from shifting forward or backward during transport. A protective sleeve on the strap helps protect your bumper from scratches and friction damage. And ratchet pulleys allow you to easily adjust the tension of the straps to ensure the boat is secure on your roof.
The mounting clamps on these saddles fit most crossbar configurations without the adapters. To install, simply place the saddle on your crossbar and turn the integrated handle until the mounting clamp is tightly secured. If you have round crossbars, the included adapters will provide a secure fit, preventing the saddles from twisting or sliding on the bars. Each saddle has a removable plug that you can replace with a Yakima Same Key System (SKS) core (sold separately) so you can lock the system to your roof rack. Yakima's SKS cores can be swapped out to make all your Yakima locks keyed alike.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Today, we'll be taking a look at the Kayak SweetRoll saddle style rooftop kayak carrier with tie-downs, part number Y04074. The Yakima SweetRoll allows you to easily load the kayak up from the back of your car. It has the soft rubber included rollers, which allows you to effortlessly load the kayak up from the back of the car. The SweetRoll has a carrying capacity of one kayak with the hole side of the kayak down. It has a spring loaded base, which tilts automatically to adjust the boat during loading. Now, you can see on the saddles around the edges, there is nice soft rubber, which is going to help protect and grip the kayak in holding in place. On each saddle, is a Yakima lock core that you can install a Yakima SKS core to further secure the kayak rack to the roof of your vehicle. Now, we'll go ahead and show you how to install it. Now, again this kayak carrier can work with square, arrow, elliptical and most factory crossbars, but today we have the Yakima RailGrabs, so we'll be using the round adapters.
What we'll need to do, is pry them apart and then you will need to insert the bracket from the bottom, so the opening of the bracket or the opening of the adapter will be at the top of the bar. We will need to do two for the back bar and then two for the front bar. We will now start with the rear, and we're ready to install the actual saddles. Now, the saddles at the back are the ones that have the rollers. You can see that the cradles contour to the bottom of the kayak and are angled, so each piece of the kayak rack has a special destination on your roof. We will slide the cradle over top of the round bar adapters.
You need to make sure that the adapter stays perfectly vertical. We'll then turn the black T-handle, which will tighten down the brackets tightly up against the round bar adapter. Now, you'll also need to make sure before tightening that down all the way that they are spread out enough so that they rest kind of on the corners and bottom side of the kayak. We'll then repeat the same process for the other saddle on the back bar. With this down, we can then repeat the same process for the front side of cradles. Again, you want to make sure that the slope of the cradle goes towards the inside. Now, we'll go ahead and show you how to load up a kayak.
With the hole of the kayak resting on the rollers, I'll effortlessly slide the kayak forward and you'll notice that the saddles will contour to the hole of the kayak. Once we have the kayak in place, I'm just going to double check to make sure that the saddles are spaced out evenly and that they're contouring to the hole of the kayak correctly. If need be, I can adjust them and then re-tighten them down. With them in place, I'm now ready to install the straps which will wrap around the kayak to secure the kayak to the bars. Throw the remaining strap over the other side of the kayak.
Then, I'll go around the underside of the bar again, insert the end of the strap through the rubber coated cam buckle and pull it tight. Once I have this part tight, I can pull out the slack keeper. Now, this is the plastic piece which is used to keep all the slack contained and prevent it from flapping around in the wind and your straps from fraying. I'll bundle up the strap and then slide it into the opening slot. Then, I'll repeat the same process for the front side of cradles. With the kayak now secured, I'm going to use the included bow and stern tie-downs to further secure the kayak to the vehicle. I'm going to start with the strap at the loop and silver cam buckle and go through the end of the kayak and insert the silver cam buckle into the loop of the strap. I'll then insert the end of the other strap with a rubber-protective pad into the silver cam buckle. Then, I'll install our S-hook and I'll move down to the bottom of the bumper and find a sturdy steel anchor, noticing here this vehicle has a hitch, which we're going to secure the S-hook to the safety chain loops. Then, we'll pull it tight and move to the front repeating the same process as we did in the back. Now, with our kayak all installed and fully tighten down, we'll go ahead and take it out on the highway and show you how it reacts to the wind. That will complete today's review of the Yakima SweetRoll saddle style kayak carrier, part number Y04074. .
Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars (6 Customer Reviews)
These clamp-on saddles make it easy to carry a kayak on your roof rack. Rollers on the rear cradles allow simple, one-person loading from the back of your car. Tilting, molded saddles grip your hull for safe, stable transport. Includes 4 tie-downs.Excellent product but ridiculous that they sell the locks separately. Not cheap I must say. I don't know who would want to buy the rack and not be able to lock it while you leave your vehicle at the trailhead or put water put-in. Poor taste business tactics. Not sure I'll be buying any more Yakima products. Disappointed customer. 156711
Have used this product for the past year. It has remained attached to my roof rack and works like a charm each time. Have had three different kayaks mounted and each time they conform to the shape and hold them securely in place. 703379
Super fast delivery, solid product.....thank you! 514997
Product is performing well. Has been left on my truck most of the time. Does not show any sun damage. 329060
Pretty disappointing. The product is not really made for Yakima's round bars. It's made for their rectangular bars. Round bar adaptors are included, but they are poor. Even if you clamp them on very very tightly, they will tend to rotate on the bars and the saddles don't stay level when you slide the kayak on. Even during transport, they have been rotating sometimes, causing the kayak to become slightly loose in the saddles. Very disappointing for the price. I would not recommend these for use on round bars. 207686
I just received my Yakima SweetRoll kayak carrier. I can tell that it is very well made and it fits the crossbars on my Tacoma perfectly. It may be awhile before I go kayaking (it is winter), but I look forward to using this product. 163718
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