Most Popular Fishing Kayak for 1998 Subaru Outback Wagon

Well-made high quality product. The kayak racks fit perfectly onto the roof rack of our 2018 Subaru Outback. The one downside was the difficulty in getting the hold-down straps around the top of the loop on each of the racks after the kayaks were loaded on, even when following the strapping instructions to the letter. It would be nice if there were some way of holding the strap in place on the top of the loop without it slipping down.

The rack installs very easily and is mostly intuitive to use. I feel more comfortable with a kayak in the jay low rack than I did with the kayak flat on my old car rack -- the kayak's weight and shape help to hold it into position. The straps are pretty easy to figure out, etc. My only complaint is less about the jay low than about the new Subaru Outback I own. There are no tie-downs locations on the front of the car! So, if the front tie-downs are needed, then perhaps this is not the best rack if you own a new Subaru. On the other hand, I've now used the rack three times without bothering with the front tie-down. Go figure.

Fantastic carrier. Very sturdy and easy to set up.

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purchased the e-trailer j-style kayak carrier after reviewing the large selection offered. shipping was fast and installation easy on 2017 Outback. the carrier and associated tie-downs all of excellent quality. I particularly liked the e-trailer unique method of attaching the forward and aft tie-downs to the car. Initial trip with kayak was about 50 miles, much on the expressway at high speed, with no transit problems. this item works great and is a very good deal.

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.

I can now load my 14' tandem kayak by myself. Excellent product.

They are high quality and work well but I used them on Thule wingbar evo cross bars which they are almost compatible with. They work with the clamp method but they do not have the right length bolts to use the c channel hardware with the Thule bars. I will eventually find the right length bolts and use the channels because I think it looks nicer and should make less noise with less hardwar sticking out.

'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.

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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.

Rec'd earlier this week, so today i will install. The item was obviously a return. The logos are nearly scratched off in places, all the items were loosely thrown in the box, and the 10mm wrench and hex key were missing. i think everything else is there. The keys should be a bright color instead of black, some spray paint will fix that. Anyhoo, i am a little disappointed.