Hello,

 

I will soon be travelling to Lake Guntersville AL. that is about a 6 hour drive.  I have a Tahoe and trailer I usually carry my Kayak to local Arkansas lakes on, but this time i will be riding with the wife in a car.  We're looking around for some kind of rack to car-top the kayak on.

 

Any thoughts on what I should buy for that?

 

Thanks, Barry

What does your Ride weigh?  Car topping a heavy kayak is difficult, and can also be dangerous at highway speeds.  I actually avoid highways altogether with my Lure on top with the Thule folding rack up top.  It might be more stable with a rack that allows it to sit flat, but I'd imagine that'll be a less than quiet ride.  Also, good roof racks are stupid expensive.  I just bought a trailer because I'm not getting on a highway with mine up top.  Also, my Lure weighs d**n near 100lbs without the seat.  

I car top my ride 115x all the time. I've taken many of trips on the highway at 75-80 mph. My friend car tops his lure 13.5 and sometimes with another friends 13' yak too. Never had any issues in the couple years of doing this. I use the window clamp style roof bars on my Legacy now. I did use the saddle type on my old Outback. He uses the Malone J style craddles on his Forester. Use 2 good cam straps and another tie down on the front and back of the yak. I like the Malone sentry ratchet style for those. 

 

What kind of car are you using? Should be an affordable option available for it. 

It's a Chevy Malibu 2014 I believe

 

 

5 hours ago, rippin-lips said:

I car top my ride 115x all the time. I've taken many of trips on the highway at 75-80 mph. My friend car tops his lure 13.5 and sometimes with another friends 13' yak too. Never had any issues in the couple years of doing this. I use the window clamp style roof bars on my Legacy now. I did use the saddle type on my old Outback. He uses the Malone J style craddles on his Forester. Use 2 good cam straps and another tie down on the front and back of the yak. I like the Malone sentry ratchet style for those. 

 

What kind of car are you using? Should be an affordable option available for it. 

 

Your friend is braver than I am! My Lure 13.5 on top of my car, on a highway with any cross wind is absolutely terrifying.

Back in my whitewater days, I carried as many as 5 Perceptions on my '78 Toyota Corolla station wagon (just depended on how many guys were driving to the river on a given day).  I paddled in Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, and drove at full highway speeds all the time in all kinds of winds.  I never saw any issues with that.  Now I tow a 24' camping trailer with my F-150, and towing that in a stiff wind can be a bit interesting, but carrying the kayak or my canoe on top never made any noticeable difference in how any of my vehicles handled.

I car-topped my OK BGP on my Nissan Maxima, using a Thule rack and J cradles.  My main issue on long trips was the gust of air as a semi passes.  Ditched the J cradles, and secured it flat, and the issue was gone.

I use a Yakima rack with the Yakima J cradles. I have carried my 15 foot long OK Scupper Pro across the country and all the way to Key West several times with absolutely no problem.