Thule881 Top Deck Rooftop Kayak Carrier, Black

I *might* be able to use this to carry my kayak on top of my car, but loading/unloading it would be really difficult to impossible for one person on an average-sized SUV. Also, the four holders are pretty big, but are not designed to pivot for some reason (?!?), so your kayak will only be held by a relatively small area on its hull, which is to say not nearly as securely as it could have been, but maybe securely enough. Maybe it would work better with a hard-chime kayak.Another strange decision is the construction of the straps and tiedowns: the straps do not have the rubber piece to avoid damaging the car as you are throwing the buckles over the kayak. The tiedowns don't have the ratchet mechanism leaving you to wonder how exactly one is supposed to tie anything down with a rope and a single hook. Of course my Thule rack that has all those things sorted out costs 5x as much and is a lot easier to use. If you are serious about moving a kayak by car you probably don't want this particular rack, not for a car anyway.I got this to use at a marina which stores my kayak on a big rack with square bars. I got the idea that this might do it as some car racks have square bars too, and it did, if only just! My berth is lower to the ground so I don't have to throw straps over anything, and the tiedowns I didn't need.

I got this carrier after using a THULE Hull a Port carrier for 5 years. Picking up a kayak and having to step up on a cooler to reach the Hull a Port got to be a little laboring and after pulling my back once doing the clean and jerk move and overextending to reach the carrier on top of my Xterra, I decided this design may be a better option for me hauling just a single kayak as I can slide it up from the back and use the SUV roof as leverage. It works somewhat well, but I didn't expect both sets of the carrier to have rubber on them which stops the kayak from sliding forward once you have it half loaded. The rubber grabs and even started to roll up from the friction of trying to load it so I end up climbing up and semi-lifting and sliding it into the final position.It's not that bad if I put up a towel and use the roof as a lever and drop it down but it's still a tad trickier than I would have liked. After I bought this carrier I saw another brand of carrier with a similar design but the back set actually had little rollers while the front set had rubber to keep it from sliding. I think that design would have been perfect for me. This isn't an issue if you have a car or lower height SUV, so if you are buying for that type of vehicle, these would be 5 stars for sure.Overall another good product from THULE.

I have a Rav4 and needed a rack for my kayak that was sturdy, safe, easy for me to get my kayak into, and would fit into my meager budget. This fits the bill in every way. It came with two solid straps and tie downs, however I just use the straps. Once you strap it in and the fact that the saddles have rubber grip material, your kayak isn't going anywhere. In fact the bigger challenge for me is getting the kayak off the saddles once I get to my destination. I've learned that it is easier to just loosen the saddles on one side of the car and then pull the kayak off the saddles and gently slide it down the back end of my Rav4. I did purchase the Thule 854 water slide to help me with sliding the kayak on and off my car and to protect my car from getting scratched. I'm a 56 year old women who is not overly strong but I can handle this just fine. Happy kayaking everyone!

This rack worked as advertised. I was able to have the one kayak in the middle of the roof, and then put two bicycles, one on each side of the kayak, on the same rack system (58 inch). Without the rollers, you have to have two people to get the kayak on and off. It is also very important to use a towel or mat on the car, because it takes two tall men to get the kayak on the rack without touching the car. I put it on with my daughter, and the towel saved the car from certain scratches that would have occurred without the towel. I used the two tie straps that came with it, and then connected another strap to the front of the Kayak and tied that to the front of the van for the extra stability. We did not need to tie down the back. It was very secure.

These little cradles work easily for hauling my fiberglass kayak, They are smaller than similar items I used about 15 years ago. So when leaving them on the rack, they look relatively streamlined. Easy to install.