Rackless Car Top Carriers

[CaptainDelirious]

I want transport my Tarpon 100 on my VW golf without racks. I've always used the Yakima system in the past but really want to keep my golf rackless.

Does anyone have experience with any of the rackless cartop carriers?

[J.A. Veil]

Jim -

When I transport my kayak locally (up to 30-40 minutes), I open the rear of my minivan, fold down the rear seat, and slide the kayak inside. My 14' Manta Ray does not fully fit inside, so I need to drive with the rear door open. Since your new kayak is only a 10 footer, you may be able to do the same with your Golf. If you do that, make sure you drive with some windows open to avoid having exhaust fumes sucked into the car.

For longer trips, I have Thule saddles mounted on roof rack cross bars. I can remove the two cross bars and store them in my garage when not needing to transport a kayak. This reduces air drag and noise.

Many years ago before buying the minivan, I used foam blocks that sit on the roof of a car and support your boat. They do work, but take more time to use each time than a fixed kayak rack.

[CaptainDelirious]

10 foot won't fit in the golf with the doors closed, I've tried with PVC Pipe. The problem is that my golf does not have any mounts and I love the hyper-mileage so I don't want to add any. I'll give the foam blocks a shot. For local trips I have a full sized pickup, but I want to be more economical when I travel further. Thanks for your input.

[mytmouse]

I thought that you didn't want to do any miss because you have it tricked out. There are 2 rack styles that when you don't have your yak and bars on by yakima. First option(What I have on my Yaris) is the yakima landing pad 7. They bases are cheap and all you need is the bars and feet. I installed then in about an hours time. It's a little nerve wrecking drilling in the roof. When you remove the bars there are covers for the pads that look like black nubs coming out the roof. Only drawback is you can't move your bars. That doesn't matter to me because all I do is transport my yak. No gas mileage difference with the pads and without.

The second option is the yakima track. They lay flatter to the roof and you can also adjust the position of the bars. Only drawback is they cost more. But it might be worth it to you because of the sleeker look.

I never used blocks before, but my buddies have and they eventually got racks. Racks just make life easier. But at least the above options will let you keep your gas mileage up by being able to remove the bars very easily when not transporting your yak. Thule also makes equivalent mounts.

Myt

[jsquare]

I have one of these soft roof rack systems made by Crack of Dawn. It was useful when I had a car that had no roof rack. One strap goes through the doors inside the car, and another strap goes around the kayak, which lays upside down on the pads. Tie it down at the nose and stern and your good for short to medium trips.

[Sun]

I used to use the foam blocks for my OK Prowler 13, and they were great for transporting for a while...but because I had my kayak up-right on the blocks during transport, I eventually started noticing that the bottom of my hull would bend inward during transport. This resulted in loose straps around the kayak (because when the hull bent in, the kayak essentially got thinner), and loosened bow and stern tie downs. The only way to correct that was to tighten things down mid-trip...but that became a cyclic thing where it would bend even more, and I'd have to re-strap. I always felt uneasy with transporting the kayak due to the hull bending like that.

I now have thule crossbars and a thule hull-a-port pro to carry the kayak on its sides. I have a ford focus hatchback, which also has pretty good gas mileage. In order to maintain the high MPGs, I got Thule's aeroblade system, which is supposed to reduce wind resistance and also noise (you don't need a separate fairing to avoid the whirring sound at highway speeds). I admit it is kind of expensive, but I actually got a really good deal by purchasing from rackattack during a sale event, where I also used a coupon to get further savings on top. The focus is advertised to get 36mpgs highway, and I've gone on some trips where I got 39 mpg's with the crossbars on - if they do reduce my MPGs, it isn't much. I go on a max of 2 kayak trips per month, so I spend much more time driving without a kayak than with - and I am still happy to drive around with the aeroblades on all the time.

The hull-a-port pro is nice because it folds down when you're not transporting a kayak, thus reducing wind resistance. It's easy to remove if I plan on not taking the kayak out in a while, and installation is quick as well. I also like how it allows me to place my kayak on the car on its side, which is much better at supporting the kayak's weight than the bottom of the hull. I feel absolutely confident when transporting the kayak on the hull-a-port, compared to when I used to transport using foam blocks.

[ictalurus]

FWIW, we have Thule racks on my wife's TDI Golf and haven't noticed a change in gas mileage. Driving with the heated seats or heated mirrors on puts a more noticeable ding in the gas mileage than the bars did. There isn't that much more wind noise, either. However, once you get the bars on, it's a real pain to get the feet off because of the way they mount to the car.

[perchy]

Have you seen the Handi Rack system?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w-81X8Kbto

I have seen videos of people with tiny Honda s2000s using these to carry kayaks.