What's the best way to carry a 17 foot kayak on a 2005 Vibe?

[Squashdog]

My Vibe has the standard roof side rails but no rack. I wanna carry a 17 foot kayak. Suggestions for rack/carrier etc appreciated! Please no super-expensive Thule system I am not made of green. Thanks!

[joatmon]

I suppose it depends on where and how long you need to carry it. You might be able to get away with resting it on a foam pad right on the roof, lash it to one of the rack side rails, and tie it off front and back. (standard disclaimer: If you try that and its not adequate and causes any problems, it's not my fault)

I carried a 17' canoe on my 03, but I had the cross bars. viewtopic.php?f=33&t=9177" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I tied it to the cross rails, up front ran ropes to the anchor hooks underneath. For the back, I bought some bolts to fit the trailer hitch mounting holes and used them to hold some hooks, for tie offs.
Haven't carried the canoe on the Vibe for a while, but I've carried a 14' kayak, pretty much the same setup, except by now I have a trailer hitch, so I tie to that in the back.

A good idea to be wary of sand from the boat getting between the boat and the roof, scratching the paint.

viewtopic.php?f=46&t=43346" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; currently indicates some roof rack cross rails for sale, no idea on cost/shipping

[vibolista]

Rail system on the Vibe is just a little short for that kind of hauling. I used my old Saturn Wagon for Kayak duty. Even with the Saturn and a slightly longer distance between the J style cradles mounted on the Saturn rack, I didn't think the stability was great... so I took it pretty slow with them.

I'd use a small trailer with the Kayak mounts on it. Way more expensive and a pain sometimes, but a more stable platform.

If you really want to carry the Kayak on top of the Vibe... would be better to get a Yakima or Thule type roof rack system to spread the mounting points farther apart for stability. Don't forget to tie down the bow and stern of the Kayaks to the front and rear of the car. You don't want to see your Kayak sailing off the rack at highway speed. Damaging to your Kayak and a danger to others on the road !



Note that bow and stern lines are already off on this picture... we were about to unload the Kayaks and put them away for the season

[Squashdog]

Thanks. Any sepcific racks you'd recommend? (a trailer is not an option).

[vibolista]

Thule makes a combination of different rack types for the Vibe. They are not inexpensive. You can mount a bar to the rear of the Vibe rails, and a bar to a foot that attaches to the front part of the vibe roof to extend the length between the J mounts front and back. Or you can attach both bars to the rails... kind of short for a long boat, but if you tie down the front and back of the boat it will stay up there.

You can build the rack of your choice on thule.com by looking up Water Sport Carrier, then Pontiac, Vibe and your year. Then you can select crossbar mounted bar, side rail mounted bar, roof and rail or all roof mounted. Their site gives you all the options. You can also chose an aero bar or a square bar.

Yakima has similar options. There are other brands that you can look up, and some that are less expensive and would do the job just as well. There are rack outlets on the web, where you could probably save some bucks.