carrier question

[donholton]

Tried fishing out of a kayak and liked it so much I have bought a Malibu Stealth 12 to fish here in Kansas. What type of carriers do you guys use. Are the J-type easier to load than the back slide in's? Thanks in advance.

[MondayMonkey]

Depends a lot on your vehicle I suppose. For smaller vehicles a J rack would allow you to haul 2 yaks if you're going with a friend. "Back slide in" for saddle style racks is pretty damn easy. J can be a pain in the ass if you have a tall vehicle. J holds the yak in a position closer to "proper" storage procedures for SOTs. With a saddle style rack you can end up with some "oil canning" or dents in your yak if you strap them down very tight on very hot days and leave them that way for a long time.

I personally use a Thule Slipstream and love it. My car roof is very curved and this lead to my cross bars being fairly close together. The slipstream basically lengthens this base and gives plenty of stability to where I'm comfortable driving hundreds of miles without a bow or stern tie down on my t13 even down the freeway. And the fact I can slide the whole unit back and forward makes loading and unloading cake.

Of the dozens of people I know that kayak fish in SoTs like the malibu, all use the saddles. Only people i know that use J have sit-ins or whitewaters.

http://www.rackattack.com/product-pages ... gwodjU166g

funny enough the yak in Thule's Slipstream photos is an OK Prowler/Trident fishing yak lol.

[MidTNKayakAngler]

When it's my wife and I and we are traveiling distance we are usually taking the Honda Accord with Yakima Bars and 1 - J-Cradle. One kayak fits in the J-Cradle and the other upside down on the bars, the J-Cradle allows us to place 2 kayaks on the roof.

If it's just me and I'm traveling it's just the Yakima Bars on the Accord, and my kayak flipped upside down on the bars, or sometimes I will take the truck and the trailer for comfort, or put the Yakima bars on the truck if I don't want to fool with the trailer.

If it's her by herself and going anywhere she just thows it in the bed of the Silverado with the bed extender. She's not strong enough to pich any of the kayaks up.

If we are taking others out and taking 3-6 kayaks we take the truck and the trailer.

If it's any of the Hobie's we are taking out then we take the trailer.

There are many options

[FoldCat]

I'm new to kayak fishing as well, so I go with my son always, we use Thule 830 "Stacker", it is harder to use, but we can get both our yaks onto the Dodge (Caravan) - they "stack" sideways, the added bonus is that we can get 4 kayaks on the roof if needed...

[dixie_cragger]

honestly, it depends on the vehicle and the boat size. I own two hobies and have tried them all. I would goto the shop and try/demo each model if possible. I did that with mine and ended up getting a thule hullavator and my back thanks me!