Canoe and Kayak on car-top carrier?

Hi all,

I have a ‘96 Honda Accord 4-door sedan with Yakima racks on top. The racks have 48" round bars, but I can get longer ones, up to 78" I think. I’m currently using it successfully with a 16’-long, 35"-wide tandem canoe.

I have a query in to Yakima, but I also wanted to ask on this forum what others are using in my situation, which is how to get my canoe and a kayak on the racks, with the canoe face-down. Is anybody using those “Stackers” from Yakima? It seems like even with that, I would have to get longer cross-bars.

The kayak is still undetermined at this point. I might get a 10-foot SOT, or might get a sit-inside but would still be in the 10-foot range.

Thanks in advance,

Eric Zwicky
Richmond VA

You will need at least 66" Yakima bars if you carry both boats level. With a 36" beam canoe that leaves you 30" for a kayak. That rules out most sit on tops and also a lot of short rec boats IF you are going to carry them horizontally. A kayak needs a certain amount of displacement volume to support the average to large adult in flotation, so shorter boats have to be wider than longer ones. A typical sit on top or short rec boat will be OVER 30" in the beam.

If for some reason you think you have to stay with a 10’ boat, you would need a stacker or J-racks to carry the kayak on its side on the rack. In that case, you could get away with 58" bars (48" is too narrow for a canoe plus a kayak, even with j-racks or a stacker.) If you choose to get a narrower touring kayak (they tend to be under 26" wide) you could carry it level (hull up or down) on the rack alongside the canoe on 58" bars.

Thanks Willowleaf. I am not sure of the kayak yet. It will be for my wife. It does not have to be 10 feet, could be longer, but not a sea kayak. Could be for fishing on flat and moving water, with class II occasionally. I will post some questions on that subject soon.

But the info you have given me will definitely help me plan. Thanks again.

I just heard back from Yakima and they said the crossbars can’t be any wider than my mirrors. My mirrors are 78" outside to outside, so that leaves me a lot of real estate for canoe and kayak.