Can anyone offer me advise on the best way to transport a 16 foot canoe on a Land Rover Discovery II? The factory roof rails provide only 30 inches of separation between the front and rear cross bars. This does not seem to be enough. Land Rover sells extension rails for $300 ($500 installed by the dealer), which is an expensive option. Another option is to use a Yakima or Thule system attached to the rain gutters. However, I would need tower extensions, due to the elevated rear portion of the roof. This is also an expesnive option. Anyway I look at it, I’m going to have to spend serious dollars. If I am going to make such an investment, I want to do it right.
Forget the factory rack…
AND that super expensive, multi mount, multi tube cargo one the dealer has too… Go for the towers to get the nice spacing, and solid, easy to set up mounting your gutters allow you do to with the Disco.
Disco II set-up
Could you go with one Thule cross bar in the front and a Thule goalpost for the rear? This would be similar to the set-up often used for pick-ups. The goalpost extends up from the hitch and supports the rear half of the boat. The front would be supported by a single cross bar installed across the factory bars. Just guessing, but that should give you +5’ between bars, which is more than enough.
Try Quick N Easy
racks if you have gutters. You buy only the towers for $70.00 and use you own tubing or a 2x4 for the cross bars. You might need to add a spacer between the tower and the cross bar if the gutters are mounted to low. I added and extra 2x4 block on my old VW van in order to get it over the roof line
Gutter Mounts
Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately, upon further investigation, it doesn’t look like the gutter mount idea will work. The tower would have to extend up more than a foot and you would need to use gutter mounts on the front as well to make the height of the front and rear cross bars even(at least with standard Yakima and Thule extension towers). I have decided to bite the bullet and install the factory rail extensions. I can then use all of my existing Yakima attachments. I think this will be a more stable arrangement. It should be for the price. I’m going to be carrying an expensive composite boat so I guess its worth it.
go cheap
You spent the big bucks on the discovery and boats, go cheap on the rack. Extend it with either 2x4’s or pipe. 2x4’s can be attached using U bolts very easily. Use wingnuts for easy dissassembly. Pipe, I might try heater hose clamps. Black iron pipe probably matches the existing rack better.