carrying 2 SUPs AND 2 Kayaks

Good morning!
New here, need some advice on carrying my equipment

Typically I just strap my SUPs to the roof of my 04 xterra for short trips to the lake nearby. However, we’re going to a family reunion at a lake about 4 hours away and my sister, who will also be going, has asked if I can bring her kayaks along as well. This won’t all fit on top of my xterra and we’re leaning towards renting a pickup truck.

So I need to get two 11’ SUPs AND two 14’ (EDIT: 10’ KAYAKS) kayaks to a lake 4 hrs away at hwy speeds. From what I’ve read, I believe the rental trucks will not have a tow hitch receiver. Thoughts?

CORRECTION: 10’ kayaks, she was mistaken when she told me they were 14’.

No ideas? I’m probably just going to put them in the bed, sticking up over the tailgate, with a buttload of lashing straps all over the place. Would appreciate some wisdom from others that typically transport in truck beds if you can think of something. Never done it this way, would hate to mess up something that could have been avoided

Sorry for the lack of responses… but maybe not many of us transport in trucks?

If that’s your only choice, put some padding on the edge of the tailgate, and don’t strap them down too tight (use cam straps) and I can’t see why you wouldn’t be fine.

Also… some ideas:
https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enCA793CA793&q=transport+kayak+in+trucks&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwir4f-o-KfjAhUTQ80KHWCJDokQsAR6BAgBEAE&biw=1920&bih=937

great thanks!
Ya i use cam straps when i carry on my roof, so i’ll use those in this case as well. The foam padding is a good idea that i’ll definitely look into, maybe my roof rack pads will work if i can strap them down somehow, hadn’t thought about that.

I did google it and got most of the same results you show but since it’s a rental truck, i can’t really install a rack and their site says the trucks don’t have trailer hitches so most of those results were out. Anyway, thanks for your response!

If it has a receiver hitch, bed extenders don’t cost much.

With wider crossbars (65”) you can get two kayaks on their side with a set of stackers, and then carry the SUPs flat stacked one on top of the other.

@abz: I’m not sure what you mean by cross bars - either the cross bar on a bed extender, cross bars on a roof, or cross bars spanning the bed itself… I called Enterprise and they said the truck won’t have any cross bars on the roof, but now that you mention it, putting some cross bars across the bed MIGHT work. I doubt they’d ever know (or care) if i put some 2x4s up there with something removable, like c-clamps maybe. That’s a pretty good idea that i might try. The SUPs are certainly stackable - that’s how i typically transport on my roof. I wish i could have fit them all on my xterra, then i could use whatever i wanted with them. But the X’s roof is less than 4’ wide. I should have just told my sister to figure out her kayaks on her own, hahaha.

@string: Thanks, ya the bed extender was my original plan until i found out that the truck probably won’t have a hitch receiver and that i can’t use it even if it does (as per the rental agreement).

Anyway, THANKS everyone for your suggestions. Trip is tomorrow and i pick up the truck tonight. If i think about it i’ll take some pictures of what we end up doing with them.

@snunicycler said:
@abz: I’m not sure what you mean by cross bars - either the cross bar on a bed extender, cross bars on a roof, or cross bars spanning the bed itself… I called Enterprise and they said the truck won’t have any cross bars on the roof, but now that you mention it, putting some cross bars across the bed MIGHT work. I doubt they’d ever know (or care) if i put some 2x4s up there with something removable, like c-clamps maybe. That’s a pretty good idea that i might try. The SUPs are certainly stackable - that’s how i typically transport on my roof. I wish i could have fit them all on my xterra, then i could use whatever i wanted with them. But the X’s roof is less than 4’ wide. I should have just told my sister to figure out her kayaks on her own, hahaha.

@string: Thanks, ya the bed extender was my original plan until i found out that the truck probably won’t have a hitch receiver and that i can’t use it even if it does (as per the rental agreement).

Anyway, THANKS everyone for your suggestions. Trip is tomorrow and i pick up the truck tonight. If i think about it i’ll take some pictures of what we end up doing with them.

I was referring to wide crossbars on your Xterra. I transported 4 kayaks on top of a Honda Pilot (2006 with roof rails) just by using 65” wide crossbars with two sets of stackers. I regularly carry 2 SUPs and one kayak in j cradles on my Subaru Crosstrek. Every craft has two distinct straps, and I use front and rear tie downs, as well. Just mind weight limits.

What ABC said. Wide cross bars, a kayak stacker between the two kayaks, and the boards stacked together.

Oh gotcha! That’s a good idea.turns out the truck did have a receiver hitch, but still couldn’t use it. So here’s what we did. 4 cam straps total, 2 on the SUPs (1 front, 1 back) & 2 on the kayaks, (1 through each of the top’s handles). Foam noodle in the front not really doing anything other than keeping the nose of the 2 bottom ones from pressing into the back of the cab. And I also put the foam pads from my crossbars on the top edge of the tailgate to help alleviate the pressure, which i strapped down after taking this picture actually. Oh, i had to remove the fin on the bottom SUP to get them to stack that way but that’s easy enough.