cartopping 3 kayaks

I need some advice on the best way to cartop 3 kayaks.



I currently have 2 perception carolinas, 14.5 feet long. I have a Yakima rack with saddles for both boats. Width-wise, they overhang the car about 6 inches on one side.



I recently acquired a Prijon Chopper, 9’8". Is there any good configuration for safely tying this down on top of the Carolinas?



Thanks for your help!

What Vehicle?
I out the Pungo and Mars on the racks and put the 9’ Frenzy in the pickup truck bed or inside the campershell.

vehicle
We cartop the boats on a Ford Explorer or a Honda Accord - the rack fits both cars. I’m thinking that the Chopper would have to fit on top of the other boats somehow.

two solutions
get longer bars, or rack them on their sides. if you opt for longer bars watch your head!!

One way to do it
Put one set of saddles in the middle of your racks. Put J-hooks on either side (Yakima, Thule, and others offer them). That should carry all three. I recently bought some J-hooks, I’m sold on them.

anyone tried this?
Thanks for the suggestions, I may experiment with different saddle or J-Bar configurations.



But out of curiosity: Has anyone been successful at hauling a third kayak, maybe upside down, on top of 2 upright kayaks on saddles?

How about a Stacker
I use a Stacker and rutinely put a CD Storm, Necky looksha Sport and WS Sealution XL Fiberglass. I put the plastic boats on their sides and the Fiberglsass on some foam blocks. I use ne set of tie downs for the Plastic and one for the Fibergalss. I do use Front and Back ties just in case sometiong were to go wrong.



Good Luck

Mick

kayak stacker
I have a honda civic hatchback and routinely carry 3 kayaks on 4 hr. trips. using a Yakima rack with long bars and a stacker. 2 boats on 1 side of the stacker and 1 on the other. Works great! Strpping is a little clumsy for all 3, but that’s the only downside.

yup!
I use a Yakima with “stackers” also. I take my 2 smaller boats and set them on their sides on either side of the stacker, and put my long boat on foam blocks. Never have had a problem with this configuration.



Here’s a pic of them on my car:

http://www.suncat.net/august2003/gertrude_boats.jpg



-tab

www.suncat.net

stacking yaks…
we had a custom built rack (well, 2 of them) at a welding shop that has 2 uprights spaced on 5’ wide bar assembly. It locks onto the crossbars on our jeep cherokee-and safely holds FOUR kayaks without any overhang on the sides. Paddles also strap on.

Added 4 stainless steel eyebolts right through the corner overlap welds front and rear of the cherokee-and we have NO ropes going down to bumper or door handles or anything. It all locks down to the racks and the eyebolts. Been 75 on the highway from here to Maine…

and we know we could safely strap another 2 at least flat on top if we had to…

photo
signman - if you could, it would be a help to see a couple of photos - tia