Good saddles for Tsunami 175

I’ve got a 2004 Honda Pilot I’m going to put roof racks on to haul my Tsunami 175. Probably Yakima or Rhino bars at this point.
I’m looking at the options for the saddles. seem to find more unkind words about the saddles with wheels-assist for loading.

Wondering if there’s a preferred saddle for this size boat so i don’t get oil canning, etc. don’t think i’m going with j racks the boat’s so big.

Deckhands or Nautic saddles ok? Are there particular saddles to stay away from?

Our experience with wheels in back when we tried saddles and rollers for a while was that the rollers needed more frequent checks when traveling to stay tight. They do concentrate any risk of minor indentation more than a larger surface by concentrating the point of impact. Thule had something they called glide pads in back, though that system is apparently no longer available, that had the same idea for helping load but weren’t rollers. Link to the old stuff here, you may find someone else doing the same thing or a newer version. https://www.rei.com/product/737629/thule-glide-and-set-kayak-carrier

These help if you are sliding the boat up from the back, wouldn’t make much of a diff if you planned to use a bar extender from the side. I am probably not the only person who found a set in my basement though, if you like them I suspect you can find them used.

Personally, for a plastic boat I would skip the saddle thing entirely and go to stackers. We went back to stackers even for the composite boats after trying saddles for a while, they were more secure and altogether less fuss. And with a plastic boat you wouldn’t have to pad the bars like we did for the glass boats.

ah… hadn’t thought of those. but i may want to stay in the saddle range as i think i’ll leave the holders on on the pilot when not hauling… and the pilot’s so tall, i’d have garage door issues. it’s part of the reason i’m not doing j racks either

@Carphunter You can fold down stackers flat. Actually makes them less of a garage issue than saddles.

Was never fond of rollers either, but about 3 years ago I swapped my old Thule saddles for a set of Yakima Sweetrolls and have loved them. Ease of a roller to get the boat going but the stability of a real saddle once the boat is flat. Never had a problem with oil canning on the rear with my poly boat; do get some on the front but not serious. Highly recommend them. I do 2 trips a year with 60+ miles on the Interstate both ways and have never had a problem.

There are also J racks that fold (pretty much) flat…

Re the folding Jbars. They are a nice alternative for tall vehicles. Big price diff from stackers though. The above folding Jbars come in at $239 per set at full price and you would want to buy two sets for two boats. The Thule stacker also folds down and comes in at $170 per, you would only need one set for two to four boats.

Thule says you have to have two people to load on the stackers. That is not correct if you have either a bar extender for the side or something like the Amagansett Roller Loader to work from the rear. At least as long as the cross bars are wide enough, you can slide/roll a full length sea kayak up there on its hull then flip it on edge to rest against the stacker. I will readily admit that after many years of doing things this way I got the Hullivators for one boat after my husband passed away. But I still do that for the second boat if I am on an extended trip, use the Roller Loader to get a full length sea kayak on the other side on either rollers or glide pads in back and the saddle in front.

My complaint about the folding Thule J and the folding Yakima J is that they are not really universal. The Thule works better on larger volume boats and the Yakima works better on low volume boats. I’ve never really been a fan of the saddles like the Thule Glide-n–Set because it feels like it takes more fussing, takes up more bar space, and does not feel as secure. So, I guess my conclusion is that I would go with the folding Thule J. It works nicely for my CD Isle, and my Jackson Villain, both of which have more volume than the Tsunami 175. Even if that were not true, you could remove the pads and use it effectively as a stacker. But I think the pads will be a non-issue.

I ended up putting on yakima core bars and using their Sweetroll pads.

now my question is where do i want those pads supporting the boat for transport. I originally set the boat up so the pads were under the first chine of the hull (either side adjacent the keel. when i studied it for a while… that seemed pretty close together, and the pads were pretty much facing straight up

I’ve since moved the pads to support the second chine of the hull. this puts the pads at about a 45 or so angle. to me, it looks like a better way to support the weight.

My boats are moderately hard chined and I set my saddles so that about 1/.3 of the pad is on the sidewall and 2;/3 support the hull. This seems to minimize side-to-side motion while giving good support.