finding new stuff for the store?
Northwindsports across the harbor from you sells malones VERY well…
malones
I have been using malones for years and have never had a problem. I have driven at interstate speeds for long periods of time without trouble. I have used the seawings and the stackers and the autoloaders. Maybe ive been lucky. I also run the straos through the slots.
If J cradles, Malone for sure
I got Thule first and sold them in favor of Malones. See my review in the Product Reviews section for more info. The Malones fit my boats better and appear to be much better quality overall.
BowDown
I have the BowDowns on my vehicle and they are great. They have lots of padding, fold down easily, and they have a little “ramp” on the edge of the “J”, which makes it easy to slide your boat up over those 3" (or so) to get it up into the cradle. It also has a built-in bottle cap opener!
It also goes very easily onto round, square, or factory crossbars (no adaptors needed).
Yakima & Malone advocate
Being a kayak outfitter store, I thought I’d weigh in. We had the opportunity to carry Thule or Yakima in our store, and after meeting with reps and looking at the products in detail, here’s what I decided:
Thule & Yakima are both great products, but I think Yakima is superior, and here are my reasons:
- Yakima racks are generally easier to install
- Round bars are stronger than square (won’t bend over the years, which my old Thule bars did)
- You can use the BoatLoader extender bar which telescopes out from the end of the round bars
- With round bars, you can tilt your kayak carriers slightly to adjust for the shape of the hull of your boat. Most carriers that go on square bars just go straight up and down, so you’re not using all the surface area of the carrier on your hull (hence not as secure)
- Last but not least, it’s a common misconception that Yakima is a foreign brand - NOT SO! They were founded in the town of Yakima, Washington (hence the name).
So I would prefer Yakima to Thule for base rack systems. For boat racks, I think Malone (& Yakima) are the best. I like how Malone is a smaller, family-run business. After meeting with them, I’ve found they really do their research when designing each of their products - and they concentrate on the boat carriers, so they don’t have to waste a ton of research and money into fitting base racks on all the vehicles. Their trailers are also great.
as in so many things
– Last Updated: Sep-04-08 4:25 PM EST –
there are too many variables to make blanket judgments. Who makes the best power tools? What is the best brand of binoculars? This thread is a good place to accumulate experiential wisdom but "I like what I have" doesn't add much without details of model and application.
For instance, I have Malone stackers which grip Thule bars better than anything Thule makes. They are studly and well-designed but I never use them 'cause I won't stand my boats on edge. I've used a variety of cradles over the years; what I use now is a standard Thule set, despite their being poorly engineered, poorly manufactured, and poorly matched to their own crossbars (which are a dopey design to start with) because: 1) they work well enough if I tighten the nuts and adjust them every time I use them; 2) Thule makes a dizzying array of accessories for their racks, and fit kits for nearly every car on the road; consequently 3) I have a closet full of Thule. My racks have been on a few cars and held an awful lot of different boats. The few times I've used Yakima products I've been impressed with the thought behind them and wished I'd started down that road in the beginning. Having said that, flaws are usually not immediately apparent, though no owner I've talked to regretted his/her choice.
On a vehicle with a flat roof, some of Thule's flaws disappear. For plastic boats a stacker or cheap cradles work fine. In a space pinch J-cradles work, though you sacrifice every other advantage for the sake of shorter crossbars. With one boat the best solution is a frame I made out of 2X4s; it works beautifully for that boat, but only for that boat. So, what's best depends on your boat, your car, your height and strength (and how often you load/unload alone), your budget and your need for versatility in the future. While I completely agree with corgimas and SunapeeOutfitters (based on my limited experience and the wide-open nature of your post), perhaps the better question is "What will work best for what I expect to need for the next few years?" If you decide Js are the way to go, I can tell you Malone's are awesome. If you want your carbon-kevlar marathon racer to sit flat I'd say KayakPro is probably the place to start looking. For a fiberglass hull on a curved-roof sedan I'd suggest Yakima all the way. For plastic rec boats, well, anything will work. If, like me, you have no idea what's going up there tomorrow (ladders, canoes, bikes, laundry) and you shop at yard sales, Thule has advantages. It all depends.
Just allow me to throw in a PSA: whatever rack arrangement you use, please use bow/stern tie-downs. Ideally each end of a boat should be triangulated to each corner of the car. The best rule I've heard is that attaching a boat takes 6 straps. The minimum, and I mean the *minimum* responsible complement, is 4 lines, at least 2 attached to the car, the others engaged, at least, to a rack crossbar. Without going into the physics of levers and dynamic load, just imagine for a moment the damage an airborne boat can do to the car behind. Now put your family in that car. Don't rely on cradles alone; don't rely on racks alone; don't rely on straps alone.
We use folding Malone J racks. Threading the straps thru the slots is easily done before raising the support and we’ve not had any issues in two years. When securing the yaks we also wrap the strap around both the roof rails and the crossbars. If going further than the three miles (25mph) to one of the three lakes nearby we also use bow and stern lines.
Question for the collective. Initially we had a Toyota RAV4 with the OEM crossbars; the Malones were secured to them using their universal mount with the thumbscrews underneath. We’ve recently switched to a VW Alltrack with the OEM crossbars made by Thule. The Thule bars have a T-slot along the top. Is there an adapter that would let me use the Thule T-slot to mount my Malone yak racks?
Pete
That said, reading this it appears that some people replied in terms of the J components. I have used Thule as well as Yakima components, but never a J mount. Always stackers, saddles, glide pad combos. Most recently a Hullivator on one side.
Are you expecting to get the J’s? If so you probably want to ask specifically about them. A lot of people, myself and my husband included, have traditionally found other than Js preferable.
Note that most of this thread is from 2008. Products have changed quite a bit in 12 years.
Also, btw, I wouldn’t make blanket statement about vendors versus products. For instance, while I love the Thule racks and kayak holders, I won’t use their bike holders.