Last year I purchased a 2017 Subaru Outback so that I could have a car that my road bike would fit in. Previous to that I had a Honda Civic and easily got my 50 pound kayak on top and was able to drive it into my garage and use a pulley system to store it up above the car. Now I can’t drive into the garage with the kayak because it is too high, and it also is too high for me to lift it from the side. I have cradles on the factory installed roof rack. I read about the Hullavator but it sounds like I would need to Thule bars on top of the car. That all sounds expensive, and I’d love to not have to worry about cross bars coming loose. Does anyone have any ideas for how I can load it onto my current racks. What have you Subaru Outback owners used for your kayaks?
Lose the cradles. They are a pain . Bad gas economy and chance of running into low hanging signs in parking lots, hard to load. Lose the factor swinging cross-bars . Yakima makes landing pads that fit on the existing mounts on the ridiculous plastic hump things. I’ve driven thousands of miles now with multiple water toys on my 2013 Outback with the landing pads and yakima cross bars. It will cost you some money but if you kayak often you will be a lot happier. If you search for Outback and roof rack you will find tons of discussions about the racks. I was asked to participate in a Subaru customer survey about their outback rack design, boy they did not like my answers or references to multiple webpages on the internet full of complaints.
Seadart is right that the factory Subaru rack is exceptionally crappy and not a single good thing can be said about it, and that you’d be much better off with an aftermarket rack. Whether you follow that advice or not, the next thing is how in the heck to get your boat on the roof by yourself, which is the question you actually asked, right?
I see nothing wrong with cradles, J-hooks and the like, especially with plastic boats, which if you strap down to a cross bar lacking such niceties, will soon end up with dents. Since you carry just one boat, I’d suggest mounting the carrier (cradles, J-hooks, etc.) well toward one side, so that there’s room to slide the boat on from the rear using the empty portion of the cross bars. This will be easy with aftermarket bars. You can install padding on the bars if you wish, and that’s a good idea for composite boats (won’t make a lot of difference with plastic boats).
And here’s where I’ll preach the thing I always do, that when loading a boat on your roof, there’s simply no need to lift the whole boat with your hands positioned any higher than your waist. While carrying the boat at your waist, simply tilt one end up high enough that you can walk it forward to contact the rear cross bar, then set the other end on the ground. Pick up that end and slide the boat forward onto the rack, and the rack carries most of the weight by the time you need to lift with your hands positioned higher. Once the boat is on the cross bars, lifting one end of the boat a little higher and shuffling it sideways onto a cradle, followed by the same action at the other end, is very easy, since at that point, with the boat teeter-tottering on the rack, you’ll only be lifting a very small fraction of the boat’s total weight.
If you don’t install an aftermarket rack, you likely won’t have room for off-center mounting of cradles, but you probably will have room for off-center mounting of either J-hooks or stackers on your factory rack while still having enough room on the cross bars for loading as described above. With the J-hooks in this case, you’d mount them “inside out” compared to the usual method, so that once you slide the boat onto the center part of the cross bars, it will be a simple matter to lift each end in turn to get it into the J-hooks (with J-hooks mounted the normal way, you can’t load your boat in the way that’s described here). The rear cross bar of the factory rack is too far forward for you to lean one end of the boat on for the first stage of the loading process, but placing a rubber-backed bath mat overlapping the roof and rear window will provide a good surface on which to slide the boat (and that might even be handy if you use an aftermarket rack).
You might even be able to use the bathmat as a sliding surface to shove the boat directly onto the cradles you have, but cradles don’t allow very easy sliding, which is why first sliding the boat first onto the cross bars, followed by a sideways shuffle onto the actual carriers, is likely to be the better method.
I drove an Outback for several years before buying an even taller Mazda CX5. I’m a 66 year old 5’5" average sized woman and I frequently solo loaded kayaks and canoes up to more than 75 pounds onto these vehicles. I always used Thule racks attached to the Subaru factory rack (and the same on the Mazda). I haul boats inverted (hull up) which has several advantages – more aerodynamic on the highway, no chance of deforming the hull due to rack contact on hot days, more secure, since the kayak coaming molding would keep the boat from shifting back or forth off the rack if a strap blew out and this usually makes for lower clearance (depending on the design of your boat) – this may solve your issues with the low garage ceiling and is easy enough to try.
.
To load a heavier boat on the Outback, I would haul it to the rear of the vehicle using a wheeled cart under the stern, then lift the bow and walk it forward until it rested on the rear rack, which was close to the tailgate. Then I would walk back to the stern, detach the cart and lift up the end and shove the kayak forward onto the roof.
On the taller Mazda, where the rear rack is not as flush to the back of the car (and which may be the case with your newer model Subaru) I got one of those suction cup shower grab bars and stick it on the back edge of the roof to make a place to rest the kayak bow so it doesn’t scratch the car . You can get these for $10 or so at any drug or hardware store.
With longer boats, like my 46 lb. 15 foot Easky, I usually just carry it balanced with my head stuck inside the cockpit, top of my head resting on the seat and grasping it on both sides of the coaming, then pivot the bow up onto the front rack from beside the car, lift up the middle and slide the stern onto the rear rack. If a little old lady like me can manage this, I would bet you could too with a little practice. It’s amazing how much easier it is to manage heavy weights when you can center your body under them and/or use leverage onto the roof rack to cut the total that you are lifting.
How do you compare in relation to the kayak? As @willowleaf mentioned, with good technique it’s surprising what you can do regardless of your size. I’ll admit that I make it look easy loading either of my ~60 lb boats into the cradles of my taller-than-average small pickup truck. But after a long, tiring paddle it takes more technique than strength.
If you can get the kayak on your shoulder, you might be able to get it to the height at which your arm is extended upward - and roughly the height of the rack on the car. The trick is to retain control of the unwieldy thing, not so much the weight itself. I strongly recommend practicing this with NO WIND and a helper at each end before you try it alone in any sort of breeze… or be prepared to catch a kayak as the wind hurls it back at you!. (experience talking) 
If you’ve ever seen weight lifting, you;ll notice that they tend to quickly drop their body underneath the weight and then use the legs to finish the lift rather than relying completely on the arms. To go from my shoulder to a fully-extended arm, I drop my torso down while bending my knees, then when my arm is extended I finish the lift with my legs and deposit the boat in the cradles.
Failing that, I bet there are lots of strangers that would grab an end of the boat and help you load it if you asked nicely. Better yet, two strangers that will load it while you watch! Even being a fairly tall strong person I still get people offering to help when I’m out alone.
A> Sell the new Outback and buy the 2005 Subaru Forester …it is shorter and the racks are better.
B> set your rear cradles as far back as possible. Place a towel, carpet or pad of some type over the roof and spoiler of the car. I use a towel. Place the Kayak diagonal with the stern directly behind the place where it would be and the bow up the side of the car about where the towel, or rear cradle might be. Pick up bow place on roof. Pick up stern and push/slide boat forward onto cradles. Move boat forward with a rock slide motion. Make sure cradles are clean and boat bottom is clean. I’ll post pictures in a day or so from the next kayak trip.
C> paddle with friends.
D> in the mean time here is another way but you’ll likely need some customized rack work. My friend with the 100# 100 year old canoe does a version of this. 1. park boat next to vehicle…2. extend rack tube…3. Lift bow of boat to front rack extention…4. Lift stern of boat to rear rack. 5&6 move boat into positon on cradles. See Pictures
E> get some “Hulley Rollers” like you see at the back truck rack. Put those on the back rack to roll the kayak onto in option B above.
I’ve loaded a 70+ pound tandem on my Camry using bath mats with the rubbery non-slip bottom. Throw one mat across the trunk so it covers the trunk lid. Throw another so it covers the back window and the roof. Roll the kayak on the cart up to the car so the bow is past the back of the car with the stern of the kayak still back behind the car, lift the bow onto the trunk, and the slide/push the kayak up onto the rack. Very easy.
I load my 100 lb. 22’ Libras on my Ford Excursion about 7’ high myself. It goes and yakima bars and Mako saddles. Place a rubber backed bath mat on pavement and another on back of Excursion hanging down from roof over rear door a bit. Front sits on mini-cell kayak block forward of rear truck line when I set down the kayak. Like picture above I lift front of kayak up to lean on mat on roof then go to rear and left stern and slide it up. I think longer length helps make it easier. Could get those rollers that extend past rear of truck but mats are cheap and I use them to change on and keep feet clean. Just use the same mat that gets sand contamination on ground all the time and not on vehicle.
Buy a Hullavator. It makes loading/unloading a breeze, it’s worth the cost, plus you get to meet lots of people because they’re curious how it works.
I load 50-60 pound SOT kayaks on a Toyota 4-Runner with Yakima aero cross bars attached to factory side rails with Yakima mounts. A very tall set up for a 5’5" middle aged female. My 4-Runner has a trailer hitch so I got a Rhino Rack T-bar loader that attaches to the hitch. The T-bar cantilevers back and I place the front 1/3 of the kayak onto the T-bar. This is a much lower reach than trying to get the nose of the kayak onto the back of the SUV. I then walk to the stern of the kayak, pick it up, and push/slide the kayak forward. The T-bar cantilevers forward as I push and walk forward, sliding the kayak up and onto the rear rack cross bar. I put a mat on the back of the SUV to avoid any incidental scratches. Continue sliding forward until the kayak is positioned on both cross bars. Lock T-bar in place. One of my kayaks has a flat bottom and rides very well in the upright position. My other kayak has a pronounced keel and needs to be flipped over for transport.
Unloading just goes in reverse. Pretty much the way willowleaf describes above, but with the T-bar to get the boat up and started onto the roof. The real trick with the T-bar is to get at least the front 1/3 of the kayak onto the T-bar before picking up the stern. Then pick up the stern and push forward in one swift motion to get the boat up onto the rack.
http://www.rhinorack.com/en-us/products/water/kayak-loaders/t-load-hitch-mount_rtl002
Slide it don’t lift it. Onto decent cross bars and rack, which as above many people do not believe includes the factory rack. You will also get told by Subaru that a sea kayak is too much for their rack system, unless they have changed their tune from their last official answer I heard. I finally went to Hullivators for one side, but have had excellent luck for years with the Amagansett Roller Loader to slide a sea kayak up onto first Yakima bars with stackers and now, on a taller car, the other side where I have rollers and saddle mounted on Thule bars. I am pushing or pulling a boat from the rear of the car that is about half my weight, and I am over 60. It works. The reason I went to Hullivator for my primary boat is more the time it takes now that I am doing it solo, the Hullivator is a lot faster than the routine by myself with the roller loader.
RafterGirl, do you often contact the bathmat when using the T loader?
I have considered getting the T loader for when I don’t want to use the trailer (parking limits at launch area). My vehicle is a midsize 4WD pickup with a topper, for which I have the topper tracks (designed for Yakima and Thule products) and Yakima Landing Pads/Towers/crossbars. My cradles that are great at holding the kayak securely and without damage probably wouldn’t be good for slide-from-rear technique. BUT maybe I could slide the bow onto the bare front crossbar from the T loader, put the stern into the rear cradle, and then move myself to a stepstool up front to lift the bow into the front cradle.
The T loader seems like a useful accessory, since it can easily be removed when not in use. The Landing Pad and Tower system allows crossbars to quickly be removed also.
I used to have a Subaru Impreza. I put a rubber pad over the back of the car and propped the kayak up on that. I then lifted it up and on to a Yakima device that had 2 sliders in the back and two rubber brackets in the front. (slide and glide, or something like that). Wasn’t all that hard.
@pikabike said:
RafterGirl, do you often contact the bathmat when using the T loader?I have considered getting the T loader for when I don’t want to use the trailer (parking limits at launch area). My vehicle is a midsize 4WD pickup with a topper, for which I have the topper tracks (designed for Yakima and Thule products) and Yakima Landing Pads/Towers/crossbars. My cradles that are great at holding the kayak securely and without damage probably wouldn’t be good for slide-from-rear technique. BUT maybe I could slide the bow onto the bare front crossbar from the T loader, put the stern into the rear cradle, and then move myself to a stepstool up front to lift the bow into the front cradle.
The T loader seems like a useful accessory, since it can easily be removed when not in use. The Landing Pad and Tower system allows crossbars to quickly be removed also.
The contact depends on how I have the T-loader adjusted. If I have it raised up higher it rarely contacts the roof. However, this makes getting the nose and front 1/3 of the kayak up onto the T-loader a little harder. Lowering the bar makes it easier, but can lead to roof contact. Hence the mat on the roof. I have the T-loader adjusted to a lower/middle height and I try to push the kayak up & forward instead of just forward. It takes a little practice, but it’s not difficult. The big lesson I learned was to put at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the kayak on the T-bar before pushing forward. If you have too little of the kayak’s nose on the bar and start to push, the T-loader moves forward kind of fast and the nose of the boat can fall off. Ouch! Did that once with my poly boat and learned my lesson. You have to have enough boat & weight on the bar so that when you lift and push the boat and the bar cantilever forward together.
I load solo most of the time, so before I bought a kayak, I first got the T-loader. No sense buying a kayak if I can’t load it solo without killing myself, SUV, or the kayak. I looked at the other systems and the T-loader was less pricey. Oak Orchard has a roller thingie that works in a similar fashion, but looks more useful for a car that’s not as tall. Might be a good choice for a Subaru???
http://www.oakorchardcanoe.com/suvroller.php
There’s one other common loading trick which hasn’t been described in any detail, though it was mentioned by Overstreet. With this trick, an extension is added to one end of one cross bar. This used to be (and probably still is) available as a built-in option with Thule bars, and maybe Yakima too. With the Thule setup I’m thinking of, the extension stores inside the existing cross bar, and is deployed instantly by a telescoping action.
With this method, you simply bring the boat up alongside your car and place one end on the cross-bar extension. You slide the boat up onto that extension until the end you are carrying becomes quite light (because much of the weight is now on the extended bar), then shuffle the end you are carrying off to one side, onto the other cross bar. Then of course you shuffle the end of the boat that’s on the extension over onto the main rack as well. As with the slide-on method I described earlier, you are only lifting a very small fraction of the boat’s weight at the time when the overhead-lifting part becomes necessary.
This method would be rather difficult to adapt to your factory rack (an inventive person could do it, but with the Subaru rack being as awful as it is, it would make far more sense to upgrade to something better and then add this kind of option), but it is dirt-cheap compared to a Hullavator, and for a lot of people, makes a Hullavator seem quite unjustified.
Guideboatguy has the answer. Thule and Yakima both sell extenders that slide in and out of their respective bars. Cost is around eighty bucks per unit. It’s a simple idea that helps quite a bit for loading from the side of the Subaru. Saddles work great but be careful of cinching your straps superman-tight. Snug works, and front ratchet straps that connect under the good work well too. Just forget about the crappy rack Subaru designed for the Outback. When Toyota bought an interest in Subaru, they assigned a focus group to evaluate what worked (or looked) best for the new Outback design in 2010. I’ll bet none of those folks were paddlers.
Yes, I also agree with Guideboatguy, and use the Yakima cross bar extension approach. Except, I made my own extension. It was easy to find about a four foot section of black steel pipe with an outside diameter that slipped easily inside the Yakima bar. I wrapped two feet of the pipe with pipe foam insulation. This is a very sturdy system. I pop off the vinyl safety cap and slip in the remaining two feet into the cross bar. Then remove the pipe after loading and throw it on the floor in the back seat.
@pbenter said:
I made my own extension. It was easy to find about a four foot section of black steel pipe with an outside diameter that slipped easily inside the Yakima bar.
Yes, absolutely. No one should pay eighty bucks for something that’s available at any hardware store for scarcely more than pocket change. Yakima and Thule both make good stuff, but the incredible degree to which they over-price even the simplest items disgusts me.
I am going on 71 . I can end load our truck with a cap with Yakima bars on the cap. The bars are over seven feet up.
Just load from the end… The Hullivators are an excellent aid… One of my boats is 65 lb.