But you gain that inside! It is lovely to live it. Too bad it stinks for long boats.
As an engineer I do trust the prohibitions. And I think the key word is “frame.” Your ISO (love it!) was hauling his race car with a truck, and trucks have frames, most cars these days are unibody, which has strength/weight tradeoffs.
And it isn’t just Subaru, etrailer.com says not to:
"I called my contact at Progress Manufacturing (creator of Equalizer and FastWay Weight Distribution products) to pick his brain on this topic. He explained that weight distribution (WD) and sway control products rely on leverage to work properly, which requires the body of the vehicle to be rigid enough to withstand the force. Unibody vehicles are typically not as strong or rigid and therefore cannot typically handle the same loads and stresses of a body-on-frame or ladder-style frame vehicle when it comes to towing and using WD or sway control."
See https://www.ascentforums.com/threads/do-not-do-the-ascent-is-not-designed-for-a-weight-distributing-anti-sway-hitch.7825/ for more explanation, including photos of the lower half of the unibody and how the hitch receiver slides into the platform.
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No, he was hauling with a Chevy Blazer.
IMHO you don’t need a new boat, you need a different tow vehicle. I have owned 3 Subarus and would never think of using them to tow anything beyond my tiny 4 x 8 stakebed utility trailer. I always install a hitch on my vehicles (even had one on my Volvo 850 turbo, which had enough HP to tow our 19’ Road Runner trailer.)
I confess I have strong mixed feelings abour Subarus (besides that they are overpriced and over accessorized). My 1978 2WD Subie wagon was one of the best cars I ever owned while the 2003 Outback was by far the worst and cost me twice what I had paid for it in major repairs in the short 3 years I owned it and stranded me repeatedly. And I maintain my cars scrupulously — traded in several with over 100k on them that never had any work except brakes, batteries, tires and the odd fuel pump having to be replaced during my ownership.
Bad time to try to get one due to pandemic shortages, but a pickup truck for your trailer road trips would be more practical and reduce wear and tear on that pricey Subaru. And probably silve the boat length issue.
Which had a frame. The 1983-2005 Blazer was based on the S-10 pickup, which had a frame. The 1969-1995 Blazer was based the C/K pickup which also had the frame. The newer 2019 Blazer is unibody and can only tow 1,500lb.
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Nope, we love our Subaru.
The Ascent is a much larger Sube than any others, designed to tow 5,000lbs
That particular camper looks like it has a pretty low roof. Can you mount rails on the camper to transport the boat to/from the campsite, then transfer to the Suby? Would be kind of a PIA but might be less work/cost than a new boat.
Blazer was an '82 but I get your point about the unibody. Still would be concerned about effect of that load on a $40,000 car.
I know better than to argue with Subaru owners about their attachment. Didn’t mean you should get rid of it, just consider a second utility vehicle for towing.
I notice Hyundai and Kia are planning to build their larger SUV’s with a ladder type truck frame (like the Tahoe and Expedition) and Hyundai is working on a pickup to rival the F150 and Silverado.
I had a Hyundai Sante Fe for a while and it is still one of my top 5 favorite cars of the 20 or so I have owned or had as company vehicles. Wonderfully ergonomic, solid feel, great options (like rear hatch window that opened separately from the hatch itself so I could load and unload paddle gear while boats were on the rack and also haul long stuff hanging out the window with the door securely shut – my 9’ WW boat could ride that way inside the car.) Also excellent mechanically and very reliable. I stupidly replaced it with that lemon Outback – had bought the Hyundai used and it had more rust underneath than I was comfortable with. Ironically, the Subaru wheel wells began to rust through the second year I had that one.
If I get sick of this little Mazda I will look at Hyundais again. WOuld be hard to give up the 6 speed gearbox and the 27/34 mpg petrol efficiency.
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The newer ones are way better than the era you experienced. It’s not attachment either. The Ascent is just that nice. Comfortable, holds just about anything we want to haul plus it doesn’t require more attention than standard wear/tear/maintenance. They’ve come a long way. It’s also designed for 5000# and we’re only towing 4000#. We’ve left a good margin for error.
Also, I’m not willing to do the care and feeding for a 4th vehicle (5 if you count the trailer).
Obviously all set-ups are based on past experiences. That being said, as you change vehicles, kayaks and trailers…The next mix will probably have less discussion on what to do and which to change or how to adjust things.
Have a fun filled vacation!
Best Wishes
Roy
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I have some dummy questions, so bear with me…
*Can you position your carrier so the boat is more towards the center of your SUV, so less chance of hitting the kayak in a turn?
*Do you absolutely need the carrier you currently use for your kayak? It looks like part of your problem is how high it sits, and if it could ride a couple inches lower it will be at a lower and more rearward part of the camper window.
*How much shorter of a kayak are you looking for? I have been seeing used WS Tempest 165 kayaks popping up on Facebook marketplace for decent prices.
*If left turns are an issue, have you thought about just making right turns? Three rights make a left… (ok, this one is just humor 
)
Yes and no. The problem is that we are really payload limited on the trailer also. So we’d have to take OUT a lot of stuff from the trailer and put it into the Sube. And that defeats one of the main points of trailer ownership. We know one couple that even keeps their camping cloths inside. The told us they can hook up and go with 5 minutes warning. I’d love to be even close to that. But man, the idea is tempting. However, I used to carry the Cetus on top of a Jeep Wrangler, that was nasty getting it up and down. This would be far worse.
But a really tempting idea…
I drove one of the first Hyundais in the country. What a piece of junk. And a million years later I traded my first Subaru, which was awful, in for a Hyundai Eltantra. Man, that Hyundai was great! I don’t think I did anything but change oil once in awhile. I traded it with a 120k miles on it, problem, free, just because I was both bored with it and needed a car to haul my telescopes in.
So we’re not Subaru people. I think the Ascent is one of the best cars I’ve owned and my old Legacy was one of the worst, (not the worst, but it was in the running.) We love this Subaru because it just works. LOL, I see that @Lillyflowers chimed in also, basically say it the same thing, except this is her first Subaru.
No, because we use Hullavators and because we carry two boats.
Yes, because I’m a geezer and can’t lift 62lbs and @Lillyflowers had some a**hole on their phone ram her from behind and she is limited to 20lb lift in that arm.
The Manitou I’m getting is 14x24. Must be under 15’ since the Lincoln Seguin has a similar issue.
Made me smile, big smile!
Totally get it (on having to manage “fleets”).
And VERY glad to hear Subaru has cleaned up their act. That ‘78 I had was so sweet, even without 4WD. The later models’ head gasket issue, the guaranteed-to-rust-out quarter panels and that horrid early iteration of the factory roof racks were terrible. And the inescapable wind noise in the 2003 made road trips unbearable.
I was fortunate when I went to sell the Outback (being as stick shifts are hard to unload around here) that an Italian couple who had moved here for a two year contract teaching at the University of Pittsburgh were ardent about having a manual Subaru (Europeans trend towards a stick) and the wife fell in love with it (low miles and clean looking other than the wheel well rust, plus by then I had replaced two thirds of the danged thing). They also did not know that I understand enough Italian (I played dumb) that I could hear that the wife absolutely wanted the car though the husband was planning to try to drive down the price by whining about the rust. I had even thrown in a second set of winter tires mounted on extra wheels! And the roof rack. Knowing she was dying to buy the car I held firm on the price (though I had figured I might have to come down 10 to 20% which is the usual bargaining basis hereabouts. I got above Blue Book for it and Signora got her shiny green Subie stick.
I still mourn the '78 and only ditched it because it was 15 years old and it was becoming impossible to get parts for it. Had 140K nearly trouble free miles with it but the carburetor had gotten cranky and I had another car. Sold it to a friend for $950 in '93 and her son took it out to college in Colorado for 3 years and bombed around the mountains with it until he graduated and gave it away to one of his friends when he moved to Europe for his dream job. For all i know some ski bum in the Rockies is still driving it!
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My 15’6" Lincoln was also dangerously close on left—and right!—turns but not nearly as close as the hubby’s Cetus. My boat I got further into the turn. I was barely able to start turning when I heard an almost immediate, panicked “STOP!!!” from @NotThePainter.
I’m just not willing to damage my boat or the trailer and I have the option of getting another boat so it’s new boat time for me. Looking at a couple of 14’ Stellars right now. Yes. We’re bringing the trailer so we can know for sure if it works. Or, not.
It would be more fun managing a fleet of kayaks. 
There’s a part of me (very small part) that wishes I’d kept my 12’6" Santee from Hurricane. It is an absolute slow barge and not fun in wind & a bit terrifying in chop. But, at least it would fit topside on the Subie. I think I can deal with a 14’ Stellar. We’ll see how it paddles.
The Stellars are all lovely. We have a local dealer who had a shop right on the water – went to an open house at their place and tried a number of them: sweet boats!
All the boats in my current fleet are under 50 pounds. Heaviest is the vintage composite Perception Avatar 15 footer I picked up last Summer for $300 – is a bit under the factory weight at 48#. My only rotomold is the Easky 15LV at 46# and I loaded it myself last two weekends ago though that is getting more of a pain (could not use the box van because it is full of furniture and flooring I am anxious to get loaded into my rental property up the street if I could just remove the danged tenants – has been a 9 month eviction nightmare.) The rest of the armada each is under 37 # down to the little 12’ Puffin solo folder at 24#.
I confess the Stellars were tempting. Much as I love the lightness of my folders, I get tired of setting them up and having to fuss with inflating and deflating the sponsons and float bags for each outing. I start a part time job for our local indie outfitter in a few weeks for the summer, wrangling their kayak and SUP livery at a local riverside rental concession and selling boats and gear at their shop. Entitles me to a substantial employee discount and I already have over $500 in store credit from stuff I have sold on consignment there. May be a Stellar in my future!
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OMG, that is so funny!
Not a 5000 lb one. Not enough payload… See the squat? There should be some as nose high trailers are prone to sway.
Our Ridgeline had the same WDH caveat as yours and the same unibody structure and the same “tow capacity”. We got away with it by hauling 3500 lbs max… Max… with gear and water and trailer. At 5000 lbs we never would have stopped accurately when the idiot slammed on his brakes at 70 mph in the high speed lane of i-40 in Oklahoma City. We could feel some uncertainty in the vehicle when towing in wet. We were on the edge.
WDH are meant to return the weight needed to the front wheels to ensure proper steering and braking . They do not have to be 1-2k expenditures. Ours was $450 but as with all things two years later the price is $600.
You have what you have so be aware you are pushing limits and act accordingly
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Where are you planning to go kayaking in Newfoundland? West coast in around Gros Morne, Bay of Exploits, or the east coast/Avalon Peninsula?