Hello. Been reading here for some time, but this is my first post. I have an older Surco safari rack mounted to the roof channels of my CR-V. The rack is constructed of 3/4" square aluminum tubing. I have been carrying canoes and kayaks on this rack by strapping them down directly to the top bars on the rack basket. This works, but requires that the bow and stern be strapped or bungeed to the bumpers to minimize horizontal movement. I use a hitch mounted swivel to get the watercraft up to the rack. I bought a pair of generic clamp-on J cradles on the assumption that I could carry my kayak more securely with less strapping work. However, the clamps are designed for conventional OEM cross bars of different shape (oval-ish) and larger dimensions (minimum of 1-1/2" x 1", as far as I can figure.) I need to find or make adapters to mount these cradles to my 3/4" square bars. Anyone know of existing adapters that will work in this application? Anyone faced this requirement and concocted their own adapters? May thinks in advance for any assistance or sound advice provided.
why not?
I’m not sure I understand why your J cradles won’t work with what you have. Surely the cradle mount clamps will tighten down onto the 3/4" cross bars, no?
Even if
Even if you adapt the J-cradles to fit your square bars, you should still have bow and stern lines to the bumper.
If the reason you’re going to J-cradles is to avoid those lines, that’s not a good idea. J-cradles allow you to put more boats on the roof, not avoid necessary tie-downs.
Late update. The reason for my dilemma is that most of the cradles available are not designed to tighten to as small a square bar as 3/4". I did find an acceptable solution for a reasonable price at Discount Ramps - a crude and simple J strap (Apex brand, if you’re looking at their site) with a square U-bolt mount that is designed for that size bar. Even then, probably due to manufacturing tolerances, I had to shim a bit with aluminum sheet metal to get a fit that I’m comfortable with. I will need to beef up the padding a bit to avoid damaging my wave ski.
@carldelo said:
Even if
Even if you adapt the J-cradles to fit your square bars, you should still have bow and stern lines to the bumper.If the reason you’re going to J-cradles is to avoid those lines, that’s not a good idea. J-cradles allow you to put more boats on the roof, not avoid necessary tie-downs.
I agree.
It sounds like you found a solution, and that’s pretty much what I would have done.
I would have bought a length of angle iron from HD, chopped it up and simply built up 4" or so of the 3/4"bars with it and a few machine screws until I reached the thickness that the J cradle clamps would accept.