I have a Betsie Bay Recluse, which is 19’ 2’’ long and 21’’ wide at the cockpit. It has very hard chines, and I’m wondering what experience folks have had using hard-chined boats with the Malone SeaWing carrier. I’m a bit concerned about how much of the SeaWing will actually be in contact with the boat. Thanks.
I owned an Aral for a few years and as I recall, it’s pretty flat around the cockpit where the rack support would be. It’s a pretty good bet that the only contact the Malone cradles will have with the boat will be at the chines. I used Thule cradles which at least wrap around the hull somewhat and provide a reasonable amount of surface area in contact with the boat. With a lightly-constructed boat like a Betsie Bay, you need to be more careful than with a rotomolded or composite boat.
My Goodboy Rack is always my first choice when hauling boats. With that said…
I hauled my wood Arctic Hawk in Malone Seawings about 450 miles without issue. The hard chines prevent the boat from truly ‘nestling’ in the wings, but they worked fine.
The best fit for harder chined boat that I have tried is the Kayak Wing brand, as they are shallower and the V is much less pronounced. Here is pic of them with my Eddyline Raven:
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These look great! Thanks for your response and a very helpful picture.
I ordered a set of these from Great Lakes Kayak, and It does not appear that they will attach securely enough to my elliptic factory cross bars. I’ve emailed the company twice and called twice about adaptors and haven’t heard back. The link to what I believe to be their website (greatlakeskayak.com) is no longer active.
Nothing new on their FB page in 7 years. Not looking good. 
I saw that on the Kayak Wing website. However, I don’t want to order it until I know for sure it will be compatible with my Rav4 factory crossbars, which I doubt will be the case.
It’s pretty clear to me, based upon an inventory update I saw at https://kayak-wing.myshopify.com/, that I got the last two pairs carriers. (They just sent me what they had left, which was likely pre-packaged and ready to ship out.
As far as I can tell, Great Lakes Kayak, which shipped me this pair, is no longer in business.
The package included a contact info sheet for one “Matthew Murrill.” Using linkedin, I was able to track him down to Profile Plastics, which is located in the same town as Great Lakes Kayak was. He serves as CFO, and I have obtained his contact info. I’ll be reaching out to him shortly, but I’m not confident I’ll be able to return these, in which case I’m out about $270.
I don’t know the specifics regarding the Rav 4 bars, but most aero-style bars I’ve used aren’t radically different. The pic taken above was on a set of Thule aero bars, and I’ve also tried the same setup on my Yakima Core bars; worked fine on both. For the minimal cost, I’d give them a shot. If you can’t actually find them in stock, I’m 90% sure I have a pair at home that I can send you.
If you copy the address given on the Great Lakes Kayak website and plug it into Google Street View, you will see a building and a sign for Profile Plastics, but nothing about Great Lakes Kayak.
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@High_Desert : I have some Thule aero bars from my older vehicle. They look like they work really well for you. But the difference in shape between them and my factory crossbars is not insignificant. For clarification, I did receive the very last pair that Great Lakes Kayak had in stock. I just held them up to my crossbars while they were still in their plastic bags, and it was pretty obvious that I’d be taking chances using them.
@Buffalo_Alice : You’re a good sleuth!