Need to put 2 recreation sit-in 12' kayaks ontop of a Jeep Liberty.
Was initially thinking about getting J racks, but looking at the Malone Stax, seems like a much more simple/elegant solution. Aside from what kinda looks like the kayaks slipping sideways on the crossbars - any other cons with the Strax system? - I like the idea of not trying to figure out how to get the kayaks an extra 6" or so for the J hook ;-)
stackers I use the Malone stackers for my white water boats. I have the Malone Sea Wings for the sea kayaks - I think they are easier to load with longer boats, if you have the horizontal bar dimensions to accommodate them.
The stackers are economical compared to other solutions, and I think a 12’ rec boat is well within the parameters they were intended for. I know a few people who use stackers for sea kayaks - I just found the wings easier to use for loading longer boats.
J racks One of the benefits of the J Racks is that once you get the boat into them, the boat will sit there very comfortably until you get the straps on. I haven’t used the Stax (yet!) but it looks like the boat wouldn’t be as secure leaning up against them until you get the straps around it.
The general rule of thumb seems to be go with some combo of pads, rollers, or something like the Malone wings if you have a high roof, like a SUV. Being able to slide the kayak on is much easier then lifting it.
On a shorter roof J are great and may be the only way to fit two kayaks on what is probably a smaller roof. Easier to lift the boat and if the J's have some type of slide on the front that is helpful. I would see the center bars working better on a sedan then a SUV as well.
I have a small/mid sized SUV with Js and at 5'8" getting a kayak up there pretty much means a power lift of the boat (60+ lbs) over my head holding on the cockpit and then kind of a slight toss to get it up there. This also means that getting a boat up there with a cockpit cover on is very difficult solo. I do have one of those Thule Outrigger extension bars, which I have mixed feelings about, but does help a bit at the end of the day when tossing the kayak up there gets a bit hard.
I never used any of the bar in the middle of the rack mounts. I would think it might be a bit of pain getting the straps up and around the top of the post. If you are using with factory racks that slope towards the outside of the car, I would see that making it difficult until you get the kayak strapped down.
I couldn’t get Sea Wings to work for my non deep V boats. Worked great for the deep V Eddyline Merlin LT that I got them with. I sold them with that boat.