I’ve had Yakama round bars on my cars for the past 34 years and never had a problem until now and don’t plan on switching them out for anything else. I have two sets of cross bars - one to carry up to 3 kayaks and another longer capable of carrying four. Last Christmas my wife got me the Thule Dockglide carrier that states on Thule’s website " fits round bars". Well they don’t and I haven’t found a way to do so without babying them by not pushing my boat forward with anything other than a force less than a slug on a slippery surface. The front and back still fall forward whenever I slide my Greenlander Pro over them with a “moderate force”.
When I opened the box I looked at the instillation instructions and immediately noticed there was nothing about installing them on round bars. Not one word or illustration. So I Googled it and found a lot of dissatisfied paddlers (most on this site) posting the same problem with Thule products going back to 2004. Yes, stupid me, I could have returned them and found something that works out of the box but, having taught Chemistry and Physics for 40 years - I like solving problems. Plus I liked the idea of sliding my boat across the back saddles and I thought I was smart enough to solve the problem. Was I ever wrong.
I tried “wrap an inner tube between the two” that seemed to be the most popular suggestion. It helped by increasing the friction between the saddles and bars but the back felt saddles still fell forward when I slid my boat forward with anything but a slow, slug slide. Forget the front pads, they are designed to grip the boat with a rubber surface so I have to keep the boat balanced on the unsteady rear felt pads until I have the boat exactly where it needs to be. I tried several layers of bike inner tube but the saddles still fall forward if you push with anything but a very gentle slug force. And I’m not a fan of slug force.
If you spent $240 on a paddle you don’t expect to be limited to paddling 2 mph. And I don’t expect the same from Thule especially when they state the system works with round bars.
The only other “solution” I found was to drill holes in through the saddle bases continuing through the Yakama bars and bolt them together. That worked well with my Thule Jracks - there is even a hole in the Jrack that you can use for that purpose. But the Dockglide back carrier bases are so small that there is only one place to drill a hole and it’s already occupied by a bolt that holds the base to the felt saddle. together I was about to figure out how to accomplish it when I finally did what every guy hates to do. I called Thule’s help line.
And what advice did I get? “Use inner tubes!” I kid you not. If that is their answer to “fits on round bars” then I can fasten their system to anything. My arm, my 4 dogs, my wife (don’t think she’d put up with it)… but their Thule system wouldn’t stay put. And if it’s a solution to round bars, which they state their system works on, then why don’t they include a 1 foot piece of inner tube in the box. Or at least show it on the installation instructions with a note to visit your local bike shop.
So here’s where I am. My drill is hot and ready to go but the nuts and bolts are still at Home Depot. May or may not work so I decided to “put it out there on Paddle.com” and see if anyone else had a solution other than those I have listed (inner tube and drill and bolt) before I possibly ruin a $240 piece of plastic. If you think the" drill and bolt solution" is good then you probably don’t own two boats with different hulls. I usually paddle a 2012 Greenlander Pro but also paddle a 1984 Norkapp which requires the saddles be a little different spacing due to being soft/hard chine boats. Of course I could set it for one and use Jrack for the other but I purchased Thule’s Dockglider to use with my Seattle Sports Shepak boat loader. Being a 68 year old fart (like most of the sea kayaking community at the symposiums I’ve attended over the years) I find it difficult to lift my 58 lb. kayaks on to my Honda CRV Jracks - I may as well check myself into Memorial Hospital before I attempt to load my boat by myself. Using the Sherpak rollers with the Dockglide seemed to be manna from heaven. Instead it has been the hot rocks from Hell. Well, maybe I stretch the truth a bit.
So, if you have any solutions that do work I’d be more than happy to hear them. Thought of trying a car inner tube but don’t want to spend the money on something that someone else has already tried and doesn’t work.
This potential solution depends on how the carrier attaches to the round bars. It should work for attaching my hullavator system to Yakima round bars (haven’t tested it through a season), but may not apply in your case anyway. So here we go …
The hullavator attaches to the round bar with clamps that snug up to the round bars … but won’t keep the hullavator from rotating on the round bar if forced. So I put sand paper on the inside of the clamps where it snugs up to the round bar, attaching with contact cement. The hullavator clamps can be easily modified this way … but maybe not yours.
Same problem here many years ago, for me trying to use Thule J cradles on my Yakima round bars, so I just drilled through the bars and problem solved. The only problem with that is even if you use stainless bolts, eventually the inside of the bars will start to rust from moisture seeping through and the rusty water will come out the end of the bar and possible stain the side of your car, (been there done that !) - If you will not be changing the thule stuff out, you could always coat the top of the bolt with silicon or equal, but I am constantly changing my stuff out for bike racks, kayak saddles and in my earlier life ski racks.
My dutiful wife is constantly cleaning the side of the truck/car !
Good luck !
I’m sure you could find an adhesive that would prevent the rotation. It’d likely be quite permanent, however.
A few things;
For saddles I now prefer the Yakima Sweetroll for simplicity of design. They also include a round bar insert, although I have not tried that as my preference for bar systems is Thule Square or Evo Wing bars. Innertube Thule solution - some vestiges of Thule of old being that Thule only fits Thule.
rsevenic - The Hullavator bar mount has two holes in it’s upper surface for accepting bolts when using a T-Slot bar like the Thule Evo Wing. These holes do work quite nicely for using a bolt down to a predrilled hole in a round Yakima bar. I usually use a ss self tapper to go into the predrilled pilot hole.
See you on the water,
Marshall Seddon
The River Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
Hyde Park, NY
845-229-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
Main: www.the-river-connection.com
Store: www.the-river-connection.us
Facebook: fb.me/theriverconnection
I use a SweetRoll on round bars and am a very happy camper!
Could you clamp pieces of flat bar stock to the top of the Yakima bars using hose clamps? That would essentially create a flat spot on top of the bar for each Thule foot. Not elegant, but it might be worth a try before you start drilling. If you round off your flat pieces at the ends to match the curve of the bars, the hose clamps might engage them better.
Wolf might be onto something. Heat the plastic wrap till pliable then with padding compress in a vice to flatten the round. Recreates a new CoreVar in a mounting point. Well it’s an idea, not necessarily the best.
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
Hyde Park, NY
845-229-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
Main: www.the-river-connection.com
Store: www.the-river-connection.us
Facebook: fb.me/theriverconnection
Problem solved.
When I used a bike inner tube it was too thin and the saddle bolt’s thread run out before you can really tighten them down throughly.
So I purchased an auto inner tube at Harbor Freight for $5 and cut it into 16 strips, 1.5 inches by 4 inches. I glued four strips together so it formed a thick, rubber surface. These were then placed between the saddle bases and the bar as well as between the bottom clamp and the bar so that every surface had a thick, rubber inner tube in contact with the Yakama round bar. I then clamped the saddles on to the bars with as much force as I could apply. Now when I slide my Greenlander Pro on the back saddle they remain stationary.
I may glue the inner tube strips to the saddle’s bases, but before I do I will see how this goes.
I appreciate all the advice.