roof racks
Hello! I bought a yakima rack and folding j-hook saddles last year for my vw passat wagon. I really like the saddles, but the bars of the rack are round, unlike the Thule rack, which are square. It’s VERY aggrevating (and potentially hazzardous) when the saddles, tightened to the max, still rotate on the bars. I’d go with the Thule! Happy paddling!
Sally, I’ve not had a problem with
fittings rotating on my Yakima bars. If your fittings rotate, you need to analyze what forces are causing the rotation. For example, when I use two cradles to hold a kayak, if the kayak is effectively tied into the cradles, it forms a beam connecting the cradles, and the cradles can’t rock.
Remember also that on cars with markedly curved roofs like our Accord, the Altima, the Passat sedan, the Civic, etc, etc, the Thule flat bars will be wildly out of line with one another. That means the fittings like saddles must have adjustments to get them in line with the boat(s). And that, in turn, means that such adjustment points may get torqued out of alignment if the boat isn’t thoughtfully clamped down to form a beam.
I’m not defending Yakima (I’ve owned Yakima setups on 4 cars and have always found little deficiencies), just pointing out that some problems aren’t as problematic as may seem.
Stephen, there was a run of complaints
on Boatertalk about 4-door Civics losing Yakima racks on the highway. I don’t know if a 2 door Civic could have the same problem, because Yakima usually used a little different setup for a 2-door when there is no rear door frame to clamp into.
I suggest, as a safety measure, that you improvise a way to connect the front and rear Yakima bars in order to make it more difficult for the Q-towers to slide out of place by a strange kayak load.
The way I did it was to take Stackers that I was not using to “stack”, and turn the uprights 90 degrees so they lay next to one another. I then clamped the tubes together with stainless hose clamps. With help, the entire assembly can be lifted off and back onto the car, and there’s less measuring to get the towers where they belong. (Your car will have grooves running fore and aft, filled with plastic, and you can put little cross scratches where the front or rear ends of the towers should go, so you don’t have to measure when re-installing the racks.)
Don’t buy stackers. Figure something else out, with Yakima accessories useful to you. But strutting the front and rear bars together really makes for a more secure assembly.