I’d appreciate any feedback on anyone’s experience in getting 4 kayaks on a rooftop carrier on a minivan. Transporting is a new problem and we’re not sure if maybe a trailer might be easier. Thanks!!
YUP
With that many boats I think a trailer would be your only option. I’ve seen 3 boats, all SOT’s stacked on top of each other, but they were all identical and fit with each other. Depends too how big the boats are. Little ones, you might get away with it, but if moving that many is going to be a regular thing you should seriously consider a trailer.
stacker
I can fit four rec boats on my yakima rack with 48" bars and a “yak-stacker”. They rest on their sides. You may be able to use 58" bars, depending on the vehicle, and have a little more room, just be careful you don’t overload the recommended weight limit. Otherwise, there’s a company called Magneta that makes some great little trailers with all kinds of options.
Trailer
Its nice after a long day of paddling to not have to put your boats on top of the car. But then, you do have to learn to maneuver them.
Trailer!
We have four boats and started off with using a rack on the van. You can get them up there no problem BUT it takes for ever to tie each one down and we were spending alot of time a the parking lot at the end of the day getting everything worked out. The other thing was by the end of the day everyone was pooped out and did not feel like getting them up in the rack. So we got the 4-kayak trailer from Magneta and it works great for us. You back your trailer up to the launch site, untie your compression straps and off you go. Same thing when you return, it is so much faster and like the other post said it doubles as our kayak rack. The trailer was a great option for us. Others find the roof rack is the best solutions for them. When we got ours LL Bean was selling the magneta trailers so we ordered through them. The only thing with Magneta is that the powder coating was scraped up pretty bad when we got it and then I had a hard time with the back lights…the ground wire was tucked inside and not hooked up. Through me off for about half an hour. I went to the local Ace hardware and got some white spray paint to give it a touch up when needed. Oh yea…get the 17 inch wheels because at highway speeds you will notice a better ride and the axles will not wear as quickly.