they also great when you want extra wide to carry lots of boats. Frankly, I got lazy with my Subaru Forester and my Aero. Plus, I dont' need as much rack space since I stop paddling my canoe.
In terms of Thule/Yakima, I don't bother with the attachments. Instead, I wrap and duct tape on foam pipe insulation for padding. This way I don't have to worry about being "gentle" with the boat when loading it on. Usually, I am tired after a paddle. I just flop that sucker on top and strap it down. But, then again, I don't care much about scratches on my boats either. If I see exposed kevlar or fiberglass because of a major ding, I'll put a coat of epoxy on it. As far as the gelcoat is concerned, hey, it's a gelcoat. :)
When I travel and have to rent a car and boat, I carry along straps and my makeshift "racks" that are made with minicell foam. Have rack, will cartop. :)
flimsy forester rack? I don’t know what year forester you have, but I’ve loaded a ton on stuff on ours, including a heavey basket weighted down with gear and two mountain bikes all year long…and kayaks now.
I’ve never had a problem with their factory racks, in fact, they’re very strong.
I have Tule cross bars and kayak racks on a Jetta wagon. I have not used this set up a lot but over the past month Ive loaded and unloaded two boat about ten times. The Jetta is fairly low and the yaks dont have to be lifted very high. Ive been able to load them myself twice. I got the carpeted rack pieces for the rear and the rubber pieces for the front. Again, I dont have a lot of experience using this set-up yet, but so far it seems to work well.
Flimsy? Forester Racks I agree that the Forester Racks are stronger than you think. Last fall, due to poor planning, I had to throw a Mad River canoe onto the top of my Forester using only the factory rack. It JUST FIT width-wise. I wouldn’t recommend doing this, but I did get the canoe to where it needed to go without a mishap. I tied that puppy down REAL well, too.