G’day!
I’m looking around to buy my first kayak; a cobra tandem. The one I am interested in is 12 feet long. I have a SAAB convertible. I’m not too keen on a trailer for it. Is there any other way to transport it with the convertible? Thanks!
No
At 12 feet, you cannot add trailer hitch receivers to the front and rear for goalposts as the span would be too great which is your only other option. You either need a trailer or a new car.
At only 12 feet
Recline the passenger seat all the way back, stick the boat in. Tie it to something.
Yes you can
My former girlfriend had a Chrysler Sebring Convertible. She turned her 12’ Epic GP upside down, put the bow down where the passenger’s foot well, put the cockpit over the passenger seat, and tied it down. Looked kinda strange, but dang if it didn’t work.
I’ve done
a Wrangler and a Vette, but not a Saab. There’s always a way to figure it out.
Try a hitch mounted T or goal post for the rear rack. Front rack is something you’ll mount across the top of your windshield. I’ve seen stuff as simple as someone who split a pool noodle to pad the top of the windshield frame. I fashioned a rack that mounted into the windshield frame fittings that lock the top when it’s up. If the car has a roll bar, everything is easier.
You should…
be able to find a bloke with a ute to transport it for ya in exchange for a spin in your rag-top… 
Do-able
You need a boot rack. Use the windshield. Add a front tie-down.
http://www.roofrackshop.co.uk/boot/boot.htm
11 footer in a Miata
There’s a guy in my neighborhood who I see regularely with an 11’ kayak in his Miata the way the Sebring was described above.
I saw at Florida Bay outfitters:
the day before yesterday two 12 foot SOT’s in a open SAAB convertable.
They were over the front windshield stacked one on top of the other, and the kicker was, and I kid you not, they were using the back seat belts as rear tiedowns.
There were ropes every where I looked, but my concern was the weight of the two of them on the windshield.
The guy had just bought them and said he was driving forty miles with them.
I wouldn’t bet on him making it!
Cheers,
JackL
clever solutions
Cheers to all you clever chappies sorting it out for this girlie!
I will try sticking it down in the front a la surfboard style for a short jaunt;