Yakima Installation

Advice
#1
-- Last Updated: Mar-03-07 6:12 PM EST --

Hello. I hope someone can give me some good advise since I can not find the answer to my question anywhere.

I have bought a set of Yakima Mako Saddles and a set of Yakima Hullyrollers to transport my Old Town Dirigo 106 on my 02 Nissan Xterra.

I am wondering how far apart the saddles should be from the rollers . I want to keep the Nissan factory cargo basket in place. This means that there would be about 3' to 3'5" of space between the saddles and the rollers. Would this be safe? Thanks in advance for any insight some of you may have.

#2

One opinion…
I like to keep the bars as far apart as reasonably possible.

My thinking is this, the further apart the spread, the less stress on the system in crosswinds and turbulence from trucks.

Of course, if you get them too far apart, you’re only going to hang on to the pointy ends, and that doesn’t seem secure to me.

I belive you’d be fine with 41" if that’s the limit you want.

We have much longer boats on the same cradle and roller system at 48" apart, and have logged many trouble free miles.

Good luck,

T

#3

ditto
Somewhere buried in their literature,Yakima will tell you that the saddle/roller combination is not appropriate for spans less than 30" I believe. Wider is generally better.



I have a 8 foot spread which works really well for 18 footers but I need to use my 4 foot spread if I want to carry 12 foot boats as the boat needs a little girth at the crossbar to be carried securely.

#4

Thanks…
Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it. :slight_smile: