I am looking to buy the Yakima Showdown but I read in 1 review (no where else is it mentioned) that it does not carry v-shaped kayaks. Does any have one have this lift and are you able to carry a v-shaped kayak? What kind of kayak do you have. Thanks.
I do not have the Yakima Showdown, nor have I seen one in use. I do have a kayak with v shaped hull. A Valley Q boat in my case. I did watch the Yakima video and have these observations from time mark 2:43 to 2:48. For this or any other rack, being able to position the saddles to provide good contact and support to hull of any shape is crucial. In case of the Showdown, it appears the inboard saddles can move toward and away from the opposing and outboard ones. The question remains, can they get close enough to each other to provide contact and support without the vee of hull resting against the cross bars? Another issue is the fixed slope of the SD saddle parallel to your hull, again for good contact and support. My rubber faced and adjustable Thule saddles work well once kayak is on roof. Does the SD satisfy your need for easier loading kayak onto roof?
It works well with my Eddyline Equinox. I’m not sure how much that helps you.
You could probably make some pads for the vee supports that are taller and/or angled to better match the kayak’s hull. That could be a fix if you find they don’t work out of the box.
We are getting a canopy for the truck. We were loading from the truck bed to top of the double cab. However we are now getting a truck canopy and since we are very short, I think the easiest way would be to load from side with either the Yakima SD or the Thule Hellevator. I like the ease of the removing the yakima saddles when not in use. Seems to be a little more effort to remove the Thule.
We have a Delta and Elie Strait Kayak. The hull of your Eddyline looks similar to ours. Do you like the Yakima SD? Any issues? Does your kayak have good contact and support when you use the SD?
I’ve only used the SD at trade shows (ha, wonder when those’ll happen again!) and wasn’t pleased at the operation of it. The SD arm had to be lifted to horizontal then walked in to the vehicle. For a tall vehicle it’s not a very strong position to push something forward with your arms extended straight up. The cradle seemed more like a stacker.
I still like the operation of the ELRR by Kari-Tek much better after many years of using it daily. The new Thule Hullaport Aero clamps to it very easily. The older Thule Hullaport PRO could be retrofitted with a t-slot square nut and the right length M6 socket bolt.
See you on the water,
Marshall Seddon
The River Connection, Inc.
9 W. Market St.
Hyde Park, NY. 12538
845-229-0595 main
845-242-4731 mobile
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I’m very happy with them. I had a slight issue with some foam cushioning splitting. Really no big deal. I just added some pipe insulation. I emailed Yakima just because I thought that at 500 bucks they should be perfect. Yakima wanted to replace them but they were back ordered this summer. They instead sent me a check for 240 bucks. I can’t complain about their customer service.
They don’t have the hydraulic lift like Thule but I don’t need that. A nice feature is that you strap the kayak down before lifting it up. You don’t have to climb up and toss lines back and forth. There are some nice videos on you tube that show that.
Also, yes my Eddyline fits the cradle with good contact. It takes a bit of trial and error but once you get the right position it’s great.