For the last few years since purchasing my kayak I have been playing the foam blocks game. I put them on the car, then I put my boat on them, then I strap the boat down, reverse, repeat, reverse, repeat. Except for three times now where I’ve forgotten to take the foam blocks off and they have ended up somewhere else, possibly with someone else. I have no clue why 2 foam blocks cost $40, but they do, so I have spent over $120.00 on this process. In addition, I have used up a huge amount of energy and strength every time I put my kayak on and off my truck, many times, when my arms are no longer feeling very strong.
With the search of my new kayak in progress, a huge concern for me was weight, meaning I would have to pay more money. I travel quite a bit solo and that means I have to be able to get my kayak on and off my truck alone, even if my arms are super tired for a long day of paddling. I also wanted it to weigh less so I am able to portage it, which I’m sure I will do in the near future. To assist me in getting my kayak to where I want to go with it and getting it back on and then off again the car without me killing myself, I decided to treat myself to a new rack!
After a very long consult spanning a few months with my favorite outdoors store, Outdoors Oriented, I was ready to commit and actually purchase something to make taking my kayak out easier on me. As recommended I ordered: The Malone SeaWing/Stinger Combo, The Yakima RailGrab Kit 58″ and a Yakima SKS Lock Cores. I was trying to make arrangements to get to Niagara to get the racks installed, but I didn’t have a free weekend for far too long, so I asked Jamie how difficult the install was. He sent me this great video to watch. Didn’t look too hard?
After dealing with some delivery issues with Purolator, as Canada Post had been threatening a strike, Purolator was overwhelmed and couldn’t get my boxes to me as promised. Luckily they did arrive eventually. On a side note, it’s quite amusing that Purolator is owned by Canada Post and when Canada Post threatens a strike, Purolators’ business goes up and they make way more money!! Instead of people sending letters for the cost of a stamp, they spend $10? $15 to send a purolator envelope. Maybe Canada Post didn’t want to strike at all, but just wanted to help boost Purolator’s bottom line? Conspiracy??? I think so! LOL
Anyways, my awesome new friend who lives in Port Carling, Trevor, has a similar rack for his kayak and offered to come and assist me in getting the rack and carrier put on my vehicle. Thank you soooo much Trevor for helping me with this project. I’m sure I could’ve eventually got the rack on myself, but with a great friend like Trevor, I didn’t have to, and I know that my kayak isn’t going to go flying off my truck driving down the 400 anytime soon.
It took less than 2 hours for the entire system to get affixed to my vehicle. When it was done, I, of course, had to go get Tangii and try out the rack.
Basically, there is an easy load on the Malone which is a small tray that you loosen and pull out to meet the nose of your boat. You lay the boat down with the nose in the rack, then grab the far end and lift it up and slide it up into the rack.
It is AMAZING how simple it is to put it on the car. Once it’s up in the cradle, you just need to put the straps around the boat and tighten them and you’re ready to take off on your adventure! When I headed to Massasauga last weekend I actually had to put a front and back strap on as well. I used to only use belly straps for my Perception Tribute for short trips and for longer ones, I put the front strap on, but with this boat being an extra 3′ long, I didn’t trust it. Additionally, due to the rails that were already on my truck and their positioning, the cradles are pretty close together so I believe it needs that added security. I don’t want my kayak to go flying off on the highway or anywhere else, so better to be safe than sorry.
I can not wait to use it again and again and am so happy that I invested in this system! Thank you so much again to Jamie from Outdoors Oriented for always helping me with whatever I need to make getting outdoors easier and to Trevor for coming by and installing the rack system for me and for also taking the photos of me putting Tangii on my car!
If you have been thinking about getting one of these for your kayak/s I would definitely recommend it. As I use it over the summer, I will be commenting on the durability of it and if I still love it as much then, as I do now. Hopefully, it lasts for many many years to come!
I hope you enjoyed my post and return to visit again soon! If you have any questions, comments, issues or just want to say hey, leave a comment. I would love to hear from you!
Happy Paddling!
Camper Christina
Thanks for the info Christine..as always I love to read your blog…”.new rack”…wasn’t sure where this was headed ..lol…Trevor …hmmmm…..will be interesting to see if his name comes up again…..as in Trevor and I paddled ….or Trevor suggested……😉 enjoy this long weekend .and wherever your kayak takes you!
Thanks so much for the great comment Barb! Trevor and I have paddled a bit, we have been practicing rescues and rolling together. He is a great fella and a local in the area, so great source of information! LOL Sory for the misleading title, but I needed something racy to catch peoples attention. LOL. Happy adventuring!
[…] from Whitesquall Outfitters, the Delta 15S, and am totally in love with it. I also recently put a rack on my truck . As I now have two kayaks, I am able to invite friends, who don’t have kayaks, or friends […]