Kayak Carrier - Spoiled for; or paralyzed by; choice

[thesavo]

My wife decided we are going downstate tomorrow to retrieve two gifted kayaks from a family member. We will be taking these camping this coming weekend, along with a youth kayak of an unknown size. I thankfully have no sunroof to worry about and have OEM roof rails and crossbars.

Apart from knowing what size/length the kayaks are, can someone help me narrow down the choice of carrier? I hold her I only have the factory rails and cross bars and we do not yet own a set of kayak carriers. She was told that they can be transported with out special saddles and the such.

I see that Thrule and Yakima have some choices that fit. I have distilled down my research below.

-Foam blocks and ratchet straps
- Yakima RailBars
- Thule Hullavator
- Yakima jet-stream
- RinoRack Nautic
Here are my questions.

- What should my budget be? I was hopping to spend about $100 on carrier to transport 3 kayaks about twice a year? - is that unreasonably low?
- Are lift-assist units really necessary?
- Can I get by this weekend to allow more time for research>

Thanks for help you all can provide.

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[thesavo]

My wife was given these CargoLoc brand cross bars and the brand-less dual carriers. I think these will do fine. From pictures and other posts here i May come find way to transport that won;t scratch the paint.
It seems kayak carrier fits my OEM cross bar slightly better than the cargoloc brand cross bar fits the roof rail.

 

[Jmuns]

This will work fine for a couple times a year. I wouldn’t buy anything else until you use those a couple times and see how they work out. What kind of kayaks are they?

 

[thesavo]

This will work fine for a couple times a year. I wouldn’t buy anything else until you use those a couple times and see how they work out. What kind of kayaks are they?

I know nothing about them. I will however follow up with pictures and models once I do know more. I did buy some hood straps as recommended in another thread. Sadly they will not arrive before the trip.
https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/bow-stern-tie-down-points-for-kayak.7041/

 

[Jmuns]

Just get creative and make your own handles or loops to tie down to. Then just strap them on there really well. Don’t use ratchet straps unless you are really careful. It’s easy to over tighten them and damage the kayak. Use cam straps then tie the excess off onto the strap itself as extra security. Then tighten and check the straps when you stop on your trip.

 

[thesavo]

This is what I ended up with.
I used a technique of looping the straps over the top loop of a generic double j-hook carrier.

Here's a video i found.



Here's what I looks like with one that I did.

I have these coated straps that I will cut to fit.
They are the only straps with coated buckles.
https://a.co/02xfCNB

 

[PaulOinMA]

Very pleased with everything I have purchased at discountramps.com

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