Prius + Saris racks + sea kayak

FINALLY got a set of Saris racks....they are darned hard to find now. First tried a local bicycle shop, called them the day I got my Prius and ordered a set of 59" bars and #20 clips. A week later they tell me they are backordered 2 weeks. 3 weeks later no news, so finally after about 6 weeks I cancelled my order, got my deposit back and ordered them online (rackoutfitters.com). They had ONE set left....was a customer return, did I care? no way! So they send them to me, except they are the 50" bars, which are about 2" too short to fit the Prius. Called around and found yet another bicycle shop that had two sets of 59" bars; I told them I'd be there in an hour! So now I finally have my racks. Installed them last night (very easy) and put the kayak up there just to see how everything looked. Boy do they whistle, though! I definitely need to fill in the slot with some electrical tape. My old bar pads don't fit so I have to come up with something new. My kayak doesn't fit most of the standard cradles as it isn't round on the bottom, so I usually just pad the bars. So here are some pics of the new racks, and what a 17' kayak looks like on the Prius. And yes, I know the boat isn't tied down, I wasn't planning on going anywhere

 

There is a groove that runs the length of the top of the rack, it's there so that other fittings such as bike racks or kayak cradles can be attached. When driving the wind causes it to whistle. I covered it with electrical tape and the whistle almost disappeared, there are some small slots on the bottom that I also need to tape and that should make it pretty quiet.

BTW the darker red color is a 2004-2005 color only. It was replaced with Barcelona Red.

 

I actually just got a pair of butt-ugly gray foam blocks with cutouts big enough for the Saris racks. They will stay off the bars unless the boat's on them, don't even want to know what they'd do to the mpgs.... I can't really use the j-racks that most people use for kayaks as I am almost always alone and not strong enough to lift a 53 lb boat up into them. With just the bars I can carry the boat over to the car on my shoulder, put the bow on the rear rack, carefully put the stern down out to the side to not hit the car, then pick the stern up and slide the boat on. Using this method I was able to get my boats on my old truck with racks that were over my head. My parents have two of the Malone racks for their kayaks and like them alot, but they always kayak together.

 

Ha ha...i've already run across this! Thought I was in trouble until i saw the "sporting goods" tab.

Spent a few minutes this AM and put electrical tape over all the slots, top and bottom. Result? No more whistle! Very slight wind noise from the racks but not at all noticeable unless you're listening for it. Now my Prius is nice and quiet again. And, so far I haven't noticed a hit on my mpgs, although no extended highway driving yet.

 

Thanks! The boat gets a lot of compliments....maybe I should leave it on the Prius more..... It's a sweet boat, not terribly fast, but very maneuverable for a 17' kayak, super low volume for skinny people like me. It's actually the kayak with the longest production run, was introduced in the early 1970s and is still built today (mine is 4 yrs old). I got lucky with the colors, when I went to get one they had one with an orange deck and yellow trim (yuck!) and this one....wasn't a hard decision.

 

Sure! Go right ahead.

I think the reason the Saris 50" bars don't fit is that the mounting legs won't extend out to the ends of the bars like a Thule or Yakima set will. Another advantage for me, at least, with the 59" bars is that I frequently transport more than 1 boat, and without cradles the 50" bars aren't really wide enough to properly tie down two boats.

 

I don't know about the spacing requirements for the Thule or Yakima bars. The spacing requirement may be for mounting something like a bike rack or a cargo box that spans the two bars. Obviously for a kayak that doesn't matter. I do know that because of the curved roof, the round Yakima bars would probably be a better choice as the rectangular Thule bars would end up "on edge" because of the angle of the roof.

My bars are about as far apart as they can go. The rear bar should come forward a little to level the boat out (it's bow up in the pics). In the pictures I have the rear bulkhead directly over the rear bar but the front bulkhead is about 1' in front of the forward bar. Oh well, 1 out of 2 isn't bad....

The Saris bars are no longer manufactured. If you can track down a set of 59" bars and #20 clips I'd go for it. They used to make kayak saddles for the Saris bars but I could not find any online. I do not use them anyway because of the shape of my boat, and I also transport a rowing shell that sits upside down directly on its coaming so the saddles wouldn't work. I bought a set of v-shaped gray foam blocks at my local kayak shop that fit well enough on the Saris bars (they are pretty wide) for the kayak; I take them off when not in use.

The Saris bars have a groove running down the entire top surface of the bar; all their add on fittings have a carriage bolt that slides into that groove and is tightened down. I think I've read somewhere on this site about someone who modified either Yakima or Thule saddles to accept a carriage bolt to attach to the Saris bars.

Hope this helps!