i'm sorry if I posted this subject twice. i posted once and then didn't see it show up. I'm a novice. Anyway, i am thinking about buying a Prius, and, as you all know, they don't have roof racks, and, the antenna is in the middle of the back of the roof. This makes it hard, i think, to put a kayak on, which is an essential quality for me to have in a car. I do know that Thule makes a rack, but i'm curious if any of you have used it, do you haul a kayak, canoe, or anything else on the roof, how does the car handle with a boat on top, do you have a good way to load your boat on the car given the bad location of the antenna (I am assuming you side load). Any thoughts/insights are appreciated.
Hi Amyperl -- I am dealing with the same question, I want to be able to use my kayak without having to borrow another vehicle to move it. I found a lightweight trailer online called the "SportsRig Micro Trailer" which looks like it would be about perfect. The design on these things is really nifty -- not at all like those "utility trailers" we've seen over the years. The SportsRig uses motorcycle tires, real shock absorbers, etc., and appears to be a exceptionally well-engineered. It appears to be primarily designed for hauling bicycles and/or kayaks. You can see one at www.sportsrig.com . However, the Prius owners manual says "no trailers". But I can't imagine how towing a 150-200 pound trailer (SportsRig) and a 75 pound (or less) kayak would be any worse strain on the car than if it had 4 passengers in it. As a single guy, my car will hardly ever have more than me and a buddy in it, and the kayak(s) on a trailer. In that case, I am not challenging the Prius to haul a load heavier than it is designed to haul -- I'm merely trading two humans for a light-weight trailer and a kayak or two. Plus, the trailer would much fewer changes of my new Prius getting scratched up by a roof rack, bicycles, sand from the bottom of the kayak, etc. It would be great to hear other Prius chatters opinion about this... especially from some of the engineering types! What do you all think?
I'm interested in the towing issue as well. I found this guy who has towed a 650lb trailer back and forth across the U.S. with his Prius a few times with no detriment other than a bit of loss of gas mileage. very reassuring. Here's his web pages about it: (he seems to get lower gas mileage than I do (I get between 45-50 mpg) even without the trailer which I found odd, but oh well...) http://www.plusaf.com/prius/prius.htm "I can honestly testify that, despite claims to the contrary, the Prius is capable of towing a trailer. It's towed my little 27 cu. ft. Pul-Mor for over 4000 miles at an overall average 35.65 mpg, down from an average of 41.56 mpg around town prior to the start of our coast-to-coast-to-coast trip. Don't fear trying this." http://www.plusaf.com/coast/coast1.htm Good luck with your kayaks!
I don't have a canoe, but I have a ski box. I use a Thule rack, and I am able to stick it far enough on the side so that I leave the antenna in place (it gets bent sideways just a bit). We've only used the ski box twice and the first time we didn't measure, but this second time we got 41 MPG driving 70 with the heat on between New York and Vermont.
