My daughter (starla30) just called from Florida. She drove down last week with two kayaks on the roof of her Prius using a pad type rack. She tells me all the way down the kayaks kept getting blown about and even with two rolls of duct tape she ended up losing one of the pads and got her roof pretty badly scratched. Anyone know of the name for a good rack that works with the Prius? I could then call her with some names so she can try to find them in Florida before she comes home. (She is due to drive home in 4 days. They are paddling in the Everglades while the alligators are semi dormant due to the cooler weather.)
Don't know if this will help track down what you are looking for but....... about 2 years ago the first Prius I had ever seen had two kayaks secured on an air-filled type rack on the roof of the vehicle. He had made several trips from Vancouver Island to Mexico with this arrangement and said that the drop in mpg was minimal and no damage to the paint work. That roof rack was a universal product , not designed for any particular model of vehicle. Wish I'd been clever enough then to know I'd be owning a Prius.
Thanks Gary.. Later today I'll do a google search for inflatable roof racks. Maybe I'll find something. Mark
We're kayakers too and have been looking at options for taking our new Prius (we've been using our Forester) when we go kayaking. The inflatable rack that was mentioned might be this one: [Broken External Image]:http://www.boundarywaterscatalog.com/prodimg/C22202.jpg You can google 'handirack' for where to buy. It's about $60. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a solution for transporting 2 kayaks because we can't see how we'd easily tie down and fit 2 kayaks on it, without the kayaks bumping around during transport. So we're thinking of buying the Thule car rack for the Prius. We already have a J-shaped Thule Hull-a-Port that we've been using on the Forester's rack: This way, one kayak lays on its side in the Hullaport and the 2nd kayak lays flat on the car rack.
I have a friend who uses Thule racks on a Subru and like it. The actual rack would be the same the only different part is the mount on the car.
The airfilled racks that stevenalice posted above look exactly like the one I saw a couple of years ago. I do remember he had life jackets strapped in between them but do not remember how they were securely fastened to the vehicle. Must have been though to make it down Mexico way and return.
Maybe we'll reconsider the Handirack if we can figure out how. Canuck, do you remember if the kayaks were laying flat, or on their side? Ours are too wide to both fit up there laying flat, and too unstable lying on their side.
Thanks for your help. I did a google search right off looking for inflatable roof racks and I found those Handiracks. I live in RI so I sent the info to my ex-wife in Florida and she immediately ordered them and did a two day rush on delivery. They should arrive tomorrow or Firday and Cris will be at her house on Sunday to drive back home on Monday. So I should have some first hand info on how they work by Monday night. She won't be home till Tuesday but I'll ask her to call me with an update. I'll post how it goes with two kayaks on the Handirack on Monday. (I never got to send my ex the info on the Thule as she had already ordered the Handirack. But in any case, I suspect the Thule was a bit expensive for my daughter. I also wonder about how she will fit tow of them on it, though I suppose if you put the two inflatables closer together on the car roof, you might be able to put them sideways. Then tons of duck tape to keep them in place.) I'll also make sure my daughter makes a picture for this site. I probably won't ge the pic until late Tuesday. Again, thanks for your help.
Sorry, stevenalice, I do remember two singles but not the arrangement. His lady partner had just arrived at the car eager to talk about the Prius but we just discussed the aerodynamics of the roof load briefly.
I have the Thule rack for my 04 Prius and it works great for kayaks, canoes, bikes, etc. They made a fit kit to fit the Prius roof line.
Wait, prius04, your daughter has 2 inflatable kayaks? I thought we were talking about hard shell kayaks here. She can't deflate them for the trip? Oh wait, now I see you may have meant if you put the two inflatable handiracks closer together, you might fit 2 kayaks. At any rate, I can't wait to hear how it goes. The thule rack for the Prius is like over $200 so even though we already have the hullaport, we'd really like the handirack to work.
They are regular hard shell kayaks, and yes I meant moving the handiracks closer. As soon as I find out how they work I'll post it here. They were supposed to be delivered to her mothers house in Florida yesterday or today, and Cris should show up there on Sunday for the drive home Monday. Cris just may get on the computer at her mother's house and find this thread and then take a picture and upload it herself.
For those looking for word on roof racks for the Prius. The Handirack work OK. Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread. My daughter is now back in Mass from Florida and they drove back with the two kayaks on the roof using the Handirack. The Handiracks fit on the car OK, and the 2 Kayaks fit on the roof fine as well. She told me she is planning long post about her travails, including some pictures of the 2 kayaks on the roof. She said the 2 kayaks rolled around a good deal during the drive, but the roof was not scratched at all.
Long post Here... I'm linking to it because there are a good number of pictures and I don't want to slow down this thread
For those following this thread who want to hear about how the Handirack works with the Prius, here's the story and some pictures. http://www.priuschat.com/forums/prius-adve...3813.html#63813
Thanks for sharing the adventure with us. I'm sure many Prius owners will benefit for the experience. I guess the guy who told me about those racks was telling the truth about his trips to Mexico and back from Canada.
btw, in those pictures, the larger kayak is tilted pretty far up. It didn't start that way. The wind pushed it back over the 28 hour drive. We were simply too lazy to fix it. We knew the kayaks were secure because the fronts were tied to the front and back of the car. They could shift all they wanted but they could not move forwards, backwards, or to the sides. Only rotate.
