I had planned to get a lighter, shorter canoe than my 83lb. 17.5ft. 'plastic bathtub', well prior to getting the Element. But, the 75lb. roof rack limitation, and the extremely retarded, close together spacing of the Element roof rack is proving to be a difficult fit for even some of the more advanced canoes that I've been looking at.

I'm almost in shock that an elderly Honda Civic and an underpowered Toyota Tercel, and a Ford Taurus station wagon can all actually carry more boat than the Honda Element, but so far, that appears to be exactly the case.

Has anybody out there come up with a good solution for transporting a reasonable sized tandem canoe on the E? Are there aftermarket attachments that could work off a Hidden Hitch reciever mount to extend the carry length and weight? What kind of boats are you hauling with your E's?

This product looks like it might just do what I want

http://www.hitchesonline.com/cargo_carriers/cargo_acc.htm#CANOE

Anybody using one of these on their E?

The load capacity should be 75 lbs each bracket. So 150/2=75 each. As long as it's well distributed and tied down, you are fine.

The loader would be great referenced above because it extends the rack.
I don't like the fact that the roof racks don't move in a track and are fixed to 28 inches. I do kayaks.

One more suggestion, look at buying the Thule roof rack that fits the E. You have a lot more options than the Factory Rack, but if you buy the Factory Rack get it from HandA. Ther $75 cheaper than my dealer and it's easy to install.

As for weight limitations on the stock rack, I haven't hit it yet. I can carry my 17' Sea Kayak, my 11' play boat and a rec boat with no problems. The sea kayak does need to be anchored front and rear with safety lines, but that's no sweat either. I was going to get the extend a truck hitch mounted thing, but haven't found it really neccesary. That way I can still carry 4 bikes on my hitch mounted bike carrier. Looks like the Chia Pet of fun.

Love to see your chia pet. :D Post pictures, please.