pretty decent combo. glad all the hardware worked out! drove to san diego to pick up the kayak (bought through listing on craigslist.com). it's a bit large for me to lift up and place into the hullraiser cradles. i think i'll need to get that yakima boat loader bar thingy.... looks kinda cool! :)

will

Let me know how the hull raiser attatchment works. I have a 16ft sea kayak and have mako saddles on my yakima rack. I just muscle it up there and have kind of gotten used to it. It would be nice to find an easier, faster way.
~Greg

after loading it yesterday and taking it off when i got home, i thought perhaps i should have gotten the regular cradle type. the hullraiser is shaped like a pair of letter Js, and the lower lip is taller than the top of my head. kinda hard to put up a 55~60-lb 15-footer on my own. there's this one attachment that i will need to buy, called the BoatLoader, to help me get the boat in. thing is, the setup i have now seemed very stable on the way back yesterday. and it gives me the room that i want on the other side to put on a hardtop box or basket. i'll give another report when i get out next weekend on my own.

will

How is that rig in the wind? I'd guess you'd have a handfull in a cross wind.

didn't come across too much crosswind on my way home, so can't really tell ya yet :)

looks awesome!

hey willy, you coming to the meet next saturday?

not sure. couple of friends wanna get together that day instead of xmas presents and gifts, etc. depending on what we do and what time we get together, i may be able to stop by real quick. let me cruise to the thread and check out whats up...

Can't wait to get a wind report. I had the thule hull-a-ports (j cradles) when they first came out. Coming back from biscayne bay (on my birthday nonetheless) I hear a CRACK! BANG!. I look to my left and there's my kayak hanging next to me. Fortunately I'm a beleiver in redundancy and I had extra tie downs on it. Unfortunately the wind put so much pressure on the yak that it cracked the cradle. Stopped using Thule at that point and that was about 4 yrs ago. Finally called them a week or two ago and told them the story. To my surprise they shipped me replacement hardware. Kudos Thule! I still think I'm going to go with yakima bars on the element since they seem to look & fit nicer. But the hull a ports may get another go around. We have two SOT's that are wide & I don't think they'll fit with the 58" bars. 66" bars will handle it but that might be a bit wide for the E.

Ken