I'm totally into kayaking/canoeing, and am wondering if any of you fellow E-owners are hauling your kayaks on your spankin' element. A few questions:

What do you use to mount your kayak to your E? Any of you NOT use the roof rack?

And I know that this is a bit off-topic, but what can you folks recommend as a cheaper-yet-nice kayak?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

I'll bet Kayakin' Dan can help you.

But I'm back now.
I haul two yaks on top of my E right now, on the stock bars. One's 17 ft and the other is 11.5 ft. with no problems in 3000 miles. I have a set of malone Autoloaders for the big boat with front and rear tie downs for just in case. It is a hand made wood and fiberglass boat after all! The play boat is plastic and I just strap it right to the bars. http://www.theautoloader.com Check them out - their picture of the week is an element.
Now if you're looking for a boat and you're a newbie to kayaking I can give you all kinds of help offline - E-mail me, or go to this site where there are thousands of opinionated fatheads, just like me: http://www.paddling.net/

Hi,
I have a 10'6" Kayak (Sit-on top :)
I use part number 835 from Thule, I'm very happy with this product, the only funny think is to find a way to pass strap around Kayak, the Element top is very high :( and I'm just 5'9" :oops: but I find a way 8) and it's took only 15 minutes to install everything :)

http://www.thuleracks.com/thule/product.asp?dept_id=10&sku=835

Thanks much guys!

I thought the roof rack could only hold about 65 pounds. How do you get 2 kayaks up there? We have a kevlar tandem, but it weighs about 100 pounds. No problems handling the weight on the roof?

I've had three on top with no problems. The warning on the rack actually says to not exceed 75lbs, but I've had a lot more than that up there. I think the warning is a rollover anti-litigation type warning, actually. I try to stay under 100lbs for extended trips. :roll: