Roof bars and V bars

biomed32

Hi, I'm looking to hear a little more about roof bars and v bars for transferring kayaks to and from locations.

Currently using the inside of a Mercedes Vito to transfer boats from locations. We currently have three boats. What would be the best roof rack/v bar configuration to transport.

dudeeile

New to lugging kayaks myself but I recently put a Thule system on my corolla van, two door so had to add the short roof adapter and that worried me a bit but the overall system is ultra sturdy. The normal feet and bars for your specific car should come in just over 200e from Halfords, add another 120e for the short roof adapter if you're in a two door.

So far I've had 3 boats on but it was a short journey but the roof rack is solid. Make sure you get good straps and tie the boats up correctly and they wont budge. If you have the cash then I'd recommend the Thule stuff.

No experience with v bars.

ec18

What type of boats are you transporting? i consider v bars as only necessary for specific types of boats like a k1

biomed32

Boats are sit top kayaks, Riber 1 man kayaks

Thanks for the heads up so far, much appreciated

NiallBoo

Hi there.
Here's my 2c.

(TL:DR for OPs 3 SOTs - get some roof bars, get some decent straps. Try those out a bit and maybe, maybe consider uprights - IMO anything else is a waste/impractical for what you've got).

The basics:

Roof Bars: You'll need some roof bars. It's the base you're attaching everything to so good fit is important. If you're planning on spending an extra few euro, you should probably do it here.

The thule ones mentioned above are very good; they're solid, usually fit well, are available in any Halfords but are a bit pricey.
If you've got a van then you've probably got a lot of other good, solid options.

Inflatable roof-racks are a thing but they're more suitable for surf-boards. Using them with kayaks will usually damage the roof of your car.

Straps:
Get some decent straps. Anything you get from a shop like i-canoe or GODs will be much better than ones from Halfords or lidl. Here are my favourite. Some extra length is handy for tieing through grab-loops etc.


That's probably all you'll need. 3 SOTs should fit securely on plain roof-bars without problem. Get bars, strap your boats down. If you're happy, great. If not then try it again, get some advice and try again. If it's just not secure then it's probably how they're being tied down and not a problem with the gear.

Putting them upside-down or on their side will reduce oil-canning (mis-shaping the hull). SOTs will usually stack on top of each other. White-water boats will usually "spoon" (although 69 is a better description if you're not familiar with it).

Don't worry about uprights/j-bars/v-bars etc until you establish a need for them
Why bother wasting your money solving a problem that isn't there?

But here's a description of them anyway.

Accessories:
There's lots of different add-on you can get. Whether or not they're suitable or necessary depends on what kind of boats you're moving.
You'll probably only need these if you've got a racing boat/composite boat that's fragile and/or a very awkward shape.


Uprights:
Bars that go straight up
Pros: very flexible - allows you to easily load boats on their side, easily fit more than 4 boats on the roof. Can also be used to for round-hulled boats (k1s, wild-water racers etc). Cheap and you'll probably only need one set. Useful for just about every type of kayak.
Cons: Not as good for k1s etc. as v-bars.
Overall- good option that has lots of uses.

V-bars: v-shaped padded supports on top of a long bar
Pros: very forgiving for longer, more fragile boats. The best option K1s, WWRs, rowing shells etc.
Cons: Nothing else will fit properly on them. Expensive. Usually limits you to 3 boats per car. A lot of work to take on/off.
Overall- Best option for racing boats but bad for everything else

J-bars:
Funny side-ways things
Pros: Can get good overall support.
Cons: They never seem to fit the boat properly without bending the j-bars to shape. Take a lot of room on your roof. Don't really do any job well.
Overall- imo they're over-rated and don't really add anything - there's usually a better option out there.

Fancy J-bars: fancy funny side-ways things.
Pros: fit better and provide good paddling. Good protection for things like composite sea-kayaks. some models fold down and/or make loading easier. Also a good option for racing boats.
Cons: Limits number of boats on the roof, expensive - if you want a full set, you might need to re-mortgage the house.
Overall- If you've got an expensive sea-kayak they're good, but unnecessary for most other things.

I'm sure that there are other things out there but they're the main ones.

Best of luck.