Kayak on roof?

Who here transports their kayak on the roof of their Tacoma? I have a Hobie Revo 13, a somewhat big and heavy kayak, that I've put in the bed of the truck with a bed extender up until now. Having an access cab means I have to put all the gear, cooler, etc in the truck with the yak in the bed. My thought was, put kayak on roof, add tonneau cover to bed to keep wandering eyes off cooler/gear in truck bed.

I'm interested if anyone hauls their kayak on their roof? Have any pics of your set-up? I'm concerned that the relatively short span of roof on the access cab won't allow for much stability and the kayak will bounce around like a mf'er while driving.

 

Yakima round bars or similar + J cradles + ratchet straps should hold it fine.

 

I've ordered a UpTop overland Bravo roof rack and some foldable j-hook kayak mounts for my 2-12 foot Olde Town Kayaks.

 

You can use crossbars on the roof plus the bed extender in its vertical position like this:

 

Thanks for the suggestions all. I'm thinking of maybe getting 2 crossbars for the cab or using the bed extender in the vertical configuration as mentioned. In a perfect world I would buy a shell with racks included for a decent price, but I haven't seen much in my area. Having to spend 2-300 to add racks to a cap drives the price up a bit.

 

This was my solution - let's me use the tonneau in conjunction with bed racks. The racks are fantastic - from AA Racks. Rated for 800 lbs and go for around 250 normally.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bed-rack-hack.636774/#post-21928597

 

I do the same.

 

That's a pretty slick set-up. I definitely may consider something like this, although I think I would need racks that are above cab height as my kayak is 13+ feet long. What brand tonneau do you have?

 

My Taco only uses 2 straps & 4 foamies for my 12' Canoe. Never tried a Kayak!

 

lol I love it

 

I know it’s not your preference and I’ll post a better picture more recent one once the stay at home orders are over. I have a hobie pro angler 12 and with the factory rack i didn’t trust the weight. I picked up the Yakima skinnywarrior and set it on a KB Voodoo bed bars. I also have my rods on the Yakima reeltime. Once i get to the water i take my cooler, tackle, etc. that i had on the skinnywarrior and don’t need on the kayak and put it in the bed. I use a boonedox as my extender for the kayak.

i did just upgrade to a Prinsu rack that can support a lot more weight and will help me carrying multiple kayaks. it also gave me more room to toss the bikes on the bed bars as well.

 

There's an existing thread on canoe/kayak transportation...can't find it at the moment. I carry both this 10' kayak and 15' canoe on a Rhino Roof Rack.

Kayak rests on foam pads that fit over the rack and canoe sits hull up with gunwales resting on the rack (there are thick rubber strips along the top to prevent sliding).

 

I have a Tyger soft roll up. AA Racks does make a taller version that goes above the cab.

 

I'm thinking I may go this route. I'll still have bed access for gear and have the yak on the roof. Hopefully I can find a used set of racks for a couple hundred and then find a tonneau and be good to go! My goal is to make it easy for me to load and unload the kayak and keep gear stored out of sight. If its a PITA to get geared up and go, then I may not use as frequently and my goal is to get out as much as possible this season. Nice looking rig btw, love the green tacomas

 

I installed the OEM roof rack and mount the kayak to that. I have a Hobie Outback 2019...

 

Haven’t made a move on a solution yet, but if I find a good deal on a used roof rack I might bite. I have an access cab, which is unfortunate in this case because I can’t use the oem racks that come up for sale pretty often

 

I have both j-bars (Malone) and cradles (yakima) and both work really well for my sea kayak (17') and my daugher's 15' plastic boat. They are very secure (I have a prinsu) and I wouldnt' think twice about putting the on the roof with a good rack and good straps. But my daughter's kayak, a 15' plastic boat is a pain to get up on the j-bars as it's a bit heavier than my wooden one. I've eyed a thule hullavator, but for the amount we use them and the cost... probably not.

 

Necky Vector 14' on ARB Flat Rack. -- Super Solid mounting solution.

 

Installed my Rhino Rack on the Taco yesterday. I had the rack on my previous SUV so I just needed to buy the foot system and use the same Vortex 2500 bars. I'm happy since my J cradles and my bike rack already fit on it perfectly. I have a 17ft kayak so this seemed to be one of the only possible solutions. I have the OEM hard tonneau cover so I was limited with whatever rack I could use there. The foot system comes in 2 pieces (RLKVA and DK174).
Picked up the parts from https://www.hitchweb.com/ Best prices (at least here in Canada! ).