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I am picking up a 17 foot Kayak in a couple weeks and I was wondering what is the best way to transport one with an XJ? I have a 96 With the stock roof rack on it.
There are kits for this. They consist of 2 pads that fit on the cross members, straps to cinch it to the rack and front and rear lanyards.
They also sell saddles, they are around $130 a pair from most roof rack manufactures (Yakama, etc...). The saddles clamp the rails and have straps to hold your kayak to them. Don't worry that your cross members are not round or square, they will fit.
The saddles do not come with front/rear lanyards.
From my experience, an XJ will fit up to 2 yaks.
Either 2 in saddles, or on in a saddle and one laying flat.
Get some of the foam blocks with slits in them that go around the roof rack rails.
I have Yakima crossbars now and use the same pads. I have the crossbars set apart even with where the drain holes are on my yak (ocean kayak sit on top). When I tie it down I go over the top of the yak, under the crossbar, back up through the drain hole, down the drain hole on the other side and under the crossbar again.
I have never had any problems setting it up this way.
I can put two of the same yaks and one bike with this setup or if I put the yaks vertical I can put two yaks and two bikes.
The factory rack works but they're very flimsy. I just didn't feel comfortable running 60mph down the highway with 2 Kayaks attached to them. Maybe the 3rd one would help. When I tightened them down the OEM rails would flex almost all the way down to the roof. lol
That is the only way to safely transport a Kayak on the roof, I don't care who makes the rack.
Do that and as long as the rack can take the load, you're golden.
Ratchet straps? Use rope, it stretches abit. The lanyards they make for bow/stern lines are rope with a ratchet pulley. Extremely effective, and cheap. Add a bit of basic knot science to cinch the rope to itself and with a stock rack the rack will not even move at 70 with a headwind.
Remember the basic rule of any rack: they are only rated for down force.
I used the Yakima uprights for a while and they worked pretty well when carrying multiple yaks but tended to just flip the boat upside down on the Con-Ferr rack I had at the time when going solo. Ron is so right about bow and stern lines. I prefer the Ratchet Rope type tie downs and use two on the bow going to the uprights on my ARB bumper (keeps the bow from wagging side to side on the freeway) and one aft. It also depends on the boat. The rotomolded one I had could take being rough handled but the fiberglass one I've been lusting after would get padding for sure.
I am picking up a 17 foot Kayak in a couple weeks and I was wondering what is the best way to transport one with an XJ? I have a 96 With the stock roof rack on it. Any help would be greatly appreciated
We have carried two sea kayaks on top of our 2001 XJ for ten years, 16' and 17' Necky's, using a Yakima rack and gutter mounts.
The stock rails WILL not work for boats this long, a good crosswind will the rip well-nuts and racks out of the roof.
You can buy cradles from Yakima. Instead, being cheap, I laminated 2X4s together and cut them out on a bandsaw. They have a groove on the bottom that fits snugly on the Yakima's round bar and are lined with indoor-outdoor carpet https://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/1415579225/in/set-72157602095130748
Here's a photo taken ten years ago when the XJ was still a nice car, on 31"s. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lwade/1416466238/in/set-72157622830310636
While transporting your kayak, use both bow and stern lines, tied to the bumper to secure the boats in place should a tie-down strap break or loosen.
Losing a 17' boat, at freeway speeds, could be deadly.
