Yakima Low Rider Feet (old style), 58" Cross Bar, Cut and Modified 48" Fairing to reduce wind noise, Thule Top Deck Saddles for now (eventually upgrading to Yakima Saddles). My commute to the coast is 60-150 miles depending on where I fish, so the kayaks have to be secured solid. The only problem I've had is dealing with the curviture of the factor roof rails, they angle / curve backward causing the kayak to be angled up creating lift. To compensate, I've moved the rear cross bars forward, the feet are attached directly in the middle of where the factory cross bars mount. Now the kayaks are only slightly angled upward.

With 2 large 14 ft kayaks I registered 21.1 mpg, this should improve with less upward angle. Will let you know Monday 5/19. I'm hoping for 23-24 mpg with 1 kayak and 23 with 2 kayaks with the current setup.



Actually had 3 kayaks (210lbs) under transport 3 weeks ago.


Modified by FoeDoe350Z at 11:31 AM 5/16/2008

Oh, here's one of the species of fish we catch off the Texas Gulf Coast, not too far from the swimmers! 7ft Bull Shark: Catch and Release

WOW, I'm impressed! I had an offer to go shark fishing (catch & release) off the east coast of Nova Scotia. I now regret not going.

Your rack setup looks great! I have noticed the same rear slope issue when carrying plywood home. I have not found a solution beside respacing the cross bars. As for the front straps, I'm now very tempted to build a custom harness bar for the front of the Rogue to provide hood clearance and eliminate rubbing. Time to break out the MIG welder and some steel!

philipa_240sx

You can remove the factory license plate braket, put the screws back in the bumper for looks (best thing I could do without filling and refinishing the bummper). We are required to have front license plates in TX but I don't have them on either vehicle, never had a problem with it.

If you use rope for your tie downs you will not have a problem with the paint rubbing off. I carry the kayaks about 5,000 miles p/yr for the last 4 years with no paint rub (Jeep Cherokee) and twice with the Rogue. Now the 1 inch wide nylon straps will damage the paint easily, do not use if they touch your paint unless they're completely stationary, the wind tends to make the move / vibrate at highway speed.

Thanks for the pictures and the report. I have a couple of questions.

1. How did you tie off in the back?

2. Are you aware that the weight limit on the roof of a Rogue is supposed to be 100 lbs? What is the weight of your 2 kayaks?

Thanks,

Bill

Bumperplugs! http://bumperplugs.com/BPindex.html I too removed my front license plate holder and wanted something that covered the holes. These work excellent.

As for catch and release, do you simply cut the line as close to the mouth as possible? I wouldn't think that trying to retrieve the hook is a good idea in your situation?

wftright 1. How did you tie off in the back? There is a factory hook point for towing under the right side of the bumper.

2. Are you aware that the weight limit on the roof of a Rogue is supposed to be 100 lbs? What is the weight of your 2 kayaks? I believe that is for the factory cross bars, not the side load bars. 2 kayaks are 150, 3 were 225 which I had no problems except for low mpg.

RcookBumperplugs! http://bumperplugs.com/BPindex.html I too removed my front license plate holder and wanted something that covered the holes. These work excellent. Thanks for the link!

As for catch and release, do you simply cut the line as close to the mouth as possible? I wouldn't think that trying to retrieve the hook is a good idea in your situation?90% of the time the leader is cut about 12" up from the hook, sometimes the hook can be removed with a gaff, but it's not as safe.

According to the Yakima website, the 100 pound weight limit is for the Lowrider with Yakima cross bars resting on the side load bars. If you aren't having a problem putting two boats on your setup, that's your business. I would just be worried about damaging the roof or side load bars.

Bill

FoeDoe

This is what I hunt out of a yak:

The weekend mpg w/one 70lb 14 foot kayak is 24.3 mpg average round trip with 3 stops, 5 hours of driving at 70 mph, the vehicle was also loaded down with other family luggage and 2.5 passengers. 5-8mph crosswind most of the way.

RiverRogue: Nice Small Mouth Bass, I still haven't caught one of those, mostly Large Mouth or Spotted Bass in TX. You just can't beat kayak fishing, even if the fish aren't biting you still enjoy the paddle and being outdoors.

wftright:From my experience the issue is more wind related than weight. Crosswinds can rip kayaks off the top of a vehicle without the proper reinforcement. Bow and Stern tie downs are the key, this takes the pressure off the kayak saddles and cross bars, the 1/4" ratchet rope tie downs at Home Depot work great. Go pull on the Rogue factory load bars--hard, they're not going anywhere. Now the factory cross bars are more stable than what I've seen on larger SUVs, but they're useless for more than 1 kayak, I would not recommend the J-Type kayak racks on the factory cross bars either.

FoeDoe,

Nice to see a fellow TX kayaker (and shark fisherman) with a Rogue. I just sold my Dodge Cummins 4x4, and picked up an AWD Rogue. Hopefully I can still make it down PINS, High Island, and Matagorda with a little bit of finesse driving...not to mention the lack of a truck bed to store all of my gear. Here's the truck I got rid of for the Rogue and its better fuel economy

As you can see, I carry a lot of stuff down there for a full 4 day trip - probably wont be doing many of those now that I have a Rogue. That's what friends with trucks are for, right?

As for the kayak rack -1)How much did you spend overall?2)Is your paint rubbing where your tie-downs are hitting the nose?3)How are you transporting your rods/reels? Inside the cabin, or on the rack? I have several 12' Surf rods, and a few 8-9' one piece rods, that will be tough to transport in the Rogue. I may have to mount a receiver and use my rod basket from my truck.

For the record - I carried my Ocean Kayak Malibu II to a local lake (Canyon Lake) the day after I bought the Rogue. I recorded 25.8mpg (AWD) through the hills, between 45 and 60mph, on a fairly breezy morning.



Here's a nice little Sandbar/Brown to add to the mix - I have some pics of several kayak based sharks, but this one came from the beach (on a kayak paddled bait).



Feel free to stop in and chat with us at http://www.lonestarsharkers.com . The website is based on Land Based Sharking, but we are also entered in the 'Kayak Wars' tournament, and currently in 2nd if I remember correctly. We don't get to do much beach fishing now that fuel is so high, so we are generally fishing from the kayaks as of late. Check us out.

See ya on the sand.

SQ

Hey ShawnQ. You're probably loving the mpg but missing that nice truck. I thought about the AWD Rogue just for PINS but decided against it (It's better to have a friend with a 4x4!) Make sure you have a tow, you're going to have problems in the 20's with that Rogue.

The 2WD I have has been to High Island past the barricades and from Sagent to Cedar Bayou with no problems so far, just have to keep the RPMs up and not stop. I was actually surprised it did so well.

The kayak rack in the pic was a trade for other things so I don't have a price range for you. Now I'm pulling the kayaks with a small flatbed utility trailer--love it! The racks are a pain loading and unloading.

See you on the beach, maybe after all this Hurricane mess is cleaned up. I post as Crazy Yak on TKF and Extreme Coast.

Nice pics guys!

Canoes are obviously a lot longer... I just purchased a used 16.6 ft canoe and when loaded the bow is just shy of the hood. No rubbing of any ropes.

However I am still at odds with a stern tie down. I would prefer a V arrangement like I've used in the past, but with the hitch installed I have no tow hook anymore. My rack does have L shaped gunwale brackets which do a good job of controlling lateral movement and so far I've been getting away with a single rear tie down using the chain loop on the hitch.