Thanks for the info. I didn't even know there was an antenna in the back.

 

Sandybeach, I am an SOT kayaker as well. Keep us posted on what you decide. I have a small trailer if I'm bringing more than one one yak, but would like to roof it for just one. Thanks

 

After not being able to find an appropriate roof rack for my windsurf board and mast, we decided to simply strap it to the roof using a thick lawn chair mattress, to protect the roof. The strap would buckle up inside the cab. It was perfectly stable, even at 75 mph.
I sure you wouldn't be able to do that with a kayak !
Have a great HHR summer !
Juli

 

Juli, do you wind surf on one of the Great Lakes? How warm does that water get in the summer? I saw wind surfers in the Atlantic near Reykavik Iceland one day. I couldn't believe anyone would be that dedicated to a sport. The high temp up there during our 2-year military tour was 64 degrees. You can imagine how cold that water was.

 

I don't windsurf on the great lakes. I prefer warm water , so I mostly windsurf in the caribbean (Mexico, Jamaica and Barbados) while on vacation, and in a few lakes in the Adirondak (Lake Champlain and Meacham Lake)...I'll be at Meacham Lake next weekend, and I'll be in Mexico in October for 22 days. I just hope I don't get caught in another hurricane like last year in Mexico, Hurricane Wilma.
Take care.

 

I posted pictures of my kayak on the roof of my HHR using foam blocks. I just don't know how to get the picture in this post. I really don't recommend this method. The tighter I pulled the straps, the more the roof bowed. I'm going to keep looking for cross bars to put the foam blocks on.

I have to say it's a lot easier getting the kayak on and off the HHR than my mini-van.

 

SandyBeach

You may have already seen this but I am very happy with the Thule Crossbars that I bought this spring. They fit very securely. Also since I only need the basket a couple of times a year I can remove everything, including the crossbars all at once.

I took it off last week in 10 minutes and after I waxed up the roof and side rails there was no evidence that they had been there for the entire summer. I looked at the factory cross members and I just didn’t like them, plus they would have been on all of the time.

 

How heavy are those bars, John 11? The Thule cross bars for my minivan are very heavy, probably 20 lbs each. I want to keep the weight to a minimum. I do like putting the weight of the kayak to the outside where the roof has more support.

 

SandyBeach
Yes they are pretty heavy, but I did cut them down in length so they fit the rails width. I can't really weigh them now because they are attached to the basket. The nice thing is that I was able to position them so they sat over the supports of the factory roof rails. I didn't get any deflection on the roof even loaded down.

 

I just looked on Thule's site. Those parts that clamp the cross bar to the roof rack are $140.00 for 4. I don't need any of the other parts. But, that's more than I can afford with a car payment. There has to be a cheaper solution.