Ok, ok. Hold the laughs and negative comments in because I know I'm not the only one who had thought about it. I'm talking a 10 minute drive, no highway just to get it to the lake for fishing. I'm curious how rigid our roofs are? And the front and rear tow hooks could make good make good ancor points although I'm not keen on the strap rub on the bumpers. How about those bars they use to carry kyaks and canoes on pickup trucks that you put in the hitch receiver..so it would rest on there and the roof. Since I'm most likely doing the receiver fabrication like BLACKSRT.

Yes I know this is a niche car but that doesn't mean I can't try and figure out how to adapt it to my hobbies since I'm not in a place to have a beater for an extra vehicle.

 

Sell the XFire......Buy a truck !!!

 

Sweet, great idea! Why didn't I think about that!? Like I said, I know our cars
Aren't made for this. I don't leave sarcastic comments to others so please only post if you can contribute.

 

ok well i rolled my first crossfire into a ditch and it was atleast 10 feet down. The car landed on the roof so im pretty sure it can handle a kayak on it. If you get the blocks really close to the windshield and the rear hatch im sure you sill be fine. The only problem that i can see is that both tow hooks are on the same side of the car. So you have to figure a way to center out the kayak. I dont see what wrong with what your doing anyway. You love the car and you love kayaking why not put the two together.

 

Couldn't you put it on a small trailer and just pull it behind the car... seems safer. The you could carry two!
Or can we even put a trailer hitch on our Crossfires???

Deb

 

Whatever you hook to the roof can't block the sight lines below it, which means you would likely have to mount it bottom down, pretty close to vertical.

At this point, any conventional boat becomes like an aerodynamic surface and could lift off the car

Which got me to thinking about these boats which I saw advertised in a Boy Scout magazine over 40 years ago. More like carrying a sheet of plywood atop the roof, which might make things more manageable.

Trunk's too small for an inflatable

hope this helps

 

If you can't accept a lil sarcasism along the way you're deffinitely in the wrong place !!!

As to your request, it's your car, go for it, but I haven't seen any one on this forum putting luggage racks on their Crossfires. There have been a few that have installed tow hitches for small trailers, which would be what I would recommend ! There.......I've contributed !

 

Thank you!! Yes, I had realized the hooks are both on the same side which does cause a problem with the off-centering. Hm, I hate to have a trailer registration again bit could solve a few other problems as well. And our rain gutters (roof edges) do seem quite rigid!

 

Yakima's site says "No Fit – Without Custom Installation" for both the roof and the trunk/hatchback.

 

I once hauled a small cedar canoe (12', 30 lbs) on a small Mitsubishi with a roof about the size of the Xfire and it worked fine. I wouldn't worry about aerodynamics if you tie it down well. As far as rubbing the bumpers, unless this kayak is terribly short, it will probably overhang the car on the ends and never touch the bumpers. You can always pad them with something anyway.

I would invest in some of those dense foam cradles to protect your roof and keep things better aligned, or at least a big foam pad of some sort. If you are a worrier, you can always strap your craft down fore and aft, then open your windows and run a strap through the cabin, over the roof and kayak for insurance.

And don't forget the pictures.

 

I actually already have a full Thule roof rack from my last car. Although since we have frameless windows and there is the window stripping there it would likely get mangled. And since it's a coupe the bars wouldn't be able to be put far enough apart. I'm gonna just size it up for arguments sake when I get home. If I could get it to clamp to the roof it would be self-contained and wouldn't need the ancor points.

 

I agree with this poster. The roof still has a slight 'hump', and the foam padding would at least keep rocking to a minimum. I would also suggest using some sort of microfiber cloth between the foam padding and the rooftop in order to prevent even the slightest bit of scouring of the roof.

Considering that I can cram a golden retriever in my passenger seat and a scotty and sheltie in the back, plus their beddings when I take them to the boarding kennel, I find no fault in using our cars to schlep all sorts of stuff around.

And ditto on the pics.

 

I don't know if this helps but I have put two longboards on my roof several times when going surfing. I'm not sure the weight of a kayak but the boards are close to 9 feet are pretty heavy. I drive about 50 miles on the freeway at around 65mph. If you think your car turns heads wait till you strap something on top.

 

How do you keep the boards from flying off? How do you orient them? Pix of the setup?

 

Well, it's not boating but it is my hobby and I needed to make use of the roof.

 

I just use a soft rack so it is not perminate. About a 2 inch thick pad sits on top and the straps go through the windows and connects back on top. The same strap then ties down your cargo with the buckles on the pads. I also put a small towel under each strap above the window to keep from scratching the car. I don't have any pictures but will take some Wednesday if I go out. You could use them to hold down just about anything. Here is a link with some pictures.

BLOCK single surf rack

 

Any pictures yet? It just occurred to me... How about putting it into the trunk and anchoring it to a few of our many plastic hooks, close the hatch on it and bungie it down, hang a bright flag from the end of the kayak.. hahahah not the prettiest. But so what if your only going 10 min away. Sure would be the quickest and cheapest... Although I'm not sure if enough of the kayak would be in the trunk that it wouldn't wanna flip out.

What do you all think?...

 

Sorry I thought you had this figured out. I will have to take some pics and then I will post them. Maybe tomorrow evening or Wed when I'm off work.

 

Well I finally have some time to get down to the beach and do a little surfing. Here are a few pics of the setup. I'm positive this would hold your kayak. You could always tie it off at the front and back if you wanted extra support. If you are only going a few miles slowly then I see no reason for that.

 

Are you bloddy kidding me.
You are insane!
I don't like it when people look at my car wrong