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Two Kayaks on the factory Thule racks?

3823 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Braumeister
Dear forum,
Anyone out there have the occasion to mount two kayaks on a Touareg? Would share your solution?

I am -planning- to buy 2ea. 12' sit-on-top kayaks (Wilderness Tarpon 120) and I'm unsure as to the right solution for the Touareg. Of course I can remove the cross rails, leave the tracks, and just start over with a completely new racking system but that's a bit expensive if not wasteful. I would like to make use of what's on my Touareg already and add to it as required. I'm not even sure it will even carry two. Does anyone have first hand experience carrying two kayaks using the factory Thule racks? If not what did you use?
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Not sure which type of rack you have, but my 2004 rack with the integrated crossbars is nearly impossible to retrofit. I have a Thule ski rack that allows the carriage bolt heads to fit into the T-channel on the top of each factory bar and works quite well, but attaching anything else is problematic. I bought the Yakima universal fit kit to attach my other components but the wide profile of the factory bars is too large for the wrap-around style brackets.

If you have the same factory rack as my 2004, you should be able to fit a Yakima Kayak Stacker into the T-channel on the top of each factory crossbar. This is not an ideal solution, however, as the stacker will stick straight up and you'll be unable to fold it down like you normally could with round bars, making it impossible to park in a garage. Thule has a similar type of kayak stacker but I'm not familiar with how it fits.

For carrying kayaks and bikes this year I will be removing the factory crossbars and replacing them with my Yakima towers that will fit right into the channels on the roof and then fit my Yakima Kayak Stackers onto the round bars.

Another route would be a set of saddles that would be lower profile and could fit into the T-channels, but the expense is greater and lifting a kayak into them can be a real bitch (unless you spring for the additional money for a set of rollers on the rear bar).

One thing's for sure; your Treg will look even cooler with whatever toys you put on top of it!

B.
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2 Kayaks on a Touareg

Thanks Braumeister!
Bottom line I guess is to essentially start over by removing the factory Thule crossbars and buy a solution that can make use of the channels on the roof. The question remains however, has anyone carried two kayaks atop a Touareg?

Anyone need a set of crossbars?


Not sure which type of rack you have, but my 2004 rack with the integrated crossbars is nearly impossible to retrofit. I have a Thule ski rack that allows the carriage bolt heads to fit into the T-channel on the top of each factory bar and works quite well, but attaching anything else is problematic. I bought the Yakima universal fit kit to attach my other components but the wide profile of the factory bars is too large for the wrap-around style brackets.

If you have the same factory rack as my 2004, you should be able to fit a Yakima Kayak Stacker into the T-channel on the top of each factory crossbar. This is not an ideal solution, however, as the stacker will stick straight up and you'll be unable to fold it down like you normally could with round bars, making it impossible to park in a garage. Thule has a similar type of kayak stacker but I'm not familiar with how it fits.

For carrying kayaks and bikes this year I will be removing the factory crossbars and replacing them with my Yakima towers that will fit right into the channels on the roof and then fit my Yakima Kayak Stackers onto the round bars.

Another route would be a set of saddles that would be lower profile and could fit into the T-channels, but the expense is greater and lifting a kayak into them can be a real bitch (unless you spring for the additional money for a set of rollers on the rear bar).

One thing's for sure; your Treg will look even cooler with whatever toys you put on top of it!

B.
Factory roof racks imo are worthless. I got rid of mine and and continue to use my Yakima system. Way more versatile imo.
You'll have no problems carrying two 12' plastic boats on your rack, especially if you go with a name brand system like Yakima or Thule. I've had three expedition boats (17' - 19' kayaks) on mine with no troubles.

The only thing I don't like about my non-factory rack is the wind noise it generates, even with a fairing. It's nice being able to fairly easily move those aerodynamic factory bars to the rear-most position to cut down on 80 mph wind noise.
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