Malone Stax Vertical Kayak Rack - Closeouts

I am glad I didn't take the advice of the other reviews. This product is great when used properly. Kayak will not slide out at the bottom if the straps have no way of sliding forward. Vertical slots on bottom of Stax can be used to keep straps from sliding forward. Excellent product at an unbeatable price.

Load your kayak with the cockpit facing the upright and you won't have a problem! I can see that there would be a prob with rounded-bottom boats. I take these on and off, leaving one side of the bottom bar bolted to the carrier. Then it is pretty quick to re-attach to my car when I'm ready to go. My factory racks are wide ovals, so I was concerned that these might not work, but they screw on very tightly and have carried my kayak down the interstate for 2.5 hours with no problem, and no slippage. And, I usually load from the back of my SUV, simply lifting the bow toward the rear carrier, then using the stern handle, just push the kayak through the saddles. My old "J-Racks" from another manufacturer just would NOT load this way - they weren't slippery enough. You'll like these - give 'em a try. Can't beat the price!!

Compared to the Malone "J" rack (which I thought I was ordering), this thing is more trouble than it is worth.

Won't work unless your vehicle's factory luggage racks are perpendicular (run from side to side of vehicle).

Not sure if it would work better with a different hull design, but my kayak really doesn't fit in there well at all. Its basically a straight "L" shape and no matter how tight I cinch the boat down, it still trys to slide out. There is nothing to hold it tight against the vertical arm. I think the only way this design would work would be if your kayak was narrower than this is tall. I put it on my Jeep and tested it in the driveway before leaving for a trip. It felt nice and tight in there. When I started driving, the boat started to rotate out of the cradle. Good design if space on the roof is at a premium and you put something else on the front side of it to stop the bottom of the kayak from rotating out of the holder maybe? I don't know, save your money and buy a J shaped holder.

I have 4 of these carriers on top of my minivan. the hold the kayaks well and were inexpensive. the only downside is they are difficult to install. i'm going to leave them up there for the season and remove them this fall. for the price they are fine for me.

They didn't fit our Land Rover as well as we'd hoped and would be too difficult for one person to use.

Only good thing is that you can put more than two kayaks on top of your car. Not useful on long car trips.

Depending on your kayak, it may actually fit the carrier better with the top against the upright instead of the bottom as indicated by the instructions. The majority of kayaks have rounded bottoms which will not adequately secure to this carrier, however flipped over and my kayaks fit perfectly.