Short girl, Tall car, Long Boat

With the weather warming up and calendar filling with trips I thought I would investigate easier loading of the yak. When I bought this car over a year ago I was thrilled to be able to find an SUV with a flip window in the back...great for short trips. But I splurged on 4 wheel drive and the new suv has a spoiler. Both of these things made my car taller and more of a challenge for car top loading boats.

So I need to plan for longer trips and loading multiple boats.

I saw a friends Yakima Showboat roller rack and thought that was the ticket to helping me load boats, especially on my own.

What was I thinking?

The roller rack adds about 5 inches to my lift requirement and creates a horrible wind noise effect!

So the rack is coming off and I am going back to using a thick pad to protect the roof and help glide the boat onto the car.

Adding some pics from recent American River trip, last trip for the Showboat rack.