Best Kayak Roof Racks & Top Canoe Racks For 2022!

If you’re going to be serious about kayaking, then you’re going to need a kayak roof rack to make it possible for you to bring it to the water. After all, not everyone is blessed enough to live by the shore of a lake or a beach. Most serious kayakers also don’t limit themselves to inflatable kayaks that you can tote around in a bag either.

You can, of course, return this if it doesn’t suit your roof. In fact, you can ask for a replacement for it at any time because TMS tends to offer a lifetime warranty for this. It’s that tough and well-made. Also, TMS offers installation services for an extra fee.

The steel design comes with adjustable padding, so you can secure the kayak well without risking any damage to it. This can fit in a kayak that weighs up to 75 pounds and up to 36 inches wide.

Your purchase should come with its own installation hardware, and these things are usually sent to you in vacuum sealed packages. These come in labeled boxes which also have item descriptions. If your purchase lacks any of these things, you better make doubly sure that you’re actually buying an authentic TMS item.

The hardware offers a “quick on and off” design. That makes installation easy and quick, and you can remove the kayak carrier from your car roof without any difficulty as well. The J-Bar also has a wide mouth, so it should be easier to load and unload your kayak on and from the roof.

With this design, the kayak is stored on your roof on its side. That leaves more space on your car roof for another kayak or for extra luggage.

First you will have to determine if the J-cradle will fit the crossbars on your vehicle. You can do that with some online research to find some customers who have used this Malone on their car that’s the same as yours. You can also call the company to make sure. If you don’t have crossbars on your car roof yet, you can get the one from Malone which is guaranteed to accommodate this kayak carrier.

This kayak carrier does come with JAWZ mounting hardware, which is designed to match square, round, and most stock oval cross rails. This also includes the pre-coated mounting bolts that measure either 60mm or 70mm.

This comes with a boarding ramp that makes loading the kayak easy. This ramp has a hole that lets you stick the strap through before you connect to the buckle. This helps keep everything tidy and secured.

With its folding feature, you also have more overhead clearance. Your kayak is also protected by the over sized padding, which are covered by protective nylon sleeves so that the pads don’t rip apart right away.

This uses a single strap to attach to the bar, and it uses very heavy steel for the strap. It’s molded to accommodate square, round, or even elongated stock bars. You also get protectors for the buckles.

Also, it can match up with Yakima, Rapid Aero, standard Thule, and Xsporter bars. The hardware is easy enough to put on and remove, so you can transfer this kayak carrier easily from one vehicle to another. You don’t even need tools for the installation.

With these carriers, you can place up to 4 kayaks side by side on your roof. The kayaks can reach up to 75 pounds in weight and 34 inches in width. All the rope, straps, and ratcheting hooks you need to secure your kayak are all part of the purchase. You even get additional ropes and straps to secure your kayaks at the front and rear.

When you’re not using these carriers, you can fold them down so they’re not sticking up. That leaves you with more overhead clearance and the more aerodynamic profile should minimize the wind resistance and the resulting fuel consumption.

This rooftop rack is 38 inches long and 9.5 inches wide with a height of just 3.5 inches. You have 2 of them on your car roof so you can secure your kayak on top without damaging your roof or your kayak.

This usually comes with a double action air pump to inflate the rack, but you can use a more effective air pump to make the setup go faster. It comes with load straps, but you can use extra straps to be sure.

It’s made of 420-denier nylon which makes it tough enough for kayaks. It offers 5 D-ring anchor points so you can strap down the kayak securely on your roof. You can use this for any kayak or even lots of furniture since it can take 180 pounds of weight.

This is easy enough to install, and it should match any vehicle that doesn’t have crossbars. However, it’s not compatible with cars that have side curtain airbags.

Buying Guide - Best Kayak Roof Racks

So how do you pick the best one among these options? If you’re going to look at other kayak roof racks outside this list, which factors should you focus? To help you out, here are some considerations that you should factor in.

Vehicle Roof Setup

This is perhaps the most important factor you must consider before you buy a kayak roof rack. The base setup of a vehicle roof tends to be one of these types:

For your bare roof or for stock rails without the crossbars, the most inexpensive and simplest option is to install inflatable or foam pads which won’t need the additional purchase of aftermarket crossbars. If you want better options such as cradles and saddles on your roof, you will have to get those aftermarket crossbars as well.

You also need to check up on the load capacity of your roof. That’s a concern when you have several kayaks to transport. The compatibility of your kayak roof rack with your existing roof setup is also an issue. Often a particular kayak roof rack will require a specific type of aftermarket crossbars.

Number of Kayaks

If your roof can handle more than a single kayak, then you’ll also need a kayak carrier that can carry more than one. Most options can do up to 2 kayaks at one time. If you have 2 kayaks and a narrow car roof, then a set of J-Cradle racks should do just fine.

If you have more than that, you need a kayak roof rack called a stacker. A stacker can load up to as many kayaks as your roof’s width and loading capacity will allow.

Driving Distance

Obviously if you live right next to the water then you won’t need a roof rack for your kayaks in the first place. But if you don’t have far to drive, then a temporary solution like an inflatable or foam pad on your roof will be enough.

However, you’ll need something more secure if you have a fair distance to drive. That’s especially true if you have bad roads along the way or if you encounter inclement weather. A foam pad under these conditions may just be blown away. You may also have to tie down your kayaks too tightly that you end up damaging them.

So for longer distances, more secure and solid racks such as saddles and cradles are more suitable.

Ease of Loading

When you tend to go kayaking very rarely, then you may not mind having to put up with more inconvenient loading procedures. That’s because the racks that are harder to load tend to be more affordable as well.

But if you absolutely need a more convenient way of loading, then you need more advanced options with more convenient loading features. These will come in handy if you’re a daily kayaker since you don’t waste too much time every time you go kayaking.

The best kayak roof racks should be able to fit your roof, handle the number of kayaks you have, very secure, and easy enough to load. All the features must come with a price tag you can actually afford. These kayaks aren’t impossible to find—in fact, they’re all right there on the list of kayak roof racks we’ve compiled for you!