Yakima ShowBoat Load Assist Including Crossbars, 66 -Inch

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Price: $171.09 Too low to display   

Product Feature

• Side-to-side adjustability for use with multiple kayaks
• Padded roller protects your vessel from wear; corrosion-resistant stainless steel and brass hardware protect Showboat66 from the elements
• Fits onto factory, Yakima round, square and most aerodynamic crossbars
• Works in conjunction with your existing or new kayak accessory mounts
• Compatible with canoes

Product Description

The versatile ShowBoat load-assist roller makes it painless to get your kayak on top of your vehicle � even if you re loading multiple boats onto your car rack system all by yourself. So you �ll never spend the day in the hospital with a double-hernia instead of out on the water.

Yakima ShowBoat Load Assist Including Crossbars, 66 -Inch Review

This device is probably fine if one plans to carry short, light, objects (for which it is probably not needed) on a large vehicle. The description conveniently omits indicating that both the maximum distance between the crossbars and the maximum extension on the rollers decrease dramatically as load increases. For example, with a 50lb boat, the crossbars can be no more than 38" apart (a stability problem with sea kayaks) and the roller bar can only be extended 24". not the advertised "up to 34". Second, if, unlike the illustration, if one actually wants to use the thing on a smaller car, with, e.g., a pair of kayaks, there is very little space on shorter (48") crossbars to position the Showboat brackets. If it can be done at all, the advertised side-to-side adjustability of the roller (critical to loading two boats) is lost.

Yakima's web site and fit guide says that the device will fit the car in question and that is true, but only if "fit" means "with little or nothing else on the rack" and/or "if you don't expect it to be functional".

Another issue is that, with only 24" of extension, if the rear crossbar is positioned far enough back on the car for the roller to be of any use (this will differ by vehicle, but even 12" between the liftgate and the crossbar is likely to be optimistic on a station wagon-shaped car), the front bar, at that 38", spread, will end up only about 50" from the car's rear window and not much further forward from the rear bumper. If the actual load is centered on the crossbars while being transported, that puts the load center around 25-30" inches from the rear of the vehicle. That may not only position the load to the rear of the vehicle centerline (bad if the car has limited roof rack weight capacity) but, for my sea kayak example, means that the boat is going to extend more than 6 feet past the end of the car, implying a requirement for flags, extra care in turning, potential problems with front and rear tiedowns, and some potential parking difficulties (e.g., I can park my car, with kayaks attached, in a fairly standard garage when the kayaks are centered on the standard placement of the crossbars but, if they are moved back and together to accommodate the Showboat, the additional overall length make that impossible.

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