Transporting Two Kayaks on Minivan Roof?

[deerminator]

So I've been bitten by the bug after silently lurking on this part of the forums. I bought 12 foot long Future Beach fishing kayak Friday. Looks pretty close to what Dark Cloud has in some of his photos. Got it out this weekend to catch some sunnies and (living on a lake) took my 3 and 5 year olds out for several rides each day. My wife did the same and liked it so much she wants one of her own so we can all go out and said I might as well buy the same model or a fishing one at least so its multipurpose.

So back to my question, how do you all transport more than one kayak on a minivan or vehicle roof - other than buying a rack? We have a solid roof rack on our Chrysler minivan and it handles the one kayak with cris-crossed ratchet straps np. But the width of the van is narrower than two kayaks side by side. I've read some people stack them on top of one another and others suggested to put two kayaks at an angle across the rack. Looking for any thoughts on what people think is best if I don't want to fork out the dough for a fancy specialty rack. THANKS!

[Dark Cloud]

I was actually planning on buying the furture beach sit on top one you did. The store I got mine from swore they had 3 in stock. So after an hour drive and they didnt have em, I did some haggling(complaining) and they sold me the islander/caster for 125$ off, which brought it down to the furture beach's price range. They are almost identical except the adjustable foot rest...

You should be able to get both on a mini-van side by side no problem. I have had em on a focus and a grand cherokee. My two take up about 60 inches, I made my cross supports about 65in. I could get away with less actually because of the way the bottom of the kayak curves up. I bought some of those pad/carriers(about 35$ per set) that are designed for a kayak, they fit right on my cross supports and I lock the rig down with two ratchet straps around the middle and tie downs on the front and back. You could also buy those "thule" type rack that sit the kayaks up on thier side edge. I also use a small 5X8 utility trailer sometimes. With the back gate off it is easier than putting them on top, but the trailer is anoying to pull some places...

[Powerstroke]

Make longer supports if you need them from 2x4's or crawl up there and find the magic spot on the factory rack. I think you should be able to do it without extra materials, but every boat is a little different. Definitely check out the foam for the yaks. They help lock the boats in well requiring less strapping down.

[deerminator]

Thanks for the tips guys. Enjoy reading all the posts on here. I am going to get the second kayak later this week and play around with placing the two on the van roof. I think I will go with some cross bar supports that go out from the van a bit since the combined width of the two will be about 64 inches and the width of the roof/rack about 20 inches less.