I'm writing Yakima to ask if these rear pads will fit into the rearmost optional crossbar holes. I'm doubting it. Good mounts but very short distance between front and rear crossbars for many applications.
Agreed....your hack makes good sense, but since they didn't use that principal, I can't help but wonder why. They could have designed special claws to grip the tiedowns even better and maybe a special rubber base to best handle the railgrab. I didn't think their system would accommodate both bar spreads, but I want them to say it.
I just bought them. Will let you know how they work out. Also bought the 58" cross bars. I am new to the Outback and hope these aren't too long. I have the Yakima supdawg and kayak Jaylow so need the length to load both.
Mounted these today. At first I was really disappointed how high these put the crossbars but the high, plus the forward mount of the rear crossbar allows me to open the trunk without running into my Thule Spirit box. Top of crossbars are 5.5 - 6.5" above the roof.
The spread isn't ideals for boards or boats obviously but I supposed it's manageable. All in all, I'm just happy I can fit a full size box and two bikes.
Someone needs to make a custom tower that ties into the tie-down hardware...
Pictures of Yakima Landing Pad 15, Control Tower and Cross Bars
Here are a couple of pics with newly installed Yakima Landing Pad 15, Control Tower 4 and 58" Crossbars. I bought all the set up direct from Yakima for about $450. Have had them on a couple of weeks now and no problem. I have a Yakima SUPDAWG and kayak attachment (Jaylow) and was able to fit both with no problem. I did the installation myself (girl with no handy skills!) fairly easily.
Good work on applying the Yakima products. Look real good. Just too bad that Yakima did not design the tower to fit on the rearmost crossbar position. In almost every case a longer distance between bars is desirable for load stability.
I just bought the Landing Pads with 58" bars this last weekend and they look really good. However, when I tried to put on my Yakima Fairing, it didn't seem long enough (in depth). It is almost vertical, which doesn't help much. I asked Rack n Road if they have a different fairing and they told me that I would have to buy an old Thule Fairing off of ebay for $100 or so. I feel that Yakima should have thought this through as their new fairing's are too short. Anybody else have this experience as well? There's quite a lot of whistling with just the bars.
Somewhere in all the discussion about bars over various threads, someone had mentioned putting a spiral of elastic cord along the bar (similar to the way some antennas are shaped). I'm not sure how well this works, as I've never tried that approach (but may have to, as I'm probably getting the Landing Pads).
Skip the fairing and get a Yakima Windjammer. Way cheaper and they work great. I used to use Yakima fairings, but they have been sitting in my garage since I got the Windjammers. As an aside, if you do get a fairing you can easily "debadge" the Yakima logo off it with a rag and some acetone to give it a cleaner look.
Once I took off my SUP and Kayak attachment I experienced howling wind noise with the yakima cross bars. I bought the Yakima fairing to cut the noise and this did work. However, the fairing was not a great fit and while there was not the howling noise, the fairing was making a banging noise . So I read here someone wrapped bungee cords around each bar to cut the noise. So I took off the fairing and tried this approach. Worked like a dream. Wish I had tried this first before buying the fairing!
And any kayak shop would have black stretch bungee type material that is used for the elastic cargo holddowns on kayak decks. Sun resistant and not as large as actual bungee cord.
We got the Subaru branded Yakima J Kayak carriers BUT the problem that we did not anticipate is that my wife and I are too weak and old (who thought that the new Outback would have been taller than my old Forester) to lift the kayaks up to the roof rack safely......just used the J carriers once!
I think we're going to sell the carriers and get a Malone set with the loader accessory which looks like it's a much better solution for our needs.
Anyone interested in a set of carriers used just once? PM or email me if interested..........won't be doing any kayaking during the winter anyway!
The ultimate would be a pair of the Thule hullavators but it would be costly and your car would look like a moose on the loose when not carrying boats. I fine the outrigger type device offered by Yakima is a good solution for someone that can lift one end of the boat easily. I can almost load my 65 pound kayak with one hand using this, but could never load the boat at all without it. Of course you need real Yakima crossbars.
Good luck Steve and don't let it beat ya.....
I'm not "beat" just yet.........I think I feel so good for an older fellow (68) that I just assumed that my wife and could lift the kayaks more easily than it turns out we could.......DOH!
I really want to keep the swing out aero bars as is so my choices are limited.
Now I know why I used to think that so many old folks were crabby........physical stuff just slowly gets harder to accomplish.
Worse comes to worse, I'll build a PVC tube loader arm that I can use to rest one end of a kayak first, then pick up the other end of the kayak and swing it onto the J carriers......I'd just rather get a system that works......and besides, I want to spend money on stuff for the car!!!
Steve..... PVC may not be sturdy enough. The "outrigger" bar that I use by Yakima flexes quite a bit with the boat propped on it. And as it flexes the boat slides to the far outer end. I understand that the J carriers are the only way to go if you want 2 boats on the Subie swingout bars.
BTW, I have a year on ya and just had a shoulder replaced, so I feel your pain.:wink2:
OMG, you're older than me? Well, Thank God we "met"........it's nice to know that there's someone else around who knows what I'm meaning about the aging process.
As for the PVC tube idea, I saw a simple inverted "L" leg that someone built on eBay........if you build it with enough gussets and parching, it should work. The real trick is to get it to mechanically cooperate with the roof rails so it stays in place while you handle the kayak load...........
I just listed them on the "classified" section of the Forums so perhaps I'll still be able to see them...if not, then I'll try Craig's List. We're late into the season for any warm weather sports so I expect that I'll have them thru the winter anyway.......plenty of time to get creative as far as a potential design, if I do go that route.
Naturally, I'll post the images IF I decide to build my own.....
Now that I'm retired and learned to have fun, everything hurts!!! But not having to go to work makes it all worth while. Trouble is that you can't expect top do next yr as easily as you did it this year....LOL Yeah you can get new parts, but it's a 6 mo hiatus for each recovery. I know a lot of people in group road cycling, kayaking, downhill skiing in their 70s and 80s that are doing better than me, so I keep on pushing.
I just installed a set, and bought the control towers to go with them. There are two types of landing pads in this set: bare mounts and catch mounts. The catch mounts are for the receptacles that the factory bars pop in and out of. The control towers fit great in the catch mounts. However, the receptacle for the control towers in the bare mounts is a tiny bit too narrow to allow me to insert the control towers. It only appears to be a millimeter of so, but it makes them unusable. Maybe I just got a lemon, but I have a hunch they made a bunch of them this way. I really need these to work. The @#$ factory rack is worthless to me otherwise because it isn't wide enough. I generally love the Outback, but I probably wouldn't have bought it had I realized how big a problem the factory rack would be.
I don't care for the stock OB racks. They surely waste fuel and are limited in their application. I suspect Subaru is selling some sort of off road expedition fantasy, as the bulky racks disguise the station wagon lines and imply something taller and Camel Trophy ready.
We have already Thule Hullavators for use on the pick up and need a clean way to use them on the OB. The Landing Pads are less than svelte, for sure.
OK, just weighed the Hullavators (2 pair) and 60" bars. 85# for the set.
The total weight of the Pygmy kayaks we built is about the same. Carrier system + boats = ~170#.
Per the Yakima website: The maximum weight that a Base Rack/Mount combination can carry on your current vehicle is 164.99 lbs
This and the close crossbar mounting give me pause.
Save the (meno)pause jokes, I am so far ahead of you... LOL
I had been warned by Yak that they were not going to design for the back crossbar position. Did my own solution with 1/8 inch steel and replaced the tie-downs to install #1 Landing Pads from my old Trailblazer. The tie-downs are the strongest point on the rack system for the Gen 5 Outbacks. Works great and I can now carry both sea kayaks (18ft ones) without a problem.
Yamika's new "landing pad" for the OB is a good product but the spread between bars is only 29.5" per Yamika.
I learned that Thule is creating a similar product that has just been sent to production.....so I asked them for some specs. See below. It's unfortunate but it appears that Thule's design provides 5.5" less bar spread and does not accomodate my Yamika bars, so the product is not for me.
Discussion Thread
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Response Via Email(Chris Yeager) - 03/14/2016 01:58 PM
Thank you for contacting Thule!
The maximum distance is 24".
You can not use Yakima crossbars on Thule Foot Packs.
Thank you for the inquiry and have a great day!
Customer By Email (x itzbob46@aol.com) - 03/13/2016 12:32 PM
Great news, but I have two critical questions that you can answer now.
What is the maximum distance between crossbars with your new system?? Yakima's is 29.5".
Can it accommodate round bars such as yakima's?? I already own bars, cradles, etc and don't want to buy redundant.
Thanks, Bob
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