Hi Chris,

If you can get a good spread between the bars, then the boat is
usually ok just being tied down at the saddles. However you are
putting faith in the rack. I know of someone with either a Yakima or
Thule (I think it was Thule, but it was a nice rack nonetheless) who
had the whole thing (kayaks and all) blow off the top of his car while
driving down the highway. In that case bow and stern lines would have
held things in place until he could pull over and fix the rack.

If you have a short span between bars, then you will want the end
lines to keep your hull from tweaking side to side. My rule is if the
saddles are at the bulkheads or further out to the ends, then I don't
worry about extra lines. If I can't get as wide as the bulkheads, then
I tie it down for all it's worth. I also cross my fingers and hope the
rack stays on (12 years and no problems yet).

- Eric

P.S. I haul tons of different boats, and half the time I use cheap
foam cradles instead of the Yakima cradles. They form to the hull
better, though with hard chined boats the boats sit on their sides
instead of upright. With Yakima saddles I can get hard chined boats to
stay upright. Tie to the rack not to the saddles. Your boat won't
bounce around that way.


"Chris" wrote in message ...
I'm looking into kayak transporting for the first time and realize how
important it is to transport a kayak safely. My question is if use a Yakima
rack and purchase their saddles is that all I have to use to tie down a
Kayak successfully? I'm not sure if my Dodge Caravan will allow the front
and back to be tied to the van.

Thanks

Chris