Marsh Jones wrote:
Pull the factory cross bars and put them in the basement for resale
w/car, get Yakima or Thule 'towers' and bars, and either company's boat
clips. Spread the bars as far apart as you can, use good straps, and
tie the bow to the tow hooks or use flip-out under hood straps. Worth
every penny you spend, and it's a longer term investment than just one
car. Subaru's factory bars are OK, and their rails are the best in the
industry, IMHO, but I've yet to feel as secure with a fairly hefty boat
on the factory rails. I have 2 sets of bars, 60" and 78". The 78s will
take two 36" beam canoes with ease.
Note - don't get Thule's fancy mounted straps. Just get 12-16' straps
from NRS, Ketter, etc and loop them over and back. Much more secure and
spread the load much better.

Don't know if Subaru still does, but when the Forester was relatively
new and in the Auto Show in STL (mid to late 90s?), the nice Subaru
rep. lady told me Yakima made the factory racks for the Forester, as I
yanked on the Forester's factory rack and moved the entire car on it's
suspension (a trick I use to test the solidness of a rack!)

John Kuthe...