Thule or Yakima for easiest one person loading on an SUV?

Hi, I did some searching and just came out with more questions I'm hoping someone can help me answer...

I have a BMW X3, kind of a Highlander/Escape sized SUV. We are looking to pick up a Hobie Mirage Outfitter within the next couple of months and I would like to be able to load/unload with one person.  I realize it's a 2 person yak, but it's likely I'll be fishing from it by myself frequently.

This yak weighs 72 lbs and is 34" wide, so I've been looking at the 'lift assist' type racks, like this rack by Thule: http://thule.com/en-US/US/Products/Watersports/WatersportCarriers/897XT-Hullavator. Is this overkill?  I want to do it right, but at the same time I'd obviously rather spend the money to accessorize the yak...

It seems like a lot of people use roller setups like the Yakima Hullyrollers and aero saddles. Are those viable in my situation on an SUV with a heavier, larger yak? Seems like a good way to scratch up the yak and/or vehicle while loading... http://yakima.com/shop/water/top

I gather I should avoid round bars, but beyond that any brand preferences?

Are the aerodynamic bars worth it? Noticeably quieter?

Anything else I should consider? Weight capacity is something to consider, I eventually will be adding bikes or some other storage, or potentially a 2nd kayak...

Thanks for any info! I (we) can't wait to truly be a part of this community as kayak owners. We both fish and love the outdoors and fishing from a kayak seems a perfect fit for our lifestyle.

Lyle

I use a Yakima system with round bars, land shark saddles, and one of these:
http://www.yakima.com/shop/water/top/boatloader
I've been using this system for a couple of years now and absolutely love it.  It's cheap and effective with a minimal amount of moving parts.  You won't regret getting longer bars.  REI sells all this stuff at great prices.

Welcome to the community!

I am with Rawk. I own a Hyundi Santa Fe and have a Yakima rack. Shark saddles in front and Hully rollers in back. Works just fine. Bought most of the part that I needed on craigslist and ebay.

I bought a Thule Slipstream:
http://www.rackattack.com/product-pages/thule-887xt-slipstream.asp

It's a "load assist" rack that assists you by sliding to the rear of the roof so that you can load the boat one end at a time without sliding it across the top of your rear hatch.  It takes some fiddling to get it adjusted right, but it works really well for my van.  It's not cheap, but if you find the right deal it's not that much more expensive than buying saddles, etc.  And it works well with factory bars.

Yakima makes a "pull back roller" called the show boat.......it costs $100 and a bargain protecting the rear hatch spoiler/ 3rd. light assembly on my Subaru Outback.
I have 4-Mako saddles to nest the kayak in for securing/travel.......I can easily roll my Hobie Outback into the Yakima roof rack.

Excellent, thanks for all the info!

The hulivator is the easiest but, it costs a tons and takes up a lot of room on the roof.  All the other methods work too and once you get your technique down are pretty easy.  As far as the aero bars, they supposedly make a noticeable difference when you have just the bars on the car.  With racks, boats and bikes on our roof you will still get plenty of wind noise though.   

When loading one end at a time, don't forget a ground pad to protect your kayak. 

We bought the showboat, all the fittings lead to a lot of flex if loading outside the bounds of the two support bars.  Likely not an issue for a single close to center kayak, we run into the problem with two kayaks on a VW sportswagen, which also requires that the roller needs to be extended quite a bit to the rear, leading to more flex.   The flexing occurs with maybe 42 pounds of kayak and gear   If you can mount the Yakima rollers to the rear with the Kayak not scratching the top of the vehicle at the rear, that would seem appealing.

When loading one end at a time, don't forget a ground pad to protect your kayak.

Good point.  I use one of my van's heavy duty rubber floor mats for this.  Works great and it's already in the car anyway.

When loading one end at a time, don't forget a ground pad to protect your kayak.

Later than I care to admit  (I still haven't started doing it), but I'm with Demo. I'm only loading to waist height, into the bed of my truck, but everytime I do, I think about the damage I'm doing to my kayak ends as they pivot and get drug across sand, gravel, asphalt, etc.

Then Gobius says he uses a floor mat...Well, duh? I use mine all the time to stand on, getting out of my waders and never considered it for my yak....Great tips guys!!

I found the simplest way to prevent my Hobie Outback from sliding backwards while loading is to connect a short (12" long)  nylon line to the back carrying eye with a loop in which I snapped a 6 foot long line terminated to my trailer hitch.
If the Kayak is placed about 6 feet behind the vehicle at a 45 degree angle.....snap the 6 foot line to the short line terminated on the stern carrying loop, life the bow up and onto the showboat roller......slide/push it so it's centered over the roof.......lift the stern up and it easily rolls onto the roof top Yakima Mako saddles.
This method prevents the kayak from moving or sliding off the show boat roller........and you are only lifting 1/2 of the kayaks weight at a time.

thule, schmoolie...

3 inch thick foam pads, ratchet straps side to side, and rope ratchets front to rear on my F150 with cab height shell.

lean T15  hull down against the upper rear edge, walk to stern keeping hands on yak, squat, lift, push yak foward until 1 foot of yak over hangs both front and rear, turn yak deck inverted on top of pads, secure.

yeh it's totally caveman. yeh it works. i couldnt see spending $1550-1900 on the whole thule kit that included two hull -a- vators and the bed racks.     

Alternative, and common courtesy/practice among us used to be to help each other load at the end of the day. then, it just entails one person at each end , squat, lift in unison, and place on vehicle.

may have missed it, but IHOP, what do you carry that Enterprise sized Hobie of ours with?
[WR]

I have Yakima bars with two sets of the saddles.  Felt on the back saddles makes it easy to slide the kayak up.  I had initially tried a pair of the wheels but they didn't turn well and ended up returning them.  If I were to buy a new set, I would probably go with thule instead.  I get a fair bit of saddle rotation with the round bars when I on and offload (it was even worse with the rollers).  I imagine square or aero bars wouldn't have the same problem

Here's an idea from Wheeleez, so it could be yakima or thule and save some money to boot with this method.  And gain nice cart while you're at it.

http://www.wheeleez.com/kayak-canoe-cart-cartop-loading.php