Nice addition! I like what appears to be extra brake lights at the base of your holder - What about stabilizing the top portion of the rack? Is it attached at some point? Does it shake with just the receiver hitch connection?

great job , very creative system

nice rack you built. I would measure the height so you know how tall you stick up so you don't end up hitting a low clearance or tree branches. From your profile picture looks like your ok would hate to see you lose your kayaks. safe travels.

Yes, those are extra lights. We do run a ratchet strap (not shown in this picture) from the middle vertical bar where the middle crossbar is at down to the outside corners of the rack to help stabilize it.

Dean did measure everything before he built this just to be sure that we are good. The back of our trailer is quite a bit lower than the front. This type of rack would not be good for kayaks that are longer than 10' just for the reason you mentioned.

Very Nice! Thx!!

I thought that was the case after seeing your profile pic. :smile:

I cheated & bought an inflatable ( http://www.jouetsdo.ca/boutique.html ) from Advanced Elements. Just throw the bag in my wagon, head over to the resort's air compressor to inflate, pull it down to the lake

You saved quite a bit of money as these https://www.rvkayakracks.com/ are very nice and you can add a bike rack, but are quite expensive. I have seen them on some 5th wheels and 10' kayaks do not rise above the air conditioner. We are planning to get rid of our inflatable in favor of hard kayaks and considering one of these racks. Two things give pause, price and also while these are great to get to the campsite, but how do you transport the kayaks to the water if not at the campground? Considering the cost of a good kayak, I am not sure I want to transport them in the back of the truck and then the hitch would need to be removed. Anyway, nice job.

We bought 12’ kayaks this past summer and had the same dilemma except that we have a 5th wheel. We tried all kinds of things and finally drug out the old Yakima system that we had used on an older Dodge Ram truck and found that it worked for our new Dodge Ram!! It’s a little unusual looking but works great. No flapping, and we can also transport them to the water after dropping off our 5er!!

sorry for late reply. We do carry them in the back of the truck, they fit on either side of the hitch.

Thanks Pam, We bought expensive carbonite kayaks and was not comfortable laying the in the bed next to the hitch. I found that the 12' kayaks extended a foot and a half too far back, interfering with turns with the 5th wheel and properly placed with the cockpits within the front and rear rack. My solution was to install a front hitch to accept the Thule Goal Post as pictured. Now the Kayaks are completely clear of the 5th wheel. The third rack in the rear are rollers to help make loading easier but are not used for travel, though they could be.