It’s spring and the weather is beautiful.
It seemed like the perfect day to go for a paddle through Mine Falls Park in Nashua.
I grabbed my kayak, which still had the foam on it from the carrier I use when it goes on the roof of the truck and carried it out of the basement to the car.
The kayak was not going to go on the car with the pads. Little car, big truck. So, I decided to put the kayak in the truck. It’s way too much trouble to put it on the roof of the truck, which is actually a Saturn Outlook and is probably called a “crossover".
Put 1/2 of the back seats down, pushed the front passenger seat forward and stuffed the kayak in. It didn’t fit. Tried reclining the front passenger seat instead. Still didn’t fit.
And so, I put my kayak in the garage and thought about the stuff I already had and how I could move a kayak with the least amount of effort.
The answer that came to me was my Yakima roof rack, which worked great with my other Mazda. I remembered the whole system was modular and the every car had it’s own configuration, so I went to their site and wandered about until I understood what parts I’d need to mount the bars on the roof of the car so I could put a kayak up there.
This took longer than I thought it would and looked extremely expensive, until I understood the terminology and the actual parts I needed, which were Q clips, and sold for $35/pair. I checked the Q clips I had, which weren’t suitable for my current car - and decided to update the rack and use it.
Tossed the Yellow Pages in the car, and gave my daughter a ride to a birthday party at Chunky’s. After she was settled with her friends, I started calling all the bike and ski shops in Nashua, Windham, Salem, and Merrimack to find a store that carried Yakima parts. None. Until Nault’s, in Manchester (see link). I told them which clips I wanted, they had them in stock and I went and got them.
Happy ending.
:)
Later update: Nault’s is now Blue Steel Cyclery. Same great products, parts and service.
And, the kayak has gone a few places on top of the car, not as many as I’d like, but more than it could have without a roof rack!