It's actually quite nice little tent-thingie. Makes it less claustrophobic in there.
I was going to go this week but I don't think camping in 100 degrees sounds fun. ; )
I made this roof rack for my truck in 2017 from HREW tubing and then bought some machined aluminum end caps to keep it from looking too home made. It has 5x 6mm bolts on each side threaded into the roof. I like that the boat's don't overhang the vehicle at all. Normally it has my wife's kayak in a Hullavator and my canoe on some "tie down bunk slicks" that I added this year. My canoe slides way better on those than the rubber strip on top of the cross bar. I added a bolt on the bottom outside to keep the canoe strap from ever being able to walk off the end. This set up works pretty well with a locking tonneau cover on the box. The pic with the 3 boats is a tight fit with the canoe on bunk slicks and 2 J racks.
I'm rolling with a 2025 Subaru Forester which replaced my 2014 Outback back in February 2025. I have 70" Yakima core bars and can haul two canoes no problem. Swift Cruiser 16.8...
So let's see, back in 2022 was one of my first uses of that little CRV for canoe hauling.
Here it is 2026, and I've got another totaled CRV...this one is a 2025 with a clear title (TX doesn't always brand them) and only needed a rear side window and two tail lights. I don't really care about the 50 or 60 hail dents.
And of course, the aero bar Thule's from the other CRV don't fit this one, and new feet for those bars were outrageously priced. I ended up reusing some of my old Thule Tracker II mounts (from my previous Honda Element) and drilling a few holes in the factory roof rails. Easy peasy.
I ran a '94 Ford Ranger into the ground (338,000 miles) and loved it (long bed even allowed for sleeping options)
Although I miss it at times, it was replaced with an '08 Fusion that gets almost twice the gas mileage. To haul canoes, I added a class 1 receiver and a t-post to the rear and a clamp-on rail to the front. This spaces the canoe supports about 9 feet apart and really does a nice job of stabilizing the canoe at (often excessive) highway speeds.
The hitch also allows for towing although I don't trust the transmission to hold up to heavy loads. Happily, I favor reasonably lightweight strippers so it works out pretty well.
Note: The rear of the car isn't sagging due to the trailer. It's the 700lbs or so of horseshoeing equipment in the trunk that was beating the snot out of the rear suspension. I've since replaced the stock rear springs and I may never buy another pickup (registration costs are 1/2 of what they are for "trucks" here too)
