> Bob, I have a few clc boat and think that one of the nicer aspects of hard-chine boats has nothing to do with paddling, it's that "secondary stability" on the rack, anyway, if your rack is too low to the roof of the car you may not be able to set the boat on its side as it may touch the roof inbetween the cross bars. Here's my 2cents. If the bars are far enough apart you can dispense with fancy "saddles" and just tie the boat down onto windsurfer style bar coverings. If you want to carry more than one boat neatly segregated, then get some cheap blue foam kayak saddles. On your Jetta, I assume that the crossbars are closer and that the boat is more supported in the middle necessitating a more secure fit, bow and stern lines,as well as saddles(foam or those proprietary devices).

I have a bias against the manufactured saddles because they kind of commit that part of the roof primarily to carrying kayaks, so if I want to use the rack to carry other things, or other boats, there's all this readjusting of the things. And to carry more than one boat there goes another $8o, if you want to carry 3 boats what then? not another saddle, so maybe a stacker.

I find a lot more versatile combo is having a stacker,then pieces of foam cut specifically to my boats. The roof is a lot more accessible and I've got $140 (less $40 for foam) left over for fossil fuel.