So you wanted to take the most fuel-efficient, aerodynamic vehicle and drop its mileage by putting a roof rack on it to stir up the air, huh?! hehehe Actually, I considered doing the same thing. The Insight was high on my list, too, but I opted for a turbodiesel VW Golf instead. I get 50+mpg on the highway (at real 70mph highway speeds, too!) without the rack, but when I bolt on my Thule rack, with fairing and no kayak on it even, it drops the mileage down to 45mpg under the exact same driving conditions.

Before committing to building a 3-piece kayak, though, consider a few other options:

1) There's the good ol' foam V-blocks and straps -- not quite as rock-solid as a rack, but not bad. You could even try those inflatable multi-purpose roof racks.

2) I forget who it was, but someone within the last week posted a picture of his custom roof rack that clamped in the door openings. Just coat the metal straps that clamp in the door openings with Plast-I-Dip so that you don't mar your new car's finish.

3) A trailer. It may sound goofy for an Insight, and there may not even be hitches available for them, but you can get really light-weight trailers for hauling kayaks. I once saw one being pulled by a VW Westfalia van, so that they could still use the pop-up camper. It was basically a tubular T-shaped frame with coil-over shocks and motorcycle wheels. Very light and very slick. If I had a real house of my own with a place to store a trailer (I live in a 'togetherment'), I'd have one like that just so that I wouldn't have to load and unload the kayak every time -- just hook up the trailer and go.

4) Here's another idea if you can get a hitch receiver mounted (and I think they can mount recievers to any car): build a cradle that mounts into the receiver. Have someone take a piece of square tubing that fits in the receiver, mitre it at 45*, weld it to another tube that goes straight up to just above the roofline of your car, and weld a V-shaped piece of steel on top. I'm sure that could be done pretty cheap. Just pad the V, use a V-shaped piece of foam on the roof, and strap it down. If you want to get fancy, have them make the large vertical post out of 2 pipes, one over the other so that you can adjust the height. This custom support would be easily removeable, and you'd still have the good aerodynamics of a smooth roof when you're not toting the kayak.

Dean

: I recently bought a very small car (Honda, Insight). Before I purchased the
: car I contacted several rack manufactures and they assured me they had
: kayak rack fit kits under development.

: They have since abandoned their efforts to design a rack for this car
: (..after I bought one of course). It is a small hatchback. I would like to
: build a kayak in three sections: bow, stern, and cockpit (I could fit two
: sections in the hatch back and store one section on the front seat). When
: assembled I would like to have a fun play boat for protected water.

: Can anyone recommend a design that would lend itself to being cut into three
: units? Hay, I there is a design for a segmented kayak, that would work
: too.