: I am trying to identify a used car that can convey both my kayaks at the same
: time. We don't want a minivan or an SUV, so a wagon seems the ticket.

I've no idea what these terms mean in the US car market - in the UK, a
minivan would be far too small to carry a kayak... whereas a wagon would
carry thirty tons :-)

We have a Subaru estate car - a Legacy Outback. No doubt something similar
exists over there. The main point about this is that it is longer than a saloon
and has longitudinal roof bars to which a rack attaches. The lockable bits
which fix on the longitudinal bars say "max. 100kg" on them - I don't know
if this actually means 100 kg (220 lb) per attachment point, per bar or for
the whole rack. However, I replaced the supplied cross bars with longer ones
from an old roof rack from a van I used to have, and can now fit at least
five kayaks on the roof (four sea kayaks and a plastic river boat). Wind
loading with all these on doesn't seem a great deal more than with just one,
but the mass is certainly greater, which affects cornering somewhat. The five
boats probably weigh over 100kg empty, but of course, being sea kayaks with
sealed hatches and cockpit covers, we store light bulky stuff like buoyancy
aids, spraydecks, sleeping bags, thermarests, paddling clothes, split paddles
and as much else as will conveniently fit in them in the boats during travel.
With wind speeds less than about force 4-5, I can drive just as fast as I
normally would, except for being a bit slower on tight bends. With the sort of
gusty force 6 and above we get on the transpennine A66 near home, I find that
it gets a bit unpleasant above 80, and tend to keep the speed down to 70 (the
legal limit) if it is at all busy. I haven't driven in winds much above force
7, as that tends not to be good sea kayaking weather :-)

We've also had three kayaks and a 17' Mad River Revelation - a 33" beam open
canoe - on the roof. The Canadian doesn't have a cover, so acts like a large
scoop for the wind (it has to go on its side rather than upside down, to fit
the kayaks on too). This tends to be able to swerve the car around on exposed
motorways near the coast in force five to six winds - coming out of a cutting
at 90, I had to drop the speed down to 70 rather hurriedly on one occasion.
Even when the force was such as to knock the car about unpleasantly, there
have been no signs of the load coming loose or the rack being strained.

If it is going to be at all windy, I tend to tie the ends of the boats to
the ends of the longitudinal bars, as well as using canoe straps round the
boats to the uprights. This doesn't stress the boats the way tying to the
bumpers would, but does stop the boats moving forward in emergency stops,
or off the back under hard acceleration. It would also keep the boats on
the roof for long enough to stop safely if the rack itself failed.

So, go for whatever car is long enough and has a strong basic rack (not
something that clips to the gutters) - you can then build in enough
redundancy to your tie-down system to avoid the rack being strained and
cope with any failure if the worst happens.

Andy