: What I am very curious about is what the structural failure was that led to
: the truck and boat going separate ways. You mentioned that the rack stayed
: on the truck but the saddles came off with the boat. Did the bolts break
: or something else?

: Mike Scarborough
: Friendship Kayak

Mike,
I used the Thule Hullaports on a yakima rack. I was assurred by the dealer that with these particular components it would be fine. I kinda wondered because the racks could be rotated on the round bars. Eventually though, I thought that this was an advantage in that I could lay the cradles down out of the wind when I didn't have the boat on top.

Anyway, on to what failed. The cradles are held on to the rack bars by a plastic kind of lower plate with threaded brass inserts. I think it a stronger material than simply plastic, but it's what broke. There's a bolt that comes through the top of the cradle and attaches to this plastic plate securing the cradle to the rack bar. I suspect that the wind which was blowing in gusts of of 40mph or more twisted the boat on the rack, one plate let go and the others couldn't take the strain. All of the plastic lower retainers were broken which is of course consistant with the consequent flight of the boat.

I'm pretty sure that if I had tied down the boat at both ends instead of just in the middle, the rack wouldn't have failed. I'll never load the boat up again without tying off the ends. That should eliminate the twisting action that I think cause this accident.