I am avid daytripper and wondered for some time about the Fits ability to handle fire roads that are typically seen on kayaking trips.

I am putting an order in for a thule rack when my next paycheck arrives

 

Unless the roads are so rough that the Fit bottoms out, the big issue is that long kayaks will pitch up and down ("hobby horse") because there is so little spacing between the roof rack bars. Front and rear tie downs help stabilze the kayak, but the pitching motion will put dynamic loads on the rack, essentially putting momentary loads greater than the kayak's weight on the bars, and therefore on the roof. So my big advice is to take it very slow on rough roads if you have heavy and/or long kayaks.

 

Excellent. Much appreciated and will take it slow.

Thanks for your time

 

@bryangoestoschool
You will be surprised what kind of road you can bring a Fit Sport down if you have the skill.

I recently used a typical dirt access road to a river in the mts. Even 4x4 drivers decided not to drive all the way down to the river and parked in the upper parking area. I reached the bottom and some good ol' SC boys looked up from rigging their fishing rods in disbelief. They were all very quiet until one gentleman said " Well...... that's a first" and went back to rigging his rod. I will have to admit that I could smell the clutch by the time I made it back up the road though and at one point I had to get out and move a rock.

Do yourself a favor and use Thule racks when you get your car. They fit VERY well. I had to sell my Q-Towers because of roof damage and the feet moving.

 

Checked out different racks wanted to find something to do on the weekends with the wife decided to try out Kayaking. Order the complete Inno rack and stacker system. Now have to get the Kayaks.

 

I may be the only other Inno user here, so let me know if you run into any questions getting it installed. Take your time installing the first time. It's pretty touchy getting the feet in just the right spot to make the clamps engage correctly. That said, I just got back from hauling around 90 lbs of renovation materials 800 miles on my roof, and the rack did great - no marks or dents of any kind on my roof.

 

Thanks based on your pictures it looks like they connect toward the rear of each door. My stuff will be in on the 26th I will at the Dragon's Tail that day.

I was wondering if, there was any type of paint protection tape similar to what came with my deflector that I could put underneath where it connects to the car?

I got my from Auto anything base rack, stacker (based on ORS video), and fairing shipped for around $395. If I substituted the Thule base rack around $490, But I saw great reviews from other Fit owners on the Auto anything.

 

Based on several reviews on here, I just ordered an Inno roof rack for my 17' sea kayak. I kept hearing that the Yakima foot pads rested on the curved edge of the Fit's roof and had a tendency to dent it and supposedly the Thule and Inno racks rested a bit on the rubber rain gutter and the peaked edge for strength. Inno won out on price. There was also these nicer looking for just a tad more, but I couldn't confirm that they didn't sit in the rain gutter.

So my question is: is there the possibility of mounting the front Inno bar forward closer to the Fit's A-pillar? Will that tower/foot/clamp safely attach to the more curved part of the roof line? I'll use bow lines, but I still want max bar spread because I'm extremely paranoid about my hand built mahogany kayak, which is very valuable to me. It's much lighter than my old poly boats, but also larger in volume and that catches cross winds much more easily. Thanks for any advice...

btw this is how I've been transporting my kayaks for years. Even though there isn't even a solid roof rack and a short roof line, the straps going through the windows ensured that there's no way that boat is coming of at hwy speeds.


This is my pride n joy now and I would be devastated if it went airborne - and so would the car behind me...

 

You'll have to try it, but I've found the towers and clamps are very sensitive to setup loction, e.g., just a small change in distance between the rubber foot and the end of the clamp can make a difference whether it clamps properly or not.

More important, I would rig up a bow tie down. If you reach through the grill below the license plate, you can find a reinforcing plate at the back of the steel bumper bar that you can thread a rope or strap through.

Nice kayak!

 

Ultrawolf, this is off topic, but I compliment you on your pictures. Especially the last one. It could be used in a Honda ad.

 

Can Thule racks be put on if you have Window visors?

 

Except for the guy in the background who looks like he's pee'ing on his kid!

 

I was gonna say the same thing, but didn't want to offend if that was you peeing or someone you knew...

I'll try on the placement of the front clip when the rack gets here, but I doubt I can move it. I just get an email from ORS Racks saying that the Inno would give me a 27.5" spread, the Thule 480 a 29.25" spread, and the Yakima a 30" sperad, but I've heard too many complaints of the yakima foot pads denting the Fit's roof easily. The rep said they were all engineered specifically and had to be placed in exact points on the roofline. Yeah, bow lines will be a must on such a short car...

 

This would solve the "hobby horse" issue, especially with the addition of Monroe Air Shocks. I use this conbination quite often with long, heavy loads and Fit handling is almost completely unaffected.

MAGIC!! Change Fitz into Trux - Honda Fit Forums

In the OP, the links for the load extender bars are now dead, but you can find the same hardware here:


To KCTitan- of course Thule and Yakima racks can be used on Fits with widow visors. The racks clamp to the underside of the door frames, not to the windows.

 

I've actually used on of those extender bars that attaches to a trailer hitch. This one fits a 1 1/4 inch receiver, which is what all of the Fit trailer hitches have:


Here's a home-made version I used to haul a big ladder. It's made from PVC pipe:

 

ultra, any pics you can post for your DIY PVC upright assembly??

 

Thanks for the reply. But really I feel like an idiot for not actually thinking that one through haha!

 

Sorry, but I never took a better picture. It was a one-time thing to haul the ladder 800 miles. The basic setup was:

• The car had a trailer hitch with a regular draw bar and hitch ball.
• The PVC fit over the hitch ball.
• At the top, I cut a notch in the PVC to cradle one of the ladder rungs.
• A webbing strap was looped over the ladder rung, spiraled around the PVC, and then under the hitch ball to pull the ladder downward (you can just see the yellow strap in the picture).

It was only meant to support up and down loads. The roof bars had to handle any side loading.

 

ultra,
thanks for the description. Good job for in a pinch.
I have a cargo carrier I use a lot, I may try and work off of that.
PVC, inexpensive and strong.

 

mjordansav - you sent me a PM asking about my bow and stern tie downs. But unfortunately, the forum controls say that you are not accepting emails - maybe you need to enable emails in your profile.

Anyway, I described my tie downs along with some photos on the first page of this thread, so just scroll down and look for posts by me.