Kayak Rack/Mount for a soft top TJ

[bradleyfutter]

Hi all,

Ive recently bought a kayak for a bit of fishing. Currently Ive got a full cargo style cage on top of my TJ wrangler, so its easy to transport the kayak. But with summer approaching I want the flexibility to take the top down which cant be done while the cage is on the wrangler, and it’s a heavy 2 man job taking the cage on and off !!

Ive seen Thule make a kayak rack called a hitch mounted goal post, which would suit my needs perfectly !! but its $300, a little expensive I think for what it is.

Does anyone know if there are other companies out there that make something similar? Or anyone know anyone that could make me something like this?

Thanks
Brad

583

[khalak]

Wouldn't that design hit the spare tyre on the tailgate? Also, what does the front of the kayak sit on?

[MOP44R]

Wouldnt be too hard to fab something up out of inch 1-2mm think box steel, you make the rear holder to go into the tow ball hitch assembly (if you dont have one maybe harder), then make a bracket for basically the same thing for the front to sit in the bull bar (again no bull bar a lot harder).

So same design as above, but 2 of them and one sitting in the tow bar, one sitting on the bull bar.

Probably looking at less then $100-150 in materials, approx...

[bradleyfutter]

with my current roof rack setup I have a light bar up the front which supports the cage sittting on the another bar on the back (but no way to fix its position, plus it gets in the way of the soft top going up and down). So the front isn’t an issue. I’ve got a hitch receiver on the back, so just need to either buy something like the one I mentioned above (along with a hitch extension so it clears the rear tyre), or manufacture (I’m happy to pay for someomes time) something to achieve the same result.

it also needs to be reasonably strong, the kayak weighs around 30kg's.

[85cj7]

I could build you something like this. 2x2x3/16" box tubing base and 1.5x1.5x3/16" upper portion. This way you can pull the pin and slide the upright downward. This would make it easier to load the kayak. You could lower the uprights and slide the kayak on then push up on the uprights, thus rising the kayak into position and replace the hitch pin to lock it into position.