Universal Turbo Rack Review

After a lot of looking around for a rack to carry my OK PT 15 and my wife’s OK Scrambler 11 I finally pulled the plug on a rack. Before you write the product off, let me explain our situation.

We have an 06 Nissan Frontier Crew cab that we bought used without a factory roof rack – I couldn’t get one installed since it’s done at the factory. Next I went to some local rack dealers and the major brands don’t make removable cross bars for the truck. They can mount permanent bars but I wasn’t a fan of holes being drilled in the roof, and if I ever sell the truck the rack goes with it, plus the wife didn’t like the look of it. At this point I was a bit stuck, did some looking around on the net and came across The Turbo Rack, seemed good on paper and I was a bit skeptical but after awhile I couldn’t find anything better. I picked up two sets (they are only sold as singles) from Cabela’s so if it didn’t work out I could return them.

About a week before our first planned trip which was down to Morro Bay they arrived. The small child in me opener one box and took it to the truck. It went on easy, no plastic parts and seemed solid. The night before we left we put both racks on the truck and started the load up process. The only issue we had was the truck was a bit slanted to they yaks wanted to slide off to one side. The band aid fix was some tape and some rubber non slip drawer material.

The trip down was great, no problems at all, kayaks didn’t move much at all even at highway speeds of 65pmh.

I was a bit concerned about the possibility of the feet denting the roof but that didn’t happen. The trip home was a bit of a white knuckle trip for me for about 90 min we had a good 50 mph cross wind which had things moving a bit. I stopped a few times to check straps and the racks and all was good.

All in all I am very happy with the purchase and the cost - $100 for a set compared to a Thule or Yakima setup that can run $400+. The manufacturer shows one rack used with an extend –a-truck which might be an option for others. Time will tell the longevity of the product but for know I couldn’t be happier. Here’s the links in case anybody is interested.

http://www.turbo-rack.com

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?id=0067254523580a&navCount=1&podId=0067254&parentId=cat20131&masterpathid=&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat21412-cat20131&catalogCode=IA&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat20131&hasJS=true

I'm liking that! NICE!

That looks like it would on my Ranger pickup with the Extend-A-Truck, but how did you attach the kayaks to the rack?  Do you have saddles or something? Got pictures??

Steamer47-

We didn't use saddles, we just put the yaks on upside down on the racks. I used a tie down (one for each boat) on the back portion from the yak to the track system in the bed of our truck, then a ratchet strap around both yaks and the front rack in the front. We also used a bow and stern tie down for each boat. I think I have some pictures, I will try to post them tonight...along with some pictures of your fishing trips.