Hauling Kayak on top of camper shell?

Gents,

Finally purchased a kayak and am now looking at Thule/ Yakima racks for the top of my camper. I'm having some bad luck ordering through a local sports store here in Vacaville and was wondering if any of you have some ideas on mounting the kayak to the top of the ARE camper top. Currently, I just place the yak in the bed of the truck, leave the tail gate down and close the back window hatch, but I can not see that hauling method lasting long with 5' of yak extending out the end of the truck. What ideas do you all have for me. The Tacoma has no racks or rails on its camper top, so I've essentially got a blank slate to work with. What do you all suggest; Yakima, Thule, or something else all together?

My next truck will have a shell so I am interested in any answers posted.  I know I have seen bars bolted onto shells and they have been some pretty wide bars.  I wonder if the bases are custom made, or can be bought from Yakima or Thule?  I will be looking for followup posts.

I grabbed some rails from a Jeep Cherokee and mounted them to my shell. I started to build a rack but haven't had time to finish.

I have Yakima racks on mine. They make a piece called a side loader. It basically makes a small rain gutter on the side of your shell. Then use the rain gutter roof. Mounts with whatever accessories you want. Go to Yakima.com. Here is the link. http://yakima.com/shop/rack-systems/permanent-installation Use the 1a towers with the shell mounts. Easy.

Thule makes a bolt on foot pack. You do have to drill holes in your shell. You can run any size bars up there, 78" is the longest they make. Any Thule dealer should be able to order them. You need the 480 podium foot pack, podium base 3113, and a set of bars. It's on page 22 of the Thule catalogue.

I have yakima bars front and back. In the front I have the yakima saddles, in the back I have the yakima Hully rollers. This setup works great for me, though you need to be careful when loading by yourself to prevent scratching the paint on shell. Heres a pic, taken at white rock lake

I think the Yakima or Thule track system is a good way to go.
They are both good but I would suggest Thule because the circular Yakima bars can twist.

You can mount the tracks on your shell then the feet go into the tracks. (http://www.thule.com/en-US/US/Products/Base-Racks/LoadAccessories/TP54-54,-cit-,-Tracks-with-Flare_-_Nut-fastners#).
A nice feature about the this set up is it allows you to adjust the distance between the bars.

Another cool accessory to add to the cross bars is this: http://www.amazon.com/Kayak-Canoe-Locking-Carrier-Board/dp/B005W1BP4M/ref=sr_1_2?s=sporting-goods&ie=UTF8&qid=1362552413&sr=1-2&keywords=Inno+kayak+rack
which allows you to lock your kayak with a key.

I started off the same with my Mazda. I got a pro-deal on some Yakima racks so went with those. I used the little bolt on brackets on the camper shell (if you install these beware of drilling too close to the window frames of the shell) and put the standard yakima clamp on towers on them. I have the roller/saddle setup and really like it. total cost was probably about $250 but that was 8+ years ago and I abuse the rack system regularly so l feel like it was worth it.
For a tight budget you might check out the brackets & feet NRS sells. You can use 2x4 lumber for the crossbars.

 

  I currently have a "Hi-Liner" campershell on my Dodge 2500, I installed the Yakima rail & gutter mounts with yakima's longest cross bars, and the bars are up about 7 feet!  10 years ago when I installed them, lifting my OB was not as difficult as it is now (I'm not immortal anylonger! )
 For short trips now, I shove my OB in the bed.  Unfortunately now, loading it on top has become a chore.  My next step, if I want to continue loading it up on top, is to use a small winch to haul it up!
  I saw a video of a guy on NWKA site that did this, however his truck was a Toyota, and his shell was same leve as the trucks cab. (About 5 feet)  His small winch was mounted to his campershell.
He used foam blocks under his kayak on the campershell.

Thank you for all of your replies! After much debate, I went with the Thule rack system for the ARE. After all the hassle, the "store" was able to get the 58" load bars, 460 Podium foot pack and the 3101 fit kit for me, cheaper than I could find it on line! I ordered the tracks, TB-60, and a friend it giving me a set of J-racks. Hopefully, I will be able to install next week.

and a friend it giving me a set of J-racks. Hopefully, I will be able to install next week.

Actually had J-racks on my Explorer's factory installed racks but sold them.  I ended up replacing the factory racks with Yakima racks because I didn't feel comfortable with the J-racks.  With the Yakima's, I just load my 2 kayaks upside down straight onto the bars.  Would have gone with the Thule but the cross bars didn't come long enough for my kayaks to sit side by side upside down.

All,

Finally got everything mounted and took a short vacation to Collins lake this week. Only malfunction was that one of the podium foot covers blew off and was lost. Thought I had them secured, but..... Took the other three off for fear that they may blow off as well. Anyone have problems with this issue?

The snap on feet are nice for convenience, but for strength and durability, I would go with the fixed ones.  I had the one in the picture above and had feet break and eventually everything flew off with two kayaks, a hullavator, and j racks.

On my Jeep hardtop (aka camper shell) I welded up some bars out of black pipe and some angle iron. Roll your own!  I simply drilled through the top and used stainless bolts, lock nuts and fender washers on the inside. Cooped it all with silicone on the inside so I don't get dripped on. Held up fine last few years. Kayaks don't weigh that much just need a way to tie them down to keep from flying off. I could not find bars for my Jeep and did not want to pay hundreds of dollars for each component in the Thule/Yakima set ups.

In other words don't be scared to just screw something to the roof

Use a bow strap secured to the front of your car too. Takes a lot of the upward lift away from the kayaks and racks.