carrying sea kayaks

[kayak-kid]

I'm considering getting a Clubman to carry two 17-foot sea kayaks (55 pounds each). My question: How will the car behave in a stiff wind with the boats on top? Will we be blown about with these giant "kites" on top? Does anyone have firsthand experience?

[The Nun]

The roof will take the weight ok maximum allowable is 75kg total, 165lbs.
Dont know about how it will behave in a wind but I would expect you will feel it somewhat in high side wind conditions, 17 ft is 5 ft longer that the car too.
Perhaps you would be better off considering a Countryman, its a larger car to start with?

[ajseymour]

I have carried three white water kayaks and they have been fine in the wind on my Clubman. It all depends on the size of the sides of the boats, my boats were on their sides so they can would have been taller than sea boats but not as long.

Andrew

Sorry, I should have asked, do you have the roof rails or are you using the gutter bars?

[Angib]

You might like to see this photo of a scow I used to carry on a tiny Daewoo Matiz (800cc, 50hp, 1800lbs kerb)



Perhaps surprisingly, this was utterly stable at speed - it would lean over a bit in crosswinds but track straight, possibly better than the car did without it. I put that down to loading it well back so that it didn't upset the aerodynamic stability. Whilst big, it was light, well within the roof rack load.

Incidentally it was a superb fast lane cruiser as well - with a good run up, it would get up to about 75mph maximum speed and the road would empty like the parting of the Red Sea - I reckon most other drivers wanted to get the hell out of its way, assuming it was an accident about to happen.