17 foot kayak on a speed 3

[blkMs3th]

in case you were wondering what it looks like. Oem racks, J cradles and 25 knot winds, worked well and cruised nicely.

 

[phillyb]

holy chi
i bet your gas mileage was terrible...
the rack and attachment are from mazda, eh?

 

[blkMs3th]

holy chi
i bet your gas mileage was terrible...
the rack and attachment are from mazda, eh?

yeah, racks ordered from japanparts, the thule option was nice but I wanted an OEM look (and was only about $50 more incl shipping). The J cradles are thule products, fit most racks. I actually wanted a Rolas rack (australian product) but the shipping was too much.

I only drove about 80 miles return and noticed no difference in gas mileage. I tend to take long trips once a year (1k +) with a boat on the roof and my last 2 cars only showed a drop of a 1-2 MPG.

The looks on peoples faces when I passed them was pretty funny.

 

[Foolish]

Note to self. MS3 < 17 ft long.

 

[SPEED305]

^lmao!

 

[Speed3xNoo8]

Cool , thanks

 

[phillyb]

Note to self. MS3 < 17 ft long.

srs lulz in this post

to the op: 1-2 mpg drop (uhm) ...that's it?

when i drove across the country in my previous car, i put a bike rack on the back and noticed my mileage decrease by about a third...

note to self...

kayak = more aerodynamic than bikes

 

[blkMs3th]

srs lulz in this post

to the op: 1-2 mpg drop (uhm) ...that's it?

when i drove across the country in my previous car, i put a bike rack on the back and noticed my mileage decrease by about a third...

I can't speak for the MS3 yet, but my previous cars (golf, crx) seemed more effected by crosswinds - fwiw I used saddles instead of J racks on previous rides. Dunno why bike on the back would be any worse?

With the MS3 I find it's so easy to drive "poorly" (in the sense of chugging back the gas via the turbo), so keeping it at 65 in cruise control with a boat on the roof yields better than my spirited "feel the turbo" driving. 'course, I am just guessing until I put some more miles on...

 

[phillyb]

my previous car was an 04 civic, and the bikes on the back were not parallel to the body of the car like the kayak is. they were perpendicular, so i think there was a lot of wind resistence.

 

[meha11]

thats the same one i have been looking at, glad it all works out. Is there room for 2 Kayaks? i hope so.

 

[blkMs3th]

thats the same one i have been looking at, glad it all works out. Is there room for 2 Kayaks? i hope so.

Using J cradles, I am not sure you could fit 2 boats, try the "stackers" (a vertical bar that allows one boat on either side, as opposed to the j cradles that are one boat only). The spread between the bars is much less than I'd like - especially when crossing the golden gate bridge in high winds but its seems to be working out so far.

phillyb - that makes sense about the bikes being perpendicular...

 

[TX Speed 6]

You should take it to a drag strip like that, it would be worth the laugh when you beat a few people with a kayak on top, ha ha ha