Thule 883 Glide & Set Rooftop Kayak Carrier, One Color, One Size

I'm a short elderly woman who needed a reasonable way to roof-mount a kayak on my own. I returned my original Thule J mount which was too difficult to use by myself, raising a concern I would hurt myself eventually. This one is a dream to load! The pieces seem a little flimsy compared to Thule's solid J mount, but I didn't like the reviews I saw for anything similar. The four pieces are easy to mount on the cross bars, but clearly liable to be stolen so you can't leave them up. I'm not sure what the best spacing is between the pieces but there appears to be a lot of flexibility. The straps are very secure so I'm not worried the kayak will slip off. My kayak is a wide model and there is not enough room on my roof to mount more than one in this fashion. That's where a J mount would work better, but then if I were mounting two I would have an assistant.

I didn't know whether to give this product three stars or four. Three if you own a polypropylene kayak, four if its a fiberglass or composite. If your boat is poly, these will press "dents" (like oil canning) into the bottom of the hull. You're supposed to carry poly boats hull-side-up to prevent this. It's not a big problem though, if the hull is made of stiffer fiberglass or composite material. On the whole, the front parts with the rubber slings (set) are adequate to support the boat, but the rear (glide) supports with the nylon carpeted material do not adequately distribute the weight of the boat against the hull. The rear glide supports are too flexible and concentrate the weight over too small an area. If you leave the boat (locked!) to the top of your car too long, too many nights in the motel parking lot, you're going to produce dents in the hull where the rear supports were. Trust me on this. The rear supports need a redesign. The many sharp angles on the hardware used to attach the Glide & Set to the roof rack produce air turbulence vortices that "whistle" at high speeds as you drive. I ultimately found that cheapo foam blocks, and a 2' x 6' piece of nylon carpet runner from Home Depot, worked better for loading and unloading the boat from my car, and they did less damage to the hull when used over long periods on the road.

I have been using the Thule Glide and Set all summer on my 2009 Toyota Sienna Van to carry my 13 foot Necky Kayak. This is a great product. It does what it advertises and seems solidly built -- and fits my Toyota factory rails perfectly. Setting it up the first time took ~60 - 90 minutes of playing around. If I use all of the straps (provided) it takes 30 minutes to fully load the kayak and go. If I skip the front and back safety straps for very short slow speed trips it takes ~ 20 minutes.I put the kayak up on the roof without any assistance -- and adjusting its position is very easy. Once up on the roof the front "set" section really holds the kayak in place (when combined with the ratchet cables provided). I do use a Thule mat on the back of the van in order to protect the paint while putting it on and taking it off.

I ordered this carrier for my kayak on May 2nd 2013. The estimated delivery was between May 8th and May 11th. Longer than I expected but I liked the reviews so I went ahead and ordered it. The carrier never arrived until May 14th. I was quite irritated about it being delivered late but there was nothing I could do about it. My irritation was tripled when I opened the package and found that it wasn't new. The metal brackets used to hold the saddle to the rack had obvious signs of wear on them. The plastic coating on them had been ripped in spots right where the carriage bolts slide through it. Also, one of the bolts and one of the knobs that connect through the rubber saddle were disconnected while the other saddle was connected. Someone had either assembled one but not the other or disassembled one. Not sure but you would think with it being "brand new" that they would be identical. The third problem I had was the fact that I bought a Thule xsporter 500 pro rack for my truck along with this carrier believing that with them both being Thule they would be compatible. Wrong again. The carrier bolts that thread through the saddles, over the truck rack, and into the metal fastening bar are too short for the knobs to screw onto them. There are two different sizes of bolts (50mm and 60mm). Even the 60 mm bolts are too short. With as long as it took to get the carrier I'm not even considering sending it back. Just gonna suck it up and buy new bolts that will fit. Overall I am thoroughly disappointed in the entire transaction, from shipping to the product. I don't believe anyone would be happy with a new product price while receiving a used item in return.

Tried on a Volvo 2004 V70R. Kayak scrapes the rear spoiler before it gets anywhere near the "glide" part. It does this when you mount the Thule crossbar feet where they should be on the rear passenger doors. Maybe if you installed a factory rail kit from Volvo, you could bring the "glide" feet closer to the back. It doesn't work for my application, however. Bought a Thule Hullavator instead.

The best thing about this rack is you can load and unload your kayak by yourself. I have a 60 lb kayak I put on and take off myself with no one else's help which is awesome if you go by yourself ( which I do a lot). The other great thing about this rack is you can fold it down so as lays fairly flat that way I can fit in the garage at work ( only 10 ft clearance at the hospital I work at) I have a van so there's not a lot of clearance.. When I use the J racks I have to take them completely off or I hit the ceiling of the garage ( learned the hard way with that move). With these racks I can leave them on my car until the snow flies! easy to take on and off as well, store easily and don't take up too much space. Plus they don't break the bank. What could be better!