Thule 854 Water Slide Kayak Carrier Accessory Mat Review

As the other reviewers say, the Thule Waterslide really does work much better than a towel or rug, and it costs no more. It's a good size and well made with cushioning to protect your car. Your kayak easily slides on it and the velcro straps make it quick to attach with a sure grip. Unlike other Thule and Yakima rack products, the Waterslide is also fairly priced for what it is. It's an essential part of my system to raise and gently lower my Delta 12-10 kayak onto my Volvo XC70 roof using the Thule Roll Model roller with the glide and set saddles.



Because the Waterslide is so slippery, your boat can unexpectedly slide off the back of your car at the wrong time in the wrong direction when you can't catch it. One drop of my boat on the ramp tarmac taught me that lesson. So I now use my bow line rolled over the front roof rack as a guide and a brace to hold my kayak in place while raising and lowering it. I hold the line in my right hand to steady the bow, and then gently pull or slowly release the line to prevent the boat from sliding too quickly off the car. I keep my left hand on the boat hull to guide and support its weight. From my experience, I also highly recommend the Stowaway Kayak Cart for $59 at LLBean to complete a sensible loading system that can be used by one person. This well-built cart easily attaches to the stern of my kayak to support much of its weight during loading, unloading, and rolling my boat to the ramp. I'm a guy aged 62 with tendonitis who isn't planning to get any stronger at lifting boats, but I have used some extra thought to devise an affordable and portable loading/moving system that works for me...
Both my niece and I are short and I have a Town & Country van she has a Rav4, which makes it hard to load our kayaks. The Thule 854 water slide has made things very simple for us and we now do not worry about scratching the paint on either vehicle. We can even load the kayaks by ourselves if we have to. what a great little product with a great price.
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