SweetRoll

Sweet Roll x2 sets sit on 70 inch cross bars of 2019 Forester (2 - 50 lb. sea kayaks). Use back window roller to feed hull up to the back roof roller. Slick load for 2 short older gals and easy tie down over boat, under bar and over boat. Travels great at highway speed. No movement - can't tell the boats are up there.

I've used hully rollers for many years but have become increasingly anxious about the amount of force I use when strapping down the kayaks onto the rollers. So, I purchased a Sweetroll to try for a season. I like the simple design and the shape seems to cradle a kayak more gently than Hullies due to their shape being more similar to the shape of the kayak itself. They are also much easier to adjust and put on and take off. I need a second rack and after a paddling season using a Sweetroll I've decided to go with a second Sweetroll instead of returning to a Hully Roller.

I have to laugh at people who write negative reviews based on their own ignorance. For instance their rack is too far forward so the kayak hits the rear of their vehicle requiring the use of a pad. Sorry, that's not a fault of the saddles. Your vehicle is part of a roof rack system. So be sure you give that the consideration it deserves when choosing. Also consider what it is you intend to place on top of it. Five stars because these are built to last and work as designed. Mine are several years old and I still love them. They make loading my kayak a breeze. If you have a heavy, soft plastic boat like a WS Tarpon 120 you may want to look elsewhere as you'll be placing 1/4 the weight of the boat on each of the four small saddles then strapping it down placing yet more pressure on those four points. Spending a couple hours there on a hot day may very well oilcan (dent) your boat. For thermo-molded and composite boats these are wonderful. My 14 foot composite boat weighs 34 pounds and my vehicle is not so tall or my rack so far forward that the boat approaches at a ridicules angle rubbing the vehicle. On my head, the boat is just about as high as my vehicle is tall. The boat makes contact with the rollers easily without requiring me to tilt it to an obscene angle. If this is your situation you'll love them. If you drive something really tall or long, or you paddle a heavy polyethylene boat, these may not be your answer. Choose wisely and don't blame the product if you fail to do so. As a side, I also own a WS Tarpon 120 and a 140. I use a Thule Hullavator on the other side of my rack for those boats. It works great and allows me to carry them upside down the way they should be carried to prevent oil canning... not to mention lifting about 40 pounds of that log to assist me in getting it on the roof. If your vehicle is long give them a look. If your vehicle is really tall, get a kayak trailer.

The rear rollers really helped me get my Axis kayak on to the roof of my taller SUV (4Runner) with much less effort. Kayak seems very secure on the saddles although I haven't traveled very far (or on the highway) with it yet. I read many reviews stating these saddles have a tendency to roll forward on the round load bars when loading a boat. I solved that problem by purchasing a 3" x 3" x 1/16" neoprene rubber sheet for a few bucks on line and cut into 4 pieces and put them between the bar and the saddle clamp, creating a very tight fit. So far so good!

Buried somewhere in the instructions is the requirement for 24” minimum crossbar separation between rear rollers. Missed that; costing me $780 to have the damage repaired on my Kevlar boat. I carry two boats on top, consequently space is at a premium. It is a close fit. Obviously too close. During unloading I watched my boat slip quickly laterally off the rack falling some five feet to the concrete. Sales rep at REI never mentioned it and Yakima has not met my expectation in portraying the design restriction.

I'm a 52 year old kayak fisher using a Wilderness Tarpon 12 and a GMC Sierra 1500 Crew Cab short box. First and foremost: Secure, solid attachment for hundreds of miles of travel. If this is what you covet, the rack does the job. Loading: The rear rack is well forward of the rear of the Cab. I find it necessary to put a bath map/rug on the back of the cab to keep the boat off the vehicle until it engages the rear rollers. When it does hit the rollers they typically rotate back, due to my round bar construction (regardless of how tight you make them). Once engaged on the rollers the boat easily moves forward. If I can stand in the bed I can manage this pretty easily, but if the bed is loaded I need to finesse the loading from the rear and walk around the side as the boat gets close to final position. I then have to position the boat to the rack from the side. Sometimes the rear pads don't rotate back to the correct position and need some help. Not "Unhappy" with the purchase, just see room for improvement.

I'm 55 y/o, and I wanted a rack that would allow me to load and unload my fishing kayak by myself. I wanted something easy install and compact enough to throw behind the seat when it wasn't in use. I have a Wilderness Ride 115, kayak, and loading it is a breeze with the Sweetroll. I like how it stabilizes the kayak once it's on the rack, and you can strap it down w/o worry of it going anywhere by yourself with ease (even in windy conditions). Although think I paid a premium price for this product, it does what it says it will do. The only draw backs I have with this besides the price, has nothing to do with the rack system itself, but handling my 80lb kayak, when taking it off the rack of my 2015 Toyota Tacoma. By the time I have the stern of the kayak on the ground, the bow is almost vertical, so I have to reach across the the kayak to grab the handles, and physically lower it w/o breaking my back. Overall, I'm glad I made this purchase. This will save me time, and I feel a lot safer hauling my kayak then I ever did before. One caveat before ending: do not forget to stop every once and a while to check you strapping...better safe then sorry.

Having kayak fished for over 10 years I have always had a pickup truck, which made loading and unloading any variety of kayak very easy (especially when using a T-Bone bed extender). Recently, I sold my 17 year old truck and purchased a Subaru Outback, necessitating the use of a roof rack. My Outback came with (dare I say it here?), Thule Aero Bars but I didn't see anything on their website close to the Sweet Roll. So I rolled the dice, purchased the Yakima Sweet Roll saddle system, and I am very glad I did. The Yakima Sweet Roll saddles paired up with the Thule Aero bars easily and solidly. Although my kayak only weighs about 50 pounds (unloaded), loading and unloading, especially on steep boat ramps was a chore; plus, I didn't want to damage the roof or the antenna of my car. Plus, being 67 years young and really liking to go fishing or to just go out with cameras aboard, and alone; I couldn't depend on receiving any help at the ramp. The Sweet Roll has made loading, and unloading; both at the lake/river or at home, a much easier proposition. I also employ a roller 'bar' that attaches to the rear window using suction cups to give my car a little more protection and makes loading, especially on steep ramps, much easier. My Jackson Kilroy LT now rolls up the backside of the Outback up to the Sweet Roll rear saddles with built-in rollers and with just very little exertion, rolls easily onto the front saddles. Unloading? Don't pull too hard or the kayak will almost roll off the saddles by itself! ;-) I am very pleased with the construction of the saddles. Being spring 'loaded', they easily adapt to the bottom of my kayak. The straps included in the box are of excellent quality, and the included bow and stern straps with heavy duty metal hooks rounds out the whole package and makes transporting a kayak on the roof of your vehicle a much safer proposition. After using this system now for about a month on 12 kayaking 'expeditions', I just cannot imagine being able to load and unload my Kilroy any easier than I can with this Sweet Roll system. 5 stars to Yakima and their engineers for dreaming up these saddles! ;-)

I had a set of Holly Rollers on top of my Jeep Wrangler because it's a little over 6' tall so loading by 70 lb. sea kayak from the side was problematic. When I upgraded to a carbon boat I wanted something that would spread the load out and cradle the boat a little better so I bough a set of Sweet Rolls. They work great and I'm now planning to buy a second set for my wife's boat. As the previous review mentioned, they don't come with locks, but you can add the SKS key cylinders in about 2 minutes.

I used this on a 2014 Subaru Outback and it mounted nicely on the car's crossbars. The rack tends to bind when extending it but it's not bad. The roller assembly pulls completely off the sliding bars when extending it due to the clamps having too little holding power which is the primary problem with this setup. I carry the 15' kayak hull down resting on foam blocks and load the kayak using a step stool to lift the bow onto the roller. The roller then makes it easy to lift the stern and slide it into place. Overall, I'd say that it works well even with the aforementioned problems. Of note: It's a pain to remove in order to go through a commercial car wash, requiring near total disassembly.