Has anyone tried carrying anything on top of the 2008 MMH yet? I need a vehicle that I can carry my 17', 55lb sea kayak on, and the factory rack seems insubstantial. At the dealership the salesman says no problem, but the service manager says the rack is just for looks! Yakima and Thule make components to fit, but I'm worried about ripping the racks out of the sheet metal. Anyone have any experience with it?

 

Well, nope, sorry. I've got the Thune racks for two kayaks, but I'm driving a FEH...Can get 'em on the car with ease, but it does require a stepladder and two people.

 

OEM Racks are normally rated for 100#, evenly distributed. You should have no problem.

 

If you remove the factory rack and replace it with "tracks", the load limit goes up to 165# with a Yakima rack. There's a thread on that here.

 

Hi,

My FEH is a 2006, but I imagine they did not replace the rack with a toy. Here is why I got my FEH:
https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/fi...5/P1010006.JPG

The only thing I don't like is the tracks don't go past the subroof, so I have to have the Kayak hang back to be balanced on the rack. I'll likely try to add padding on the front.

In any case, the ropes that go to the bumper are what really hold the Kayak down. The rack just gives somewhere to sit.

Cheers,

rcomeau

 

I am new to this forum, and this is my first post.

I realize that this is an old thread for MMH, but I respond to the posts about the FEH: I just got a 2009 FEH with crossbars. My partner and I have two lovely kayaks, which we would like to carry on the car (we have another SUV that totes them around currently). We've got the Thule hullaports for each kayak and appropriate tie downs for bow and stern.

Question: just got a hitch installed on the rear, so can tie down there, but how in the heck do I tie the kayaks down to the front of this car? Is there some secret place on the front of the bumper where I can loop the rope around or hook a hook into?

Pictures would be great!

Thank you!

 

On my 2007 FEH, I took a piece of nylon rope and put a snap connector on each end. I connect each end to the tow rings on the front, then tie my kayak rope to the center of this rope. I remove it when I don't need it.

 

tow rings are what i'm missing, i think. not sure how they could be installed on my particular model, but i will reserach . . .

 

There is a tow ring in the front. If you look under the bumper, you will see it to the left and in front of the oil filter.

I have rented gas Escapes in Hawaii and hauled surfboards and kayaks on the roof. I carry surfboards on my FEH all the time, though those I strap to the crossbars using standard buckle-type straps.

 

On our '07, I replaced the crappy rack that came factory with the tracks from a 2006 Escape, it bolted right up. It has a lower center of gravity and I can use all of my Yakima rack stuff with it. To carry my 2 man Emotion Commotion 16' kayak, I use the Yakima cross bars with the Gunwhale clips and the Yakima cinch straps over the top. I don't use a front line to the bumper, I attach the front line to each side of the front cross bar and a rear line to the rear cross bar.

I've never had any problems and I drove this way when I moved from FLorida to Utah a couple of years ago. Plus I had 2 mountain bikes, my surf board and the Yakima basket under all of this with my camping gear in it.