SeaWing™

Removed doubt of having kayak fall off. Those J racks just seem idiot and like sails to catch wind. The smaller plastic or metals sleeves means I would need 8 to hold my two kayaks. So I got the seawing and really like it. The seating bracket width doesn’t fit into my rack but I’m able to still bolt it onto top. I leave them on all season but at times I will remove the straps as those can create whistling (hint if you create a twist in the strap it helps remove this noise). It would have been kool if the saddle folded flat when not in use but whatever. Since my racks on my Grand Jeep Cherokee don’t come close enough to back of vehicle I can’t slide on without it riding on top of my car first so I lift from side ( being 6’4 helps). The provided straps are long enough to optionally secure underneath to the rack but I suck the rack will fail before the Seawing would. Given the cost of this, I wish there was a way to lock it down so I may invest in a short and thin cable wire lock set.

I bought the Malone SeaWing saddle style car rack to go on top of my Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland and it works awesome! I can load and unload my kayak by myself with this rack! I use a mat to protect my Jeep and just slide it right up and onto the rack! Love it!

I've had my Seawing carriers for almost 2 years and they work great for me. I carry a pair of Hurricane Skimmer 128s on top of a Tundra. One problem I'm experiencing is the rubber strips are coming unglued. Is there a DIY fix for that? I don't want to use something that is bad for the plastic cradles.

After using Malone seawings for years I finally had a problem with one, which had developed a hairline crack. I am sure that bouncing on a utility trailer that I converted to kayak use was the problem. The trailer bounced terribly on rough roads ( I must address that problem ), and when loaded with full fish equipped tarpon 16's the load must be terrible.

As long as I have had the seawings and as many miles as I have used them I am still going to give them a 10. The rough roads I was trailering on and the loads involved almost bordered on abuse. I called the company and talked to a very polite and knowledgeable lady who instructed to take a picture of the seawind and email it to her along with a mailing address,( no questions ask) which i promptly did. This was on a Monday morning and by Thursday morning a new seawing was at my door.
Customer service doesn't get any better than that.

Michigan is windy, and my j-style carrier combination with a Wilderness Systems Tsunami made me nervous on the highway and so I compared the Malone Seawing with the Great Lakes Kayak Wing. Both are very similar designs, at least they use the same basic principle of a v-shaped holder. Both works equally well in keeping my kayak safely attached to the roof at highway speeds. Both allows me to keep the carrier installed on my Subaru Forester and park in my standard garage. Both offer different combinations of advantages and disadvantages so that it was a difficult choice about which to keep. The Malone Seawing is made out of rubbery plastic and seems like it would be more durable. This aspect is further underscored by the lifetime warranty, rather than the 5 year warranty of the Great Lakes Kayak Wing.

The Malone Seawing is a lot faster to install than the Kayak Wing. This is because the Malone uses only two fasteners per wing rather than the 4 with the Great Lakes model. Also the oblong wing nuts on the Malone is much easier to tighten than the nubbly nut on the Great Lakes model. The Great Lakes model has a velvet covering, which allows the Kayak to slide easily onto the roof which is a plus.

My only real gripe with the Malone is that it whistles when you drive with them without a kayak loaded even at moderate speeds. All in all its a bit of a toss-up, and i couldn't really pick one over the other. My recommendation would be that if you want to keep the carrier attached to your car for the season, then the GreatLakes would be better despite the harder install because of the whistling of the Malone,. But if you want to frequently install and take down the carrier, go with the easier to install Malone.

I purchased two sets of seawings for use with both Tarpon 16's and sea kayaks. What attracted we about them was the ability to carry two kayaks on a small compact car that traditional carriers wold not allow. I do depart from their instructions and loop the straps around the bars on both sides. As I am no longer a kid I use the stinger attachments which were designed for use on SUV type vehicles. As I drive a sedan I extend the stinger and place bean bag under it for support and use a rubber backed floor mat on the trunk. Malone offers devises for this purpose but I have yet to figure out how to use them for pillows after loading the kayaks(dual purpose appeals to me).

Malone makes good products and stand behind them better than any manufacturer than any other company I have ever dealt with. I ask them if any one had ever had problems with marking on the hull of thermolded kayaks and they immediately offered to replace the seawings, an offer I felt was not needed but truly appreciated. Great company.

Great product, easy to use and install. I throw a rubber backed bath mat on the back of the car, or SUV if that's the vehicle we are using. Then simply slide the kayak up and it lands right in the wings, same as coming down just reverse. Makes loading long or heavy boats a simple one person job, as opposed to the J cradles I used to use. Also Malone uses a single center mount for the racks, as opposed to two mounts like many other systems. This takes up less room on the crossbars which means I can put two kayaks side by side on a Hyundai Elantra. The kayaks stay secure, but I do use bow and stern tie downs. Forget about the straps that come with it, they frayed after a couple of uses, but this would not deter me from recommending this product,it has worked great for me and my old muscles.

I was looking for some kayak saddles that were inexpensive and could fit side by side on my Trac Rac. I chose the Sea Wings mostly because they are sold in sets, so 1 set will hold 1 kayak, where other companies sell a pair for the front of the boat and then you have to buy a pair separately for the back of the boat.

The Sea Wings can be used on a variety of bar sizes and shapes. Even with heavy use over the past year they are still in excellent condition. They hold my kayak firmly and are easy to change between different vehicle rack systems. Your kayak will also slide easily into the saddles without the side by side adjustments needed on single saddles.

A great buy on a great product.

Seawings with Stinger Attachment:
Small ladies take a close look at this one since it makes loading very easy. My wife is quite petite and can easily use the stinger attachment to load her boat on top of our minivan (still needs a ladder for the straps). I've transported my Delta 18.5 as well as Tsunami SP's and P&H Scorpios over 1500KM at highway speeds without issue or excessive road noise as listed by others. The racks are also quite quiet when empty; obviously there is some noise with something bolted to your roof but they don't howl.

I'm not sure how the stinger would work with a flat rec boat but for a sea kayak with V Shaped ends it's fantastic. There is no comparison between loading my Delta 18.5 overhead sideways by myself onto the van and shooting it up on the stinger. The only downfall I can think of is the factory crossbar flexes when rotated from the load caused by the stinger. That would be the minivans fault though and not the rack.

We initially only bought one stinger to test it out. It's easy to move the boats from one rack to another once on the roof. For convenience though I am going to order a second stinger attachment. They also go on an off easily without tools once you figure it out. I just bought another set for my truck.

I have mounted these on both the factory crossbars on my RAV4 and on Yakima bars on the RAV4 and Dodge mini van. They fit most boats either right side up or upside down. The boats are held securely. The Seawings go on easily and fit right next to the rail support so there is a wide variety of places to mount them.

I have one complaint: No matter how I strap the boats down the carriers howl like crazy. It is almost impossible to hold a conversation at highway speeds. I have tried a variety of ways to attach the straps and have even tried ropes, to no avail. I think the howling is coming from the space between the kayak and the carrier. I have used them with both my Hurricane Tampico 135L and my Dagger Blackwater 12.5, and have experienced the same problem with both boats. I have not had this problem with my Yakima cradles, J-cradles, or Malone J cradles.

This is an ok carrier, but not Thule quality. I hauled my 14 footer on my mid sized wagon from Biloxi, MS to Milwaukee and I was stopping quite often to adjust things. The Sea Wing has a lot of flex. I like the J-style cradles much better. The process of strapping the boat into this thing for long trips was a hassle. I am thinking of putting it on the classifieds, as I bought a new car up here and this will not work well with a subcompact and 2 bike racks. Going back to a Thule product.

We've been using the Malone Seawings since March 2004. Two round trips to Dawson City, Yukon Territory from Dallas, TX 15,000+ miles. Multiple other trips and local paddles add another 90,000+ miles. From highway speeds of 90 mph to bouncing down a rutted dirt road to the put-in, these cradles have been carefree and solid as a rock.
We have carried Prijon Kodiaks (24" beam), a Q700 (21" beam) and a Necky Amaruk (29" beam) on these cradles with no problems.
We are buying another set tomorrow for our FJ Cruiser. We opted for a Gobi Stealth rack instead of the factory rack.