I just recently purchased the Malone VersaRail and SeaWing to transport my Tsunami 145 kayak. It comes in two widths, 50" and 58" The towers are fully adjustable across the width. The package comes with two crossbars and four towers with straps. My current car, a 2001 Saturn, has a bare roof and no rain gutters so I was very limited in choices for a rack to transport my kayak.
The rack itself is a combination of metal and plastic and I have never had good luck with plastic in the outdoor environment, but the rack does have a lifetime warranty so I'm hoping if the plastic does crack/break it won't be a problem to get replaced.
The rack is super simple to setup and once setup is firmly attached and I'm very confident that it will stay put. There is a square plastic coated metal crossbar that attaches to adjustable towers. The towers are part plastic, part metal and have two giant rubber suction cups for each base. The rack attaches to the car via cam straps that run through the car doorways. The straps are wide and fairly good quality. Thankfully the suction cups are attached with screws. I had to put some washers between the suction cup and plastic tower to accommodate the curvature of my car roof from front to back. 4 metal washers on just one of the suction cups for each tower angles the tower just enough to allow the square bars to be level to each other from front to back. Side to side is not a problem due to the design of the towers.
All and all I'm pretty happy with this rack and the SeaWing carrier. I've made quite a few trips with it the last few months without any issues. It's almost rock solid on the car and I'm happy that I can use it on another car if I need to. It is super easy to put on and take off. Malone has done an excellent job with this and I'm happy that I will save hundreds of dollars in not having to buy a dedicated rack for any new cars that I get.
My one real gripe with this type of rack is that it is not lockable on the roof and could be stolen fairly easily. But where it is so easy to put on and take off I just take it off and leave it IN the car when I'm out paddling.
