Super J Cradles

I purchased these Deluxe J-Cradles to fit my Thule bars, as I just bought a new Impex Outer Island and didn't have faith in the Thule J-Cradles regarding enough padding to protect my boat.

The Orchard J's arrived and noted that they were very heavy but also looked to be padded with soft rubber. Also noted that the rubber stopped short of running the full width of the cradle, stopping short of the plastic edges of the cradle.

I finally got to use them on my new boat and was disturbed to find that they left black marks on the hull of my new boat; and maybe due to the 2 hour trip, also slightly indented my fiberglass hull!!

The rubber padding compressed completely down to the level of the hard plastic-covered metal edges of the J and that is what made dents in my boat hull.

I have since scrubbed out the black marks (no small effort) and noticed when I waxed the hull that the indentations, however slight, are still there. I contacted Oak Orchard via email 5 days ago and still have not received a response to my questions/concerns.

In the meantime, I have read the previous post regarding adding 1/2" of minicell foam to the bottom of the "J" to keep the hull off the hard edges. So much for the "deluxe" padding to protect my new boat!

It seems as though more care should have been put into the design and testing of this product before selling it. The cradle themselves seem sound, but don't forget to add the extra padding!

Just bought these after talking to Bill of "Oak Orchard" about the refinements of these cradles over others. I am very pleased with the purchase. Firstly, they are competitively priced with Thule and Yakima cradles. Second, they are superbly strong, and completely span the beam of my 22" sea kayak. This is valuable in that you can comfortably reach over the boat for the straps, which stay put when not in use. Also, the kayak will securely free-stand up against the cradle and won't fall over while you fiddle with the straps. Finally, the cradles attach easily to square or round bars with the same brackets. The only reason I did not give them a 10 is that they are only barely adequately padded in the bottom of the cradle. My solution was to add a layer of 1/2 inch minicell foam to the bottom with zip-ties. The factory rubber gaskets get so sqwashed under the weight of the kayak that the hull makes contact with the factory plastic edge protection. You're still not making contact with the stainless steel of the cradle, but you will hit hard plastic instead of rubber. The quick fix is the minicell, and it works perfectly. I can't compare directly with the bigger brand names, but I can't see what could be improved on (save the padding issue). Very solid, holds the kayak extremely well, easy to use (comes with straps). I'd buy them again.