Time will tell with this rack. I’ve been using Yakima products for the past 20 years, and have two sets of kayak J-cradles, a Bow-Down, the Sidewinder tandem bike rack, and a hitch-mounted bike rack.
The first thing that struck me when unboxing the ShowDown was its build quality. This is certainly not what I have come to expect from Yakima. It feels quite inferior to all the other Yakima products I have.
Mounting the ShowDown was very easy, but like other reviewers I noticed that the safety pins were extremely hard to install and remove. I coated them with some bike grease, but keep a pair of pliers in the car in case they get stuck.
I am using this rack to transport a Tarpon 140 (68 lbs). For day trips, the rack works quite well. However during extended trips, when the boat is on the rack for many hours (or days), it becomes difficult to get the boat down. It seems like the boat gets ‘stuck’ at the last 12 inches or so of travel. I’ve had to push the boat in and out several times to finally be able to lower the boat down. Next time I go on an extended trip, I will try some grease on the rails to see if that improves things.
Again, time will tell with this set-up. I had considered the Thule Hullavator as it has a gas-assist mechanism and much more favorable reviews, however having already invested in the Yakima ecosystem it would have been an expensive proposition to re-configure my vehicle. Fingers crossed with this rack!
