DryDock

I bought my dry dock last spring (used). The seller forgot (or lost) the hitch pin and had it shipped direct form Yakima. It was the wrong size! However, resourceful as I am, I drove to the nearest hardware store and bought a 4" long bolt (was it 5/8"?), nut and a lot of washers, just in case.

Well, the thread was too short so the washers came in handy. I bolted it up. I have one set kayak saddles on the dry dock, and a foam block that sits on the cab. Slapped my ok prowler (15')on, strapped it down, loaded up a couple of wilderness rippers in the truck bed, and headed for the beach. It provided a very stable ride, even at high speeds (80 mph) with high winds (20 to 30 mph). I did get my bolt modified for full thread. Works perfect now.

Used the dry dock for a few days last week over highways and dirt roads. It was stable and haeld the boats very securely. Easy to install and setup - about 20-30 min. Negative- Cannot drop the tailgate and access to the truck bed is thereby limited.

I purchased the Yakima Dry Dock for my small Toyota Regular cab pickup truck and love it! I own two kayaks. One is a 17.5' Perception Aquaterra Sea Lion (poly) and the other is a 2003 14.5' Perception Carolina (poly). The Yakima Dry dock works very well. I've had the truck up to 60 Mph and had no problems with the Yakima Dry Dock. The rear Goal-Post rack mounts to the 2" rear hitch of my truck. I was worried that it would be loose in the hitch and wobble back and forth, but the rack has a large bolt which screws into the hitch very tightly and I was amazed at how snug the rear goal-post "Dry Dock" rack was. I also secured the rack with the supplied tie-downs as suggested by the manual. It is so snug and well fitted that I can grab the rack and rock my truck back and forth while grasping the rack. I read the other reveiws on the rack and I was very reluctant to get the rack, but it was my only choice after I learned Thule did not make front clips for my truck cab and I wanted to get the rack from one store and not have to go here for the front racks and there for the rear racks. I also wanted both the front and rear racks to match and be from the same company for a nice clean appearance on my new truck. I did drill two more holes in my Dry Dock so I could lower the rear cross-bar to level with the front cross-bar. Now when I have the kayaks on my truck it looks great! Like a nice factory set-up. My racks are extremely stable! I have driven over 150 miles so far on them and had no problems. I've not noticed any sliding around or moving on them. I did buy four large pieces of foam that slide onto the round cross-bars and have a v-shaped pattern in the foam to allow a very good secure fit for the kayaks to rest on when placed onto the cross-bars. I placed a strip of velco around each piece of foam to secure the foam to the cross-bars. They work great and stay put! I secured the kayaks properly with tie-downs and I also secured the front and rear of each kayak with a tie-down. Very Secure!! I am very happy with my Yakima Dry Dock rack system. I a single Yakima Cross-bar rack (called a half-pack) installed over the small cab of my Toyota regular cab truck that fits very well by use of the Yakima "Q"-clip. Since I have no rain gutter on my cab roof the "Q"-clip works super! The salesman just looked up my truck on his brochure and installed the correct "Q"-clip on the front rack. This completed my Kayak rack system. Both racks are extremely solid and very stable and secure! I was worried by the other reveiws and do not know why my racks work so well after reading these other comments, perhaps there was a modification or an up-grade, I do not know. I am a newbie and the reveiw pages have helped me alot so I wanted anyone who might be looking into the Yakima Dry Dock to know That I am one Happy Camper! They work great and look good. I can hardly even notice any wind noise which really impressed me! I expected alot of noise but I could hardly tell I had them on my truck! Easy to mount, easy to setup. I wanted racks I could eas

Well made but limited usefulness unless your kayak or canoe is well over 16 feet. Mounted on a Ford Ranger supercab, my 14'-6" kayak is sitting in the saddles about a foot from each end. Therefore, the saddles don't fit right. Since the Dry Dock sways a little in the hitch even with the straps, the kayaks and the front rack itself move around even though it was snug tight. On a nine hundred mile trip the front rack on the cab moved forward about 4 inches and one of the boats repeatedly rotated in the saddles nearly 90 degrees. Maybe ok for a long canoe but I'm still searching for a good solution for my pickup.