RackandRoll Trailer

Do not understand reviewers who say you cannot tow a 17 foot long kayak with the standard length tongue. I do it all the time traveling from NC to FL without trouble. I do mount the 17 ft kayak close to the centerline of the trailer but not exactly on the center and I set the kayak fore and aft in the Yakama JayLow cradles just so it clears the hatchback door. I have never had a problem. I also carry a 14 ft kayak at the same time. My trailer is five years old and it has not had a single malfunction. Only a retailers lack of quality control during assembly caused an issue with a crossbar block vibrating out of the tower during a trip. I used rope to lash the crossbar down to finish the trip and made a temporary replacement out of wood when I arrived at my destination.

My wife and I have had our "Rack and Roll" trailer for approximately 8 years and we think it is great. After we retired, we set a goal of kayaking in all 50 United States. We set up our trailer with two Old Town Loon kayaks ( 12' and 13' 8") with a Thule Box in between. At this point (2019) we have paddled in all of the lower 48 states and have done two round America trips starting in our home state -New Hampshire. The first trip was around the perimeter of the USA traveling 10,500 miles in 57 days. The second was out to the west coast and back (8,600 miles) hitting all the states we missed the first time, mostly across the middle of the country. In addition we have done countless kayak trips in all of the New England states. With all of this travel, the "Rack and Roll" trailer performed like a champ. When we bought the trailer we did get the spare tire and kickstand options, and they have come in handy. With all of the miles we have replaced the tires once and we did use the spare tire in Illinois on our first trip. Whether it has been 80 mph highways in Utah or rough dirt roads under construction in the Sierra Nevada Mts, the trailer was easily up to the job. For years we secured our kayaks on the top of our car with Thule J racks .... lifting the kayaks above our heads began to be problematic and so this trailer has extended our ability to enjoy this wonderful sport. My only reason for the four stars relates to some wiring issues and peeling fender paint. I have been able to deal with the wiring (rather fragile and not really water proof) and Yakima did send me a new set of fenders which look much better. We have still to kayak in Alaska and Hawaii and are making plans for an Alaskan Cruise with a kayak excursion included.

I have owned this trailer for about eight years. I have pulled it from Michigan to Florida on Interstates more times than I can count. I have also taken this trailer with kayaks from northern Michigan to southern Missouri a couple of times. I am an active member of our local paddle club and paddle about a hundred days a year so I not only see how my trailer performs, but I get a chance to see how others perform. This trailer is the best I have seen among kayak trailers. What makes it so good is the suspension system. It is the only trailer that has independent suspension that includes a shock absorber. Many small boat access sites are on bumpy dirt roads and this trailer rides better than my car.

This trailer does have some significant design flaws that lead me to only give it four stars. The standard tongue is not even long enough to handle 14 ft kayak if you mount it on the end of the bar. When you try to back up it is very easy to turn sharp enough that the kayak hits your rear fender. I did $600 worth of damage to my car this way. The tongue extension Yakima sells is not strong enough for its length. After eight years of use mine has a significant bend.

The paint on the plastic fenders chips off easily. After eight years of use both my fenders have lost about half of their silver paint.

The most significant flaw is with the standard duty shocks. They will break in normal use which causes the tire to go through the fender and destroy any boat that is above it. I saw this happened on a friends Yakima trailer on a club trip. The trailer was far from being overloaded, and it happened at highway speed. Everyone in our club who has this trailer has purchased the heavy duty shocks and has made a stop on the swing arm so that if the shock breaks, it can not go through the fender up into a kayak.

The last flaw has to do with the wiring. If you disassemble the trailer for storage, it is very easy to cut one of the wires when re-assembling the trailer. After doing this three different times I went to a trailer shop and had them protect the wires with a plastic cover called "snakeskin". I just think that for the price of the trailer, a user should not have to work around all these flaws.

In summary, I think the trailer is a wonderful design that has been poorly executed.

I just bought the Yakima 78" Rack and Roll Trailer. I live on the Oregon Coast and there are abut 10 of us in my area that kayak together. I am usually the one towing a kayak trailer for us. I had been towing a small boat trailer that had been modified to hold 4 kayaks but its pretty heavy for my Rav4 to tow. I had seen this Yakima trailer at a kayak dealer but it was $5,000 which I could not afford.

But I was looking for something and I saw this KIT and the video showing how to put it together and it was on sale for leas than half the price of the one at the dealer.

I bought it and a friend (who has power tools) and I put it together in 2 hours. I would like to mention that I am a 71 year old woman who is NOT handy. It's perfect. Light to tow, light to move around. I've set it up with the Yakima Hullraiser racks and fully loaded with 4 kayaks it weights less than 400 lbs.

It's beautifully designed to just bolt or clip together. Wiring is already done and you just plug in. EASY!!! Another BEST BUY for me. Even with my Rav4 I don't even notice I'm towing. Fully loaded, its only 400 lbs.

The kayaks I tow are from 14' to 17". The specs on this trailer say you can tow with the regular tongue but that is not true. So once I got the trailer put together, I did buy the tongue extender which is pretty cheap and works just fine. I urge anyone buying this trailer to buy the tongue extender at the same time because unless you're towing kayaks 10' or less, you are going to need it.

Where ever I take it, almost always other kayakers come over to talk to me about it because it's no cool.
Well done, Yakima

I had many problems with parts arriving broken (dings on fenders, core barrel in key locks broken, lights blowing the fuse, punctured spare tire), and the wiring even had a one-way connection plug that had been wired incorrectly by the manufacturer (the license plate light intermittent with the blinkers on, so half the trailer was wired up-side-down). Fortunately i purchased from a reputable vendor who got me the missing/broken pieces. I was able to fix the remainder myself. Still not a pleasant out-of-the-box experience.
Would have also designed some things better (tongue pinches cables, wiring gets lost inside tongue, tongue is a little long if only carrying bikes, etc). Otherwise it is sturdy and should last a lifetime now that it is set up right.

I agree with another reviewer that it is unfortunate you cannot dunk it underwater; i have a big Hobie tandem kayak which I have to disassemble completely just to pull off the trailer (backing into a boat ramp would have been am easier option), but on the plus side it handles very nicely on the highway.

I bought this trailer in the 66 version to replace the Malone that is also reviewed here. It is everything I had hoped for. It was easy to assemble, the manual was great, and its various parts were made of very high quality material. It is easy to see that a lot of thought went into the design and assembly process.

I am not very mechanical but anyone who can turn a screwdriver and wrench can easily assemble this in 3-4 hours. Only issues were annoying but easily corrected. First was that the one of the side light covers was broken during the shipping process apparently as it was loose in the box and I did not see how it was ever secured in there. It was only luck that the other one wasn't broken. Second problem was that the screws for the license plate light were not long enough. I called to get replacements and I received the whole license plate assembly kit, but alas, the screws were the same length. I went to a hardware store and bought new ones for $.30 each. No big deal. I not only received a new sidelight cover, but again, 2 new lights and covers! Thank you Yakima.

This trailer tows and maneuvers like a dream. No issues whatsoever. I agree with the comments about the cotter pins for the wheels and went out and bought a couple hitch pin clips that resolve that issue. Thinking about getting a spare tire but I don't plan on hauling long distance just yet.

As anyone knows, Yakima bars are round. The ad seemed to suggest that you could use Thule J style cradles which fit the square Thule bars, but that is not true. They just slide around the bars and won't stay in one place so I had to buy the Yakima's. The cynic in me believes this is intentional. I would recommend the 78 for a few more bucks too.

I bought my 66" Yakima Rack and Roll trailer in June, 2012. After assembling the trailer, I initially had an intermittent problem with one of the rear directional/stop lights. The company I purchased the trailer from was very responsive and sent me a new wiring harness and light to correct the issue.

This afternoon (8/31/13), I took the wheels off so I could clean and re-grease the wheel assembly parts. While I had the wheels off, I noticed that one of them was severely deformed ... this is after 1 year of use and less than 1,000 miles of driving at a maximum speed of 60 m.p.h. Unfortunately, due to the holiday, it will be another 3 days before I can speak to anyone - no kayaking this holiday!

I am into my first trip with my Rack n Roll so these are initial impressions. I also have some experience with a friend's unit.

1. It pulls like a dream. You don't know it's there and it is modest on fuel impact. I went down from about 2 mpg (23 to 21) on a large sedan comparing a clean car (no boats) to the trailer with 2 light 12 ft boats at 70-75mph over 900 miles.
2. It very well built. Strong and light weight. Aluminum construction so it should not rust. 3. Assembly went easily, parts were well machined and fit smoothly - with 2 glitches:
- The wiring in the tongue was faulty (pinched stripped wires making 2 different intermittent faults. This was a pain to find because it was intermittent.
- I did have to enlarge the holes improve the countersinking on the license plate light bracket.
- The kit was missing some of the lock cores. I actually don't use the locks so it didn't matter much.
4. The trailer stores very nicely. I can up-end it and store it in my rather high garage without even unplugging the wiring. Even if you have to remove or collapse the tongue there are plugs so it is pretty easy. A small woman should not have trouble upending the trailer.
5. You can manhandle the trailer around easily rather than doing clever maneuvering with the car. To get the trailer with boats on it in the garage just unhook and walk it in fully loaded. No big muscles required. Parallel parking and the rear is sticking out? Just grab the rear bar, pick up the back end and scootch the loaded trailer over a foot.
6. The trailer is a dream to load. Everything is at a very comfortable height due to the big motorcycle wheels and suspension. So the boat is right at a perfect working, lifting, strapping, and putting height.
7. OK I do wish the bars were a bit further apart for boats.
8. You can easily see over the trailer from a car. On my van the trailer is below my sight line out the rear window one of those $10 plastic wide angle lenses you stick on your rear window is nice.
9. 16ft and over boat owners be aware at both ends. To the front note the review that talks about centering the boat. To the rear note that most states require flags by day and lights at night for loads more that 4' beyond the end of the trailer.

I have the 78" which is nice for lots of boats but if you are using a small car go for the 66. Note that the slightly heavier shocks are NOT standard on the wider trailer. The literature is a bit vague on that point.

Why does it rate an 8?
1. I should not have electrical problems, missing lock cores, and re-drilling a minor part on a $2000+ trailer.
2. I do wish the front bar was further forward.

This is a great trailer for kayaks and canoes, but there is one thing someone who purchases one needs to know. The tires on the trailer are motor cycle tires and if you have a flat, you will have to go to a motor cycle repair shop to get it fixed. This can be a problem in rural areas. We just finished a 6,000 mile trip from Fl. to Alberta and back--had two flats and learned the hard way. Get the spare wheel and a spare inner tube just to be safe.

I bought the 78" version of this trailer from a local kayak shop in May of 2011 so I could avoid lifting boats onto the top of my camper and/or truck. I also bought the spare tire and wheel, the kickstand, and the tongue extension as one of my boats is 21'6" long and the spec says it can haul boats up to 22' with the tongue extension but only up to 17 feet without it. I usually just haul a single 17 footer but occasionally want to carry two boats and one or two bikes.

On a recent trip of about 600 miles round trip I noticed that the tongue was sagging and when I got home I took the tongue extension out as it was bent significantly. The tongue extension consists of a piece of square aluminum tubing that matches the trailer tongue and a piece of square steel tubing telescoped inside the aluminum. It is installed by sliding the steel tube into the tongue and putting 2 bolts through a pair of pre-drilled holes in the tongue and the steel tube. Assembly was very easy. It was the steel tube that was bent.

I contacted Yakima about a warranty claim on the tongue extension and they asked me to load the trailer as it was when the failure occurred and to weigh each wheel and the tongue to verify that I had loaded it within specs. I did so and found that it was within spec, sent them the info and my replacement extension was shipped to me. When the new extension arrived I felt that the new steel tube was heavier than the old one and measurements with a micrometer verified that the wall thickness of the new one is about 12% more than the old one. I'm guessing that the original extension was manufactured with a piece of material that was out of tolerance. Here's hoping the new one holds up better.

Overall I'm very pleased with the trailer and with Yakima - the trailer is easy to use and easy to store and seems like it should last a long time.

I bought a KD78 about a year before Yakima bought the company. I had a tire failure on a trip, and when back checking the load rating, it became apparent that the company didn't know how to calculate load ratings. The company had initially rated the KD78 at 350 lbs, but quickly reduced it to 300 lbs, and that needs to be reduced further if you attach anything to the trailer, such as a spare time or tongue jack. Making matters worse, the wheels and tires were designed for use on a scooter, and the tires aren't even approved by the DOT for sale in the USA. The DOT numbers on the tires only identify where the tires are made, not an actual DOT approval. These tires are not safe above scooter speeds. When I confronted RAR about this, they concedes the tires were not safe above 55 mph. I tried to get the DOT to consider these issues, but I was disappointed to find out there must first be an accident, and even then accidents without personal injuries are of less interest to them. RAR finally agreed to accept the trailer back for a 90% refund, but then kept stalling until they finally told me they had sold the company. Yakima stepped up to the plate and followed thru on the refund, and now I just found out the trailer has been hit by a SECOND recall! If you want to use this trailer, do not load it up to its full rating, and replace the tires with motorcycle tires. Of course no motorcycle tire company will sanction this use though, trailer use is a special category, passenger cars tires don't even carry the correct "ST" rating.

We purchased the trailer two months ago from a local bike shop in the Pittsburgh area. It was delivered to them in less than a week, they assembled it for free, and it has been great. Well built and engineered!

We have two 12' kayaks and two bike racks on it and pull it with a midsized car. It tracks perfectly and handles bumps flawlessly. You have to keep looking back to remind yourself you are actually pulling a trailer, it is so smooth. I can even use it as a cart to hand deliver the kayaks to the shore. I have looked at other trailers, but none come close to the Rack and Roll. It is important to follow instructions during assembly about lubricating the pins for the wheels so they can be removed when you want to change a flat, or remove the wheels for storage.

I would recommend the Rack and Roll for anyone who wants to save their back and not lift the kayaks onto their car roof.

I bought the Rack and Roll trailer online in September 2007 from a company in NC as they advertised free shipping. A little challenging to put it together by myself, but it was well worth it. I have used it quite a few times this year and it is great. As a female kayaker, this trailer is just perfect for me. It is easy to use as a cart and also easy to tow behind my small SUV. I keep my kayaks in the backyard and I can just pull the trailer by hand down to the driveway with the kayaks on it and hook it up to my car easily. I had a few minor problems with the trailer, but the company’s customer service is just great and they sent me what I needed at no charge. Plus... I had not sent in my warranty card back when I bought the trailer and they still took care of me. Make sure you get the extra wheel to support the trailer evenly when not hitched to the car, this is a great asset. I just love my Rack and Roll trailer and I highly recommend it.

Have had this trailer for a year and have about 5,000 miles on it so far - NO problems ever. I store it between cars in my 2-car garage simply taking off the tongue and putting blocks under the wheels to keep it upright. Have talked to customer service several time (to purchase extra parts to add 2 additional bars) - always extremely friendly and prompt. A bit pricey but well worth it to me - saves gas when towing, saves my back as I no longer need to lift onto the top of my Jeep. Saves time for trips - load the trailer in the carriage the night before - then simply hand roll it out, connect to the Jeep and off you go. I created a removable stand that connects to the front of the trailer without the tongue installed to make it easier to use in the garage - makes it easier to install the tongue as well.

The trailer looks nice but it is poorly constructed. The parts do not fit together properly. One critical metal locking piece broke in two pieces during assembly when very light pressure was applied. For the price they could definitely build it better. I notice they had recall due to a safety defect (see 4-02-08 posting).

I bought a Rack N Roll trailer to tow behind my 2005 Goldwing Motorcycle and so far I am very pleased. I have towed my kayak on it a couple of times and our mountain bikes. I plan on buying a Yakima Box for it and leave room for one kayak so I can take some extended trips. Towing it has not been as difficult as I thought considering that there's 17 feet of kayak behind me - I just need to remind myself to take wider turns. I get a lot of looks as I'm going down the highway too. My gas mileage drops a bit from 41 to about 35 but then it's a heck of a lot better then the 15 mpg my truck gets

Pros - There's no doubt that its a great trailer. I took it out yesterday and used the foam blocks for now to test it and it worked great. It was a dream to finally not have to wrestle my kayak off and on from the top of my truck. And yes, I can barely tell that I'm pulling the trailer behind me. Storage? Oh my gosh - yes it does store flat against the wall - I have a truck and car in my garage and this trailer stores in there with no problem.

Cons? I have a few, if you've visited the Rack and Roll website before they have a video of this woman who seems to have no problem breaking the trailer down. When I did it, I had lot of trouble removing the pin that connected the tongue to the trailer, I also had trouble removing the pins that connected the wheels and the shock absorber to the main trailer although it wasn't quite as bad as the tongue and trailer. There are locks that connect the tongue to the trailer and the wheels and shock absorber to the trailer. Those were a nightmare to remove, you have to push down on the handles really, really hard to unlock them. Yesterday, it took me about 30-40 minutes to put it all together because of the lock and pin issue I mentioned earlier. It almost seems like the holes on the trailer are just a tad bit too small for the pin and yes, I made sure they were aligned properly. On the storage side of things - the license plate doesn't quite align to the pre-existing holes on the trailer so I had to use zip ties to attach them - what does that have to do with storage? Well - if you store the trailer upright - when you attach the license plate its about ankle height so if you're not looking where you're going you can easily scrape your ankle/leg against it. And yes, I definitely emailed Rack and Roll about this. We'll see what they say.

As a female paddler the Rack N Roll has been so easy for me to use, I can lift it and stow it myself. The incline it takes is great for the lagoons around here and I have never had a problem maneuvering it! The large wheels grant me the opportunity for a little "off-roading" where my previous trailer couldn't have handled the terrain based off of height alone. I have carried bikes, Thule luggage boxes and up to 6 kayaks!!

I bought the RackandRoll KD trailer approx one year ago and it has been an excellent investment of my recreational dollars. No more lifting kayaks up onto the roof of my Jeep! Loading and unloading is so easy and convenient. Everywhere I go kayaking, people stop to admire this trailer and all of the features it offers.

Now that we have three kayakers in the house, we needed a way to transport them all at once without using two cars. We decided on a Rack and Roll trailer. The purchase has been quite an adventure.

The nearest dealer was about 100 miles from our home, so I arranged for the purchase by telephone. The dealer offered us a floor model, which included an optional spare tire, for a significant discount, so I paid for the trailer and arranged to pick it up after work one day the following week.
When I arrived at the dealer's, the trailer was waiting, a little shopworn but as described. The "fun" started when the trailer was hooked to my van and blew several fuses. In the process of deciding whether my wiring or the trailer's wiring was at fault, they hooked the trailer to someone's truck, and of course several of their fuses blew. By this time it was getting dark, and I had to drive a long way home, so they came up with replacement fuses for me and I left, sans trailer. (Hint: if you tow a trailer you'll probably need spare fuses at some point, so buy a kit and keep it in your vehicle.)
The dealer called a few days later to say that they'd disassembled the trailer and found several of the wires pinched between elements of the frame. The trailer essentially was a dead short, which of course led to the blown fuses. It took them a week or so to "fix" the wiring. (Hint: if you assemble one of these yourself, be very careful not to pinch the wires when assembling the frame.)
Back we went to pick up the trailer. We were happy to see the lights come on and stay on, and at our request one of the dealer's employees escorted us to an inspection station to make sure the trailer passed inspection. We drove home.
Somewhere between the inspection station and home some of the lights stopped working. No way we were going to drive 100 miles back, so I pulled out a multimeter and started checking the wiring. Sure enough, the wire that powers the left turn / left brake light was open somewhere inside the trailer.
I called the dealer, who instructed me to take it to a local trailer shop and send him the bill. The bill turned out to be $80 - when they opened up the trailer they found that several of the wires were scuffed up, so they replaced the entire wiring harness.

So, would I recommend the trailer? I would, but make sure you buy from a reputable dealer. Even despite the problems I felt that the dealer did try to resolve our problems, but perhaps some of his employees were less than competent with mechanical/electrical assembly. I also recommend buying from a dealer as close to your home as possible (in our case the next closest dealer was 200 miles away.) As for the trailer itself, it does work very well, and there are really few alternatives if you want to transport 3 or 4 kayaks. Towing the trailer is very easy as it is very light weight. (Hint: you'll want to tie red / reflective flags to the back of your boats since they will stick out several feet behind the trailer's lights - this will also help you when passing other cars.)
My rating would have been 9 had I not had the problems with this particular trailer.

Wow! I purchased a RackandRoll Kayak Trailer. It is a work of art and belongs in my house. Of course my wife won't agree so I'll leave it outside...for now. It's too pretty and too cool to use. The fit and finish is as close to perfect as anything I've ever seen and finding flaws is what I do for a living, as well as for fun. It has an independent suspension and dampened shocks with coil over springs, awesome. It probably has a more comfortable ride than my truck. It's prettier too. I have the 66 inch cross bars, which came with the trailer, on the trailer right now. I am still thinking about getting the 78 inch bars.

I have Yakima Mako saddles in the middle with Yakima Hull Raisers on the outboard sides. I can carry three boats. If I get the longer bars, four boats. It was a great idea marrying The Thule and Yakima systems to a trailer. These systems really coddle your boat and are a perfect addition to a kayak trailer. The trailer is totally foldable and even has wheels on the leading ends of the trailer in order to help you move the trailer around in the garage once folded.

This trailer has it all and is very well thought out. It is very light and is very easy to move around with it's sixteen inch aluminum wheels and wide tires. I purchased the spare tire, complete with the same "bad to the bone" wheel (not like my truck which came with a metal wheeled spare). I have also ordered the trailer extension so that I can pull my 22 ft. tandem. The trailer is a roof rack that you pull. Bringing it home from the dealer's shop, I didn't even know it was back there. It pulls that good. I am tired of lifting boats onto my tall SUV and then climbing all over the truck in order to tie them down. RackandRoll is just that. The owner, Patrice, was/is a delight to work with and made my puchase experience even better.

I guess I'll have to use my trailer but it seems like a shame to use it...I still think it belongs in the house. My kayak buddies are going to be green with envy but I know they'll smile real big when I tell them I am going by their houses to pick them up. The trailer, it's not cheap, and I think I may have cried that line to Patrice more than once, but the trailer is in a class by itself.