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The initial purchase of Saris racks can be a bit unnerving, as everyone else seems to have purchased Thule or Yakima, and chances are your local outfitter will not carry them. Saris seems to distribute their products through bike shops, and even these shops will likely not have anything to show you other than a catalog.

Once you have made the leap of faith to purchase Saris, things get a whole lot better. I purchased mine because neither Thule nor Yakima made a fit kit for my car. I used RackAttack.com for my purchase because they offered good pricing and a return policy (just in case).

These racks took almost no effort to assemble or place on the car. In fact, I take the racks off when I'm not using them, as they take practically no time to take them on or off. There's no frustration with this product, it just works.

I bought mine with a set of Malone Autoloaders. While I am very happy with these (and will review under Malone), the Saris saddles are worth looking at. The Saris fittings on the saddles are specifically made for the racks. My Malone's fitting (being more of a universal design) requires an occasional tightening or they will shift a bit. It only takes a minute to do, but it's another thing to remember.

I give this product a 9 instead of a 10 because the product needs better distribution to paddling resellers and a broader offering of paddling saddles. It's not just a bike rack.

After looking at the options available to me (i.e. Thule & Yakima don't make a fit kit for my car), I decided upon Saris racks (see my review) and Malone Autoloaders. I wanted to get Autoloaders because my car is a sedan and I didn't want to scratch the back hood. I'm also short and have to load my 16 Night Hawk often by myself. Installation is pretty easy.

When loading, I generally use a stool to compensate for my height and place the bow on the Autoloader's "lip", allow it to slide in place, then use both hands to get the stern into the rear cradle. I did fumble the first few times, but I now find it easy to load the boat myself without scratching up the car.

I did find that once when driving at highway speed with a strong crosswind, the saddles shifted a bit and needed to be re-tightented. If you do choose them with Saris racks, I would check the tightness occasionally. Also, make sure that the straps are threaded through the slots such that it fits securely for your boat. I use bow and stern lines from Yakima in addition to the cradles.

Malone is a good company to deal with. They didn't want me to have to pay for their product unless I was completely happy with it. This was comforting to me because there was no dealer nearby and I couldn't see the product first.

I haven't seen any damage of any kind caused by the use of the Autoloaders.

It still irks me that I spent $80 for a small piece of molded plastic with a really basic pair of wheels and a strap. But it appeared to be the only stern cart that I could fit inside my Eddyline Night Hawk, so I bought it based on the photo on the website and a talk with a customer service person at Paddleboy. I actually got to see the other Paddleboy carts at an outfitter (nobody actually stocked the Molly, smart people). With the exception of the Pop Cart, they all looked like a much better design than the Molly.

Anyway,I tried using the provided strap to load the boat. It was a real struggle. There is no foot to hold the cart steady, so it tends to roll away on you. Keeping the boat on the cart with the strap seemed near impossible. Finally, I found that if I added a bungee, and then used the strap afterwards (I personally don't think the strap is doing much) and bungee the cart to the boat while holding the rear of the boat just so, it works.

Now, we start to roll it around. Going straight, it works okay on asphalt, a concrete boat ramp, and a boardwalk. The cart came loose on a turn, and again going up a small curb drop. I sent a complaint to Paddleboy, but they didn't seem much interested in satisfying a disillusioned customer.

At about $25, the Molly would be a good value, and with some design changes and better wheels, it might be a good product. In case the manufacturer reads, this post, I would have certainly appreciated a satisfaction guarantee on this purchase. There was no defects, just a design that doesn't work.