VW T5 Kari-Tek easy load roof rail system for kayaks

After wrestling kayaks onto the roof of my VW T5 over the Easter break I finally decided to bite the bullet, get the credit card out and buy a Kari-Tek easy load roof rail system.

As a car owner I'd always been put off buying one, partly because they're very expensive, in my opinion not really necessary and I also don't really like the industrial look of them. On a van however, they're superb, they make the task of putting kayaks on the roof a breeze!

Up until Easter I'd been using some very slick looking Thule wing bars and Thule 874 small boat holder. They worked really well on the car and mould fantastically well to the kayak hull shape. On the van they're a nightmare, it's so easy to accidentally scratch the top of the back doors, drop boats and not to mention it's impossible get them on without getting filthy dirty from the bodywork.

Kari-tek have recently introduced VW T5 specific roof rail system which avoids the need to have an additional set of roof bars. The whole system including two sets of cradles and p&p cost a hefty £711, but they did offer me 10% club discount.

Delivery time was excellent, within a couple of days I was the proud owner of dozens of pieces of nicely milled aluminium, interesting extrusions, weird bits of bent plastic, nuts, washes and bolts and some very wordy instructions.

Kari-Tek VW T5 easy load Kayak Roof Rails - The bits and pieces

Once the Kendal rain finally stopped (yes occasionally this does happen!), I decided to make a start on installing my Kari-Tek easy load roof rail system. After an initial glance through the instructions I suspected it was going to be more of a DIY mission rather than a quick installation. I found an image on the Kari-Tek news section showing the new T5 system which proved to be far more useful than the instructions.

After a few false starts, I figured out it’s much easier to assemble the roof rails then install them on the roof. I was a bit surprised to see the alloy feet sat directly on the paintwork of the van, so I decided to make a small modification by adding some hypalon* patches under the feet. *Hypalon is a thin rubberised material.

Kari-Tek VW T5 easy load Kayak Roof Rails - Hypalon patches

Once the roof rails were assembled and installed I slotted the weighty loading rails into position...and then started the hard bit. After a bit of messing about, I quickly realised that everything needs to be very accurately measured to ensure the rails are exactly 90 degrees to the roof rail. After quite bit of tweaking I finally got them running smoothly.

Kari-Tek VW T5 easy load Kayak Roof Rails - Make sure everything is well measured

Kari-Tek VW T5 easy load Kayak Roof Rails - Final Assembly

After the first trip you'll think, "why on earth didn't I get these before"! In use they're excellent, it's incredibly easy to put boats on the roof, even with just one person. There are some disadvantages over the Thule type system (see below), but on the whole they're a big improvement.

To round up...

The advantages
- Very easy and quick to put kayaks on and off the roof.
- You'll never scratch you van again.
- Side loading, easier if you have to park on the street like me.
- All aluminium construction appears to be hardwearing and durable (I will update this in time)
- Can carry up to four boats.

The problems and areas for improvement
- Takes so long to install them you won't want to remove them.
- They rattle like crazy on bumpy or twisty roads.
- They're over twice as expensive as a traditional system
- The instructions are truly dreadful and far too wordy. Simple, clean, annotated lines drawings would be so much better.