Malone SeaWing Saddle Style Universal Car Rack Kayak Carrier with Bow and Stern Lines

Pros: Solid construction, heavy duty. This is important if you are traveling on the highway at 50mph to 60mph / interstate. I used this for a large bulky Cobra sit on top kayak I had customized for fishing. Malone saddles performed flawlessly for me. I did make some modifications to ensure it was heavy duty for long trip use. The kayak mount is 100% heavy duty quality and that is what matters when transporting a kayak to me. I always mod stuff to make it “Murphy” proof.Cons: One mod you might consider is taking the bolts to a hardware store and putting on a lock nut with nylon end insert behind any excess bolt length. This goes on behind the manual tighteners as double insurance nothing can come loose when taking it for some long trips to the beach or lakes. The bolts are 5/16 x 24 type threads. The common 5/16th threads are 5/16 x 18 course threads. For me, the simpler solution was to buy 4 zinc two inch 5/16 bolts, 4 zinc larger washers, 4 zinc locking washers, 8 nylon 5/16 locking nylon nuts. All hardware was course threaded at 5/16 x 18 thread and it was all under $3 to do. In the end I ended up with a solid locking base with and extra nylon lock nut to snug up against the other as extra precaution on long trips that in no way any vibrations would loosen my mount on slow 4×4 off road conditions. This is a small investment to make for piece of mind on long trips. I am totally happy. I will post a picture of it to show what it looks like. If you are going a short distance to the water, the standard mount hardware works just fine. I like heavy duty fail safe equipment with no chance of anything ever coming loose. (Two is One and One is None!)The straps they give you are ok for short trips to the water – I purchased a $6 set of 500lb ratchet straps that allowed me torque and tension down my kayak to the mounts- this is for long road trips / peace of mind on tension. Malone should have included a set of ratchet straps instead of cinch straps. Consider buying a $7 cable lock to run through both strap holes and back through your SUV roof rack main foundation base. I’ve done this and have yet to have mine stolen – kayak up top or no kayak up top. I use this to put through the scupper holes and then the kayak mount, then the roof rack mount so if you park your vehicle over night- your kayak will still be there in the morning. Or if you take your kayak out on the lake, the mounts will still be there when you get back. If some one wants something bad enough, they will take it, but often it is “more trouble than it is worth to steal” on deterring criminal behavior in public places.Bottom Line: I used mine on a large cobra sit on top kayak and it worked perfect to put it on an old SUV I used for a Hunting / Fishing platform. I had no issues for years and I also put ratchet straps instead of the pull cinch straps. The ratchet $6 set made sure I had the kayak torqued down for safety and I had zero issues. As I am a big guy- I could easily manhandle the kayak on and off my roof. Load and cinching was done in about 3 minutes taking my time. Offloading the kayak was faster. If you want a solid “Wing” style kayak mount that will not fail you, buy this mount. I run a $7 bike cable lock through both of mine to my roof rack base to deter simple theft. With that- I have never had a problem of keeping my mounts permanently attached up top anywhere I go. If you want to run the cable lock through your “sit on top” kayak scupper holes- that is even better for theft deterrent. I have done that as well on vacations with this mount across the U.S. and had no theft issues. Criminals go for the easy target every time- so make yours a hard target and you should be fine. Total cost on changes to stock mounts $3 for hardware changes, $6 for ratchet straps, $7 for cable locks = $16 plus the original mount price to have a hardened kayak mount on my SUV that is heavy duty to take on or off road under any weather conditions.This is also my permanent kayak mount I can just leave up there because it is heavy duty hardware mounted and that was my original purpose to permanently mount it and not have to worry about taking a mount on and off a vehicle. The stock kit is fine for short transport to the water, consider the modifications above for heavy duty off road use- piece of mind.