Thule Slipstream 887xt Hydro glide Review

[oneyedeer]

Used for 2010 Hobie Outback on a Toyota Highlander

Instead of my planned maiden voyage this weekend I came down with a cold. It wasn't too bad but enough to keep me from heading out. So I stayed home and try to perfect my loading skills on my new slipstream.

Here is the product and how it should work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsjDL8Y7MtM

But I ran into some trouble....the saddles are canted too perpendicular. When I load they would just get stuck and won't pan out to the contour of my kayak. This caused two things one the balance of the kayak and two you can't push it forward. I set the width of my rack at the widest setting to. So this was what I did.(pic1-3) After that it worked like a charm. I love the fact that the load bar easily slides in and out with just a switch of two levers. Also the little gap on the rolling load bars surprising holds the kayak well. I tried loading from the the stern and bow. I find it alot easier loading the stern first. I have factory crossbars was the main reason why I went with the slipstream. It would have cost me another 70 bucks for mighty mounts and another 100 bucks for a yakima showboat. Couldn't justify paying that much for plastic clips so I gave Thule a try. At the end I'm pretty a happy with it.