It Ain’t 10 Pounds of Taters in a 5 Pound Sack, But…

5 October 2023

After meticulously working may way through all the kayak choices that would fit in my small car, I finally came to the realization that I had to fit the kayak of my dreams ON my small car. And by small I mean Fiat 500 small. And for those keeping score at home, yeah right, the dimensions of a Fiat 500 are:

2015 Fiat 500 Sport

Length: 11’ 8” - Width: 5’ 4” - Height: 5‘ - Weight: 2,366 lbs

Mopar (TRAB4711)

My first step was to contact all the custom rack dealers I could find in the Seattle area and this search turned up, well, pretty much empty. The only viable, suggested, option was to instal (ie drill) permanent for / aft tracks into the roof of my Fiat and install the racks on them.

But then google turned up Mopar factory roof racks. Who knew? So I searched, and searched, but apparently they had long been discontinued.

But the odd thing was that this entire kit is from Thule.

The Great Haul (5 October 2023) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death

Enter the Thule Kit 1611

Well it turns out the Mopar “Factory” roof rack for the Fiat 500 2-door is actually a Thule Kit 1611. Eureka! No problem. Just gotta get my hands on the Thule Kit. Except, it’s long out of stock.

Now as an aside, part of me wonders if this rack system is out of stock due to the fact that Fiat stopped importing the Fiat 500 in 2019 / 2020. Or because, come on, let’s not encourage idiots to put 16 foot long kayaks on the top of 11 foot cars.

Thankfully it takes more than common sense to deter me. And although beaten down by one failure after another I was still determined to find a solution.

So, I resorted to that very unpopular auction site to see if I could find the components and create my own Thule 1611 Kit. But, apparently, the kayaking gods were smiling down on me and “Low & Behold” there was an entire Thule Kit 1611 for sale.

It took me a bit to figure it out and get it installed correctly but the first step to kayak ownership was behind me.

The Great Haul (5 October 2023) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death
The Great Haul (5 October 2023) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death
The Great Haul (5 October 2023) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death
The Great Haul (5 October 2023) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death
The Great Haul (5 October 2023) - Paddling Alone & Dodging Death

Finally a Quick Test

So I was still a bit concerned that this was pretty high on my list of stupid ideas so I reached out to a local kayak owner to see if I could test fit her kayak on my rack. And it didn’t seem that crazy at all. I know famous last words. I’ll try to get a picture or two when I secure my own kayak.

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