Finally picking up my new naish 11'6 next tuesday cant wait, after after reading and searching for everything i could find on the net for the last 5 months i finally get to feel the stoke that you guys are getting from your SUPs........Anyway enough of the dribble my question to everyone is what sought roof racks are you all useing, is it the soft racks or hard,this question maybe stupid but since i live about 3 and half hours away from any surf ive never had to strap a board to the roof of a car before especially being the size they are.

cheers

I personally hate roof racks. they make your car look Sh1t. Like a tourist.
Im getting the 11'2 Starboard and we tried to fit it in my wagon and it stuck about 2ft out the back! So now I gotta get some roof racks before I pick my board up too.
I think Im gonna go the soft racks purely for the fact that I can chuck them in the back of the car. These also ruin your seals around the doors when you shut them. I once used them for a trip to the Gloo and it rained and the water came through the seals where the straps went through and the water dripped all over us. They also rubbed pretty hard on the paint job and made a mark which took alot of polish to get off.
IF, and I mean a big IF I go for the fixed roof racks Id go for the Rola racks because they have a model which is quite slim line looking and wont look so intrusive like a tradies van with big ass roof racks.
The soft racks you can get for about 50 bucks? And the Rola racks for about 300?
Im still unsure as to what to get too.
Sorry I couldnt help

I have used both softracks and "hard" roof racks for carrying a 9'7" trad log and a mini mal.

It doesnt matter how careful you are the soft racks scuff your paintwork a bit and as greenroom says if it rains, the water runs down the straps and into your car. I always put an extra tie down around the boards close to the front soft rack otherwise there is a bit of movement.

I now have "hard" racks on both our cars and while we leave them on permanently its fairly simple to fit and take them off if you were only using them on weekends (allen key type fitting with "special security" allen key). We have the genuine holden racks on our crumpledore and if the board cover is too big on the board the cover drums on the roof because of how close the racks are to the roof, a couple of tie downs or some gaffa tape around the board cover fixes this. Dont use the silver 100 mile an hour tape if your gonna do this coz it will take the surface off your cover.

Hope this helps.

Just a word of warning about using soft racks with such a big board..(and that 11'6" Naish sure is a big bugger)..You may end up with dents in your roof if you hit a dip in the road or a bump and the board does a big see-saw thing.

Fixing roof dents will cost heaps more than that what roof racks cost.

If you still risk the soft racks try and tie at least one end down to limit the see-sawing.

Here's my racks and those foam blocks that I use.

My racks have been on almost 20 years now..and done so many trips loaded to the max..

This bottom pic was on the way to Merimbula for the last Mambo (Nov 07).

DJ