My homemade kayak and canoe rack's record is 10 kayaks outside and 6
inside for a total of  16.  Actually one of the inside boats was a
decked C-1, but who's counting.  .  The top boats ere mostly slalom
racing boats and the inside boats were mostly rodeo boats.  I had 8
on top and then one each suspended under the over hanging bars.  Had
to enter the van through the sliding door and contort to get to the
driver's seat.  Might've been easier to go through the rear hatch,
but more climbing over boats perhaps.  I've had 5 open canoes on top
stacked on their sides; one on the driver's side of the vertical post
and 4 on the passenger side.  Not much top speed with that load for
sure.  One of these days, a trailer will likely work better, but
we'll do Subie before that investment.

DM&FS

At 06:48 PM 8/16/2011, Robert Mac Dowell wrote:
>    I have an 84 westy and I use 78 inch bars. That's about right to
> the outside of the mirrors. I carry as many as 5 white water kayaks
> on mine, so I need the bar space. Plus, if I have a canoe up their,
> I still have room for a few kayaks. Shuttle vehicles need to
> maxamize rack space. My record so far is 6 boats on top and 3
> inside. I normally travel with 2 kayaks ( 1 playboat and one
> creeker) Along with the long rocket box with all my paddle gear and
> camping gear in it. Belive it or not, With the heavy duty lift
> brackets that I got on samba, I can lift the roof without taking any of it off.