I purchased a used Heritage Redfish 14 yesterday and drove home with it tied down on the roof rack of my wife's RAV4. I was astounded at the noise and not at all sure where it was coming from. It sounded like something was vibrating but the kayak was well tied with rope fore and aft and at both cross racks and then strapped at one cross rack. At 25 mph the noise started and was loud enough I stopped to check the rope. At 35 mph you couldn't hear the radio or have a conversation. I only got above 45 twice and I couldn't stand the sound. It took me 55 minutes to drive to where I bought the kayak and about 2x that to get home.

The good news is I made it home and still have most of my hearing left and I put the kayak in on the lake and I really like it. I've been thinking about the noise and I can only think of two or three sources. I tied the kayak on stern forward and right side up. Stern forward because that would blow the seat into place and up right because the rod rack in the center wasn't readily removable and my wife wouldn't like the dent in the roof that it would have left. The noise could have been coming from strap but I can't imagine it would be that loud, it could have been the bungee like material over the cargo area in the rear of the kayak vibrating (but I doubt it) or something could have been vibrating against the hull or the car roof (not sure what and there's no paint damage).

Anyway, I wanted to take the kayak to Emerald Isle at the end of October (about 5-6 hours away) and routinely take it to Briary Creek lake about 2 hours away and the Eastern Shore of VA about 2.5 hours away. With the noise level as high as it is I wouldn't go more than 30 minutes with it! I'm willing to get a real car rack like a Malone for it (I refuse to pay more for the rack than I did for the kayak so Thuele is out). Does anyone tote their kayak around and is there a reasonably quiet way to do it?

Greybeard

Fwiw, my first 30 minutes in the yak have me really looking forward to time on the water. It was only my second time in a kayak (not sure the first time 30+ years ago counts) but it seemed really stable and like something I could easily get very used to spending time in.