Universal Roof Rack Adapter Kit for Malone Telos XL Load Assist

Video Transcript for Malone Telos XL Load Assist Universal Roof Rack Adapter Kit Review

Hi, everyone. It's Evangeline, here at etrailer. And today we'll be taking a look at our Universal Roof Rack Adapter for your Malone Telos XL Load Assist right here at etrailer. So this has that notch on the top which allows you to use this with the Telos XL Load Assist arm. So that fits right into there and allows you to use this kayak carrier because you have that adapter. So what used to happen is that if you wanted to utilize the Malone Telos XL Load Assist, you had to have a specific kayak carrier which was usually either the Malone Downloader or the Malone SeaWing.

Now, if you have your own kayak carrier that you really, really like, you can still use the Load Assist if you have this Universal Adapter. So let's take a look at the adapter just to see if it's the right fit for you, your roof rack, your kayak carrier and your adventure. So this uses three inches of your crossbar space, and you can mount this either to the inside of your tower or the outside of your tower. You just have to make sure that it's in a safe location. So if you don't have as much overhang, kind of like what we have here, you're going to have to put it on the inside.

If you have a decent amount of overhang and your kayak carrier is in a safe position, you can mount it to the outside. The way this mounts to your crossbars is with this clamp as well as these wing nuts. So the maximum crossbar size it's going to accommodate is three and three quarter inches wide and one and a half inches tall. So if you have extra large crossbars like the Yakima HD bars, this probably won't fit with it, but this will fit most of your factory round, square or arrow bars. So this is designed to work with a bunch of different styles of kayak carriers.

But the actual usability will depend on design of your kayak carrier. It won't be as seamless of a, kind of like a mounting and dismounting your kayak, compared to if you're using this with the Malone Downloader or the Malone SeaWing but it will still help you out as a load assist. So here we have the etrailer J-Style kayak carrier. Notice how I have this pushed as close to our adapter as we can get it. That way, ideally, you just ramp up and then into your kayak carrier.

Now I did kind of struggle with this a little bit. And I had my videographer help me out just because this fits a little higher up than your other load assist kayak carriers. As for the dimensions, this sits at 10 inches long. So that's from this end to that end. And it's five and a half inches wide, and it sits four inches above your crossbar. But now it only needs three inches right over here where the clamp goes. Hopefully that helps you out with figuring if it's going to be a fit on your overhang or inside your crossbars behind your tower. Now if you do get this tightened down, it is relatively stable on your crossbar. If you do have your larger arrow bars, kinda like what we have here, you may get some wobble. Now I personally do not recommend leaving these on your crossbars as you travel. Just like how you have to take off the Telos Load Assist arm, right before you go, I recommend taking these off too, and then reinstalling them when it's time to go and take your kayak off or put your kayak on. It's a very easy install process. Super fast. You begin to take a look at that real quick, but just because of that, I think it's not recommended to keep them on your crossbars. So we're going to start with the install process by just setting up our adapter. So we have these knobs, these bolts, as well as this kind of plate that goes underneath your crossbar. So first loosen those knobs that you can put this around your crossbar. All right. So once you have your knobs released, you have this plate that goes underneath. So put your adapter on top of your crossbar and then this fits right underneath into those bolts and then use those wingnuts to tighten that down. So first you want to get this as close to the end as you can safely place it. In our case, we are stopped by our tower, so it's as far out as we can have this. Next is you're gonna wanna put this nut into that bolt. Now, one thing about that is preferably, we would have it where that top part is facing the bottom of your crossbar. In our case though, because our crossbar is on the taller or the larger side, we're going to have it facing like this before we thread it in. So once you have that set up, you're then going to set up your kayak carrier. Now you may already have your kayak carrier set up. In our case, we have the etrailer J-Style kayak carrier. And because of how this is inclined, we're gonna move this as close to the adapter as we can get it. That way, it looks good and it's a lot easier to load it up. But once that's in place, your ready to load your kayak and that's pretty much all there is to the install of your adapter. So the adapter was helpful for getting our kayak up, but because this is a J-Style kayak carrier, the issue then was that our grooves underneath our hole would kind of get caught up in the J-Style carrier. So I actually had a friend help me out over there, just to get it over those grooves, 'cause I didn't have enough height to lift it above the carrier. So that's just gonna be something you're gonna encounter with the different styles of kayak carriers. So my personal thoughts about this universal adapter is, that it's not entirely universal. Meaning that you won't get the same experience as if you we're using your Telos XL Load Assist with let's say the Downloader or the SeaWing. On the other hand, the Telos XL isn't the solution to your kayak carrying problems. It kind of just brings you up there and lets you take a break before you push it into your kayak carrier. Which is awesome, if you're using this with, let's say the etrailer J-Style kayak carrier or your other kayak carriers. So those are different pros and cons that you will have to consider. Don't expect the best experience as if you're using this with a Malone kayak carrier, but still a slightly better experience than if you we're using it without one. I also like how you can use this on each side, after you load one kayak, you can go to the other side and load your second kayak. It's very easy to move. It's compact and it's storable. So those are the pros and cons. Hopefully this helps you out with making a decision, if this is the right fit for you, your vehicle and your adventure. And that was a look at our Universal Roof Rack Adaptor for your Malone Telos XL Load Assist right here at etrailer. My name is Evangeline and I hope you enjoyed the journey..