Got a T-bone for Christmas.
It is a great concept... it is aluminum so it won't rust. It is curved, so you can back up without fear of hitting an embankment or stump....
But the execution SUCKS.
The first time I used it, I removed all the orange paint from the crossbar merely by putting my kayak on it. My kayak had sand on it (Anyone ever use a kayak that never touched sand?) and it took the paint right off.
I contacted the manufacturer, and they told me that I should have bought the accessory pads and used them. They would have protected the paint. WTH? How do I know I need to buy an accessory to not ruin a product while doing EXACTLY what it was intended to do? Why would they not include these pads? They charge twice what the steel kayak carriers cost, and they know they need this.... There was NO instruction in the box for this. No information about accessories. No suggestion to buy this. So, one use, and I have an orange kayak carrier with paint peeling off most of the cross bar. Sucks.
To make matters worse... They have endcaps on the cross bar with holes in it, apparently for attaching ratchet straps. The endcaps are made of plastic. And the first time I used this, they both bent. Again, I contacted the manufacturer, and they said that those endcaps were not designed for ratchet straps, and instead they showed me a video to how to strap a kayak onto their rack.
Again..... WTH. Every other hitch extender on the market has attachment points at the end of the cross bar for attaching straps. EVERY ONE. And this one has what appears to be exactly the same thing.... But we are supposed to intuit that we shouldn't use them and instead we should watch a video (that we don't know exists) before strapping down our kayaks?
There were NO instructions included in the box explaining this method or telling me that I needed accessories. Nor did the web page I visited for Austin Kayak mention this. If you dig through the reviews, you can find this... but I didn't dig that deep
Angry right now. Apparently I am hosed, they won't do anything for me. My petty revenge will be to leave lots of negative reviews like this on the internet stating 100% of the truth and hoping that others learn that this company sells a product that could be much better.
It is a great concept... it is aluminum so it won't rust. It is curved, so you can back up without fear of hitting an embankment or stump....
But the execution SUCKS.
The first time I used it, I removed all the orange paint from the crossbar merely by putting my kayak on it. My kayak had sand on it (Anyone ever use a kayak that never touched sand?) and it took the paint right off.
I contacted the manufacturer, and they told me that I should have bought the accessory pads and used them. They would have protected the paint. WTH? How do I know I need to buy an accessory to not ruin a product while doing EXACTLY what it was intended to do? Why would they not include these pads? They charge twice what the steel kayak carriers cost, and they know they need this.... There was NO instruction in the box for this. No information about accessories. No suggestion to buy this. So, one use, and I have an orange kayak carrier with paint peeling off most of the cross bar. Sucks.
To make matters worse... They have endcaps on the cross bar with holes in it, apparently for attaching ratchet straps. The endcaps are made of plastic. And the first time I used this, they both bent. Again, I contacted the manufacturer, and they said that those endcaps were not designed for ratchet straps, and instead they showed me a video to how to strap a kayak onto their rack.
Again..... WTH. Every other hitch extender on the market has attachment points at the end of the cross bar for attaching straps. EVERY ONE. And this one has what appears to be exactly the same thing.... But we are supposed to intuit that we shouldn't use them and instead we should watch a video (that we don't know exists) before strapping down our kayaks?
There were NO instructions included in the box explaining this method or telling me that I needed accessories. Nor did the web page I visited for Austin Kayak mention this. If you dig through the reviews, you can find this... but I didn't dig that deep
Angry right now. Apparently I am hosed, they won't do anything for me. My petty revenge will be to leave lots of negative reviews like this on the internet stating 100% of the truth and hoping that others learn that this company sells a product that could be much better.