I have been following this, as my son recently bought a 2024 CX5, and got the dealer installed roof rack, so he could carry his canoe. Unfortunately, his canoe is wider, than the curving cross bars, and it does not work. Any suggestions? It was quite expensive.

 

What a pain! I don't think I have any suggestions for the canoe.

I do have an update to my situation. After going back and forth with my local shop who dealt with his rep at Thule, we FINALLY got something installed. Thule did not have the footpack or kit that would attach to my roof which did not have flush side rails. I ended up having Mazda install the flush side rails ($499) which I should have done when I bought the car as it would have been less painful financially now. Then the guy at the local shop was able to get a foot pack and kit to fit onto those side rails. Then he tried to install my cross bars that I already had. Guess what? They didn't work. Because the roof of the car is curved, the length of the front rail is shorter than the rear rail. So then we had to order new cross bars and it all got installed and I was able to put my existing Thule hullavator on it. Total Cost for everything = $1000.00. So much for saving money by trying to reuse what I had, but I think the hullavator itself is probably around $500, I didn't check.

 

Yellowdart69 -
I was thinking, could you get one of the racks used for kayaks where the canoe could sit on it's side, instead of flat?

 

Thinking about the shape of a canoe, you could never carry it on its side

 

I'm not a fan of putting anything on a vehicle roof except racks for snow skis.
That said you could probably get a local metal fabricator to make something that would work.

 

Well, you could, but you would have to make special brackets to handle it. I've seen two canoes carried on SUV's side by side on their sides, but they had custom made brackets to do it.