Roof rack for Odyssey, OEM or aftermarket

Hi all, My wife has a 1999 Honda Odyssey without a roof rack. I want to
start using it to haul my canoes, windsurfing boards and kayaks (long and
sometimes heavy items). I can get a stock Honda rack and crossbars on Ebay
for around $250 or from a dealer for 30% more, but I'm wondering if anyone
has had some better experiences with aftermarket kits, i.e. Yakima, Thule,
etc.

 

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read this thread. Odyssey is similar.

http://www.hondasuv.com/stg/viewtopic.php?t=14424&

'Curly'

 

Thanks for the link Curly, I might go that route, but I'm really interested
in the opinion of anyone who's bypassed the OEM route altogether. I'm not
any more impressed by the tie-down bars (are they really plastic?) than I am
the Honda crossbars. I'm looking at these removable Thule bar towers you
attach directly to your rack gutters/roof or into an aftermarket rack-slide
(up to 8' long).
I'm searching for the opinions of people who have used these, or failing
that, the reasons people chose not to...
OEM is fine for ski boxes and cargo cases, but I'm looking for something I
can trust with two canoes or six sailboards/sails/mast etc.

 

http://www.odyclub.com

This discussion has been going on there for 5 years now.